Erik ten Hag’s pre-season debate hints at Manchester United’s agenda | Manchester United

Busy, strategic, scattered, unwitting – Erik ten Hag was certainly underwhelmed after Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat at Rosenborg on Monday. The manager looked set to target Marcus Rashford, Casemiro, Jonny Evans, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Mason Mount, who all played the first half of the pre-season friendlies in Trondheim, the 15 academy outfield players deployed throughout, the squad of trainers, medical department plus, inadvertently and clumsily, himself.

“We play in pre-season but at Man United the standard is that you win games and you certainly don’t lose,” the Dutchman told MUTV. “Performance is more important and the performance was below par. We can make good on everything that was bad, but I’m not that guy. As an individual, you need to make sure you are fit. I know you can’t be right, so we need these games. They (the young players) are looking to listen and want to transfer that – it hasn’t worked.”

A standout line is “as an individual you need to make sure you are fit”. By not naming exactly who returned from the offseason with a metaphorical slant, Ten Hag let suspicion fall on every player (except goalkeeper Radek Vitek, who played the full 90 minutes). It’s also curious, as physical conditioning should probably have been discovered through preliminary medical tests carried out since the group began returning to work in the previous months, as well as observing who whistled through training.

Is Ten Hag implying that his medical department is to blame? If so, it’s not the best start to the season after the previous injury-ravaged campaign, especially with United’s head of sports medicine Gary O’Driscoll determined to avoid a repeat. And in his assessment that the young players are “looking to listen and want to transfer that” but “it hasn’t worked”, some might conclude that Ten Hag was less than happy with the ability of the club’s academy coaches to develop players capable. to satisfy every soccer player’s basic request: execute in-game instructions.

As manager – a status he has fought hard to retain – Ten Hag is ultimately responsible for all of the above, which may interest Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his sporting director Dan Ashworth, who run the new United’s football structure. Ten Hag’s statement that “the performance was below par – we can make good on everything that was bad, but I’m not that guy” may prick up the ears, especially of Ashworth, who, having started his role on 1 July, now has the authority to control the manager closely.

More than anything, Ten Hag’s verbal barrage seems pointless. Certainly at face value. Losing 1-0 to a Rosenborg side 16 games into their domestic season via an added-time winner in what was United’s first pre-season outing with a final XI that contained no recognized members of it seems like a trifle to the primary team. However, beyond the regulatory demand to keep players on their toes, Ten Hag’s words may signal a valid frustration. After last season’s debilitating campaign and holding a new contract which, being just a year longer than his previous deal, is no sign of support, the intention to set the tone for next season has been thwarted in Norway. To help that bid as the pre-season continues to unfold, the Ten Hag may be working hard to re-establish his authority and quite possibly ensure there are none of the off-field distractions that have begun to -listening to it this time last year.

First came the uncertainty of whether Mason Greenwood would be available for the season. Then, in early September, came Jadon Sancho’s exile from the team. Later that month, Antony’s personal problems took him out of action for about four weeks.

As Ten Hag take their team to Murrayfield for Saturday’s friendly with Rangers, the list is clean. Greenwood signed for Marseille for £26.7m and Sancho could pull on a United shirt for the first time since last August after returning from exile last week. However, the chances of the winger doing so beyond the close of the transfer window are high. With United needing to sell to buy, a 24-year-old who has failed to impress since arriving in the summer of 2021 is at the top of the potential sale list, especially considering he called Ten Hag a liar after being dropped from the team that lost at Arsenal. , which led to his exclusion and subsequent return to Borussia Dortmund on loan.

This makes Sancho’s re-entry a pragmatic decision and suggests that the Ten Hag may be getting close to losing control of the team, managerial quicksand that usually ends up falling.

The £35.8m arrival of Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna means an extra striker is now on the cards, one more reason to lose one or more of the ranks. Marcus Rashford is also vulnerable in this regard after last season’s paltry return of eight goals in all competitions continued a pattern of inconsistent returns. Zirkzee describes himself as “a bit unpredictable at times”, so Ten Hag’s hope will be to add a new dimension plus goals to an attack that has been lacking in the last term. Twenty-six was the contribution of a cohort of Rashford (seven), Sancho (none), Alejandro Garnacho (seven), Antony (one), Amad Diallo (one) and Rasmus Højlund (10) to their league total of 57. , as United finished the campaign with a goal difference of minus one.

Zirkzee is on break as part of the Netherlands’ Euro 2024 squad and as such will not play against Rangers. But Leny Yoro, who completed his £52.2m move from Lille on Thursday, is set to play and for new United chief executive Omar Berrada, the French defender can be seen as a prescient signing vintage: a planting of the United flag. in the territory of intelligent and intelligent recruiting.

Yoro, like Zirkzee, needs to perform to prove that status. As the Ten Hag does to show it was the right call for him not to be sacked, his status at Old Trafford was essentially saved by winning the FA Cup in the last game of last season. But after Rosenborg’s self-proclaimed disappointment, what might the Dutchman say on Saturday if United reach Rangers?