Sky’s cameras at Villa Park had to zoom out to fit the entire Manchester United brains trust into one shot. Ratcliffe, Brailsford, Berrada, Wilcox, Ferguson. They looked like the Politburo at a May Day parade, though the prospect of sitting for hours watching soldiers march past would have been more stimulating than this, one of the dullest Premier League matches ever played.
To be fair to United it would have been difficult even for them to sustain the drama level of recent matches. With the vast and diffuse new Champions League format proving a turn-off, it has felt almost as though United have been on a one-club mission to keep top-level football relatable. Smashed 3-0 at home by Tottenham, then drawing 3-3 having been 2-0 up at Porto, with the captain getting sent off in both matches: this is football. Not enjoyable football from the point of view of United supporters, but you can’t please everybody.
What unfolded at Villa Park was bad in a different way. A defence led by man-of-the-match Jonny Evans successfully shut out a Villa team significantly weakened by the absences of John McGinn and Amadou Onana, but United proved incapable of creating chances themselves.
Ten Hag’s team selection also caused bemusement, with more than €300 million of his signings starting on the bench, including key defender Lisandro Martinez, and recently-arrived defensive midfielder Manuel Ugarte, who was also left out at Porto in midweek. Joshua Zirkzee’s awkward touches after he came on suggested he has a lot of improving to do before he is good enough to play for a top-four Premier League side.
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A point at Villa Park would usually be a good result for the 14th placed team in the league, which United currently are, but the Politburo did not look impressed. This is not the performance the manager would have hoped for if, as seemed likely, the grandees had assembled to have a good look at what he is doing before coming to a collective decision about his future.
With so many brains in the room the decision-making process at United does seem a little opaque right now. Asked last week by the BBC whether he still had faith in Ten Hag, Ratcliffe initially replied “I don’t want to answer that question …” before explaining that any decision over the coach’s future was “not my call”, but rather up to “the management team running Manchester United”.
People like sporting director Dan Ashworth and chief executive Omar Berrada, in other words. Yet before the Liverpool game a few weeks ago Ashworth had told reporters that the decision to stick with Ten Hag had been taken before he or Berrada had started work at the club.
It’s not surprising that nobody seems to want to take responsibility for what was obviously a terrible decision. When they allowed themselves to be swept along by a wave of cup final euphoria to stick with Ten Hag, United’s decision-makers – whoever they are – ignored the evidence of the club’s second worst ever Premier League season, and worst ever performance in the Champions League group stage.
The Ratcliffe team were also aware that giving Ten Hag a big say over transfers had resulted in several costly failures, most notoriously Antony, yet they allowed the pattern to continue this summer. For example United spent £40 million on Matthijs de Ligt, who was a good player for Ten Hag at Ajax five years ago, yet shares some of the limitations of Harry Maguire, whom he is presumably intended to replace.
All of this amounted to a denial of reality, and it has been repaid by the club’s worst ever start to a Premier League season, with eight points from the first seven games narrowly beating the previous low of nine, which had been set by Ten Hag’s team last season. Only Southampton have scored fewer goals than United’s five, but in terms of expected goals United are 20th out of 20.
It feels as though the only winners in the supposed new era so far are the Glazer family, who got to bank Ratcliffe’s $1.6 billion while freeing themselves of any responsibility for the ongoing struggles of the team.
The international break offers an opportunity to do what should have been done in the summer, and start again with a new coach. Ideally Ten Hag’s replacement would have had a pre-season to introduce his ideas but there is no point worrying about that now. Jürgen Klopp took over at Liverpool in near-identical circumstances in 2015 and figured it out on the fly. Ferguson was a November appointment.
The outstanding candidate currently working in the Premier League who would likely leave their current club for United is Thomas Frank of Brentford. There is also Kieran MacKenna, who had interest from both United and Chelsea at the end of last season before committing to a new contract with Ipswich. For Frank, who has already put in six good seasons at Brentford, the United job would be the opportunity he has been waiting for. For the inexperienced MacKenna, in these circumstances, it would be a risk.
Some among United’s power brokers are long-term admirers of Gareth Southgate, the most successful England manager for 50 years who is nevertheless regarded by most England fans as tactically inept. Southgate was admired for everything he did in his last job except his in-game management.
This is exactly the wrong skill set for United, who are so well-stocked with executives looking after various aspects of the structure but need a coach who people can imagine competing tactically with Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery and Arne Slot. Gareth Southgate is not that man.
