Asked to summarise the relationship between manager Erik ten Hag and Manchester United’s new leadership team ahead of the coming season, one club source put it very bluntly. “It’s like in a marriage and someone’s been unfaithful,” they said. “Now they’re back together and trying to make it work.”
The parallels are obvious. United’s co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS team led by Sir Dave Brailsford made little secret of their doubts about Ten Hag towards the end of last season. It led to meetings with prospective new partners — Thomas Tuchel and Roberto De Zerbi among them — before finally deciding to stick with the manager they had all along. Ratcliffe and Brailsford have tried to create some sense of stability by extending the Dutchman’s contract by an extra year which, in theory, keeps him at Old Trafford until 2026.
But heading into the first game of the season against Manchester City in Saturday’s Community Shield (stream live on ESPN+, 9:50 a.m ET, U.S. only), there remains a feeling of uncertainty and plenty of unanswered questions. Are United closer to the team that finished eighth in the Premier League last season, or the one that beat City 2-1 in the FA Cup final? Can Ten Hag make the most of his second chance, and for how long are Ratcliffe and Brailsford prepared to stick with him?
There were times in April and May when Ten Hag became visibly agitated by questions about his job, but he cut a far more relaxed figure during preseason. He’s refused to criticise INEOS, the conglomerate headed by Ratcliffe, for the way it went about its business after the FA Cup final and has instead done everything he can to grip the olive branch extended to him.
Ten Hag said in one interview during the U.S. tour that Ratcliffe’s faith would only be proven in bad moments of poor form but, according to sources, he understands the way to strengthen his position is by getting off to a good start. The Community Shield against City — a game caught between a preseason friendly and something more serious — isn’t a referendum on his future, but it’s coming.
Preseason defeats to Arsenal and Liverpool in the United States have largely been brushed off, but lose to City and the noise around Ten Hag will begin again. Another poor result when the Premier League kicks off against Fulham at Old Trafford next Friday and the volume of those calling for a change will increase.
There was a feeling last season that Ten Hag was immediately on the back foot after a lacklustre performance against Wolverhampton Wanderers on the opening weekend and he cannot afford a repeat, particularly in front of Ratcliffe, Brailsford, new hires CEO Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth.
Asked to look back on the start to last season and the buildup to that game against Wolves, sources have told ESPN that there was a feeling, even then, that something “wasn’t quite right.”
It was a difficult tour of the U.S. with too much travel and not enough free time for the players. In hindsight, it wasn’t a huge surprise to those inside the club that United started with six defeats from their first 10 games. From there, the season never really recovered. This summer, Ten Hag has softened his approach and allowed players out for coffees on Rodeo Drive during downtime between sessions.
A change of itinerary was welcomed, too, with a 10-day training camp at UCLA in Los Angeles chosen over short stops in multiple cities across different time zones. For the most part, the summer has been viewed as positive, but that’s not to say that all the issues have gone away.
Injuries that plagued last season are back in the shape of a three-month layoff for new signing Leny Yoro and a six-week absence for striker Rasmus Højlund, both ruled out in the very first game of the tour against Arsenal.
Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelöf, Luke Shaw, and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are all doubts to face City which could leave Ten Hag with only three fit senior defenders at Wembley in Lisandro Martínez, Diogo Dalot and Jonny Evans. United fans have become used to Ten Hag picking the strongest possible team for every game — particularly when there are trophies to be won — but he said more than once at his news conference on Thursday that he won’t be taking “risks” against City.
In doing so, he made it clear that he doesn’t want a repeat of the issues that played such a big part in last season’s problems. The worry is that if there are more injuries, Ten Hag will have to cope with largely the same squad as finished the 2023-24 season. Yoro has come in to replace Raphaël Varane and Joshua Zirkzee has arrived to replace Anthony Martial, but many of the same questions remain.
Are there enough goals? Is Casemiro still good enough to be the first-choice holding midfielder? Where is Mason Mount’s best position? The list goes on. Ideally, United would like to sign another centre-back, a full-back and a central midfielder before the deadline, but, right now, there’s an argument that the squad is no stronger than it was 12 months ago.
So far, it’s been a quiet transfer window for a lot of teams, but it will concern fans that Ten Hag appears content with the options he has at his disposal.
“We know what we are doing and we are in a good position with the squad,” he said on Thursday. “We have a squad where in every position there is double occupation.”
The issue, though, isn’t about how many players he has, but rather whether or not they’re good enough to significantly improve on last year’s performances. For all the problems Ten Hag experienced last season it at least finished on a high with a trophy and this week he was keen to remind his squad of it.
With everyone back together at Carrington for the first time this summer, he held a meeting to show his players pictures of the celebrations after lifting the FA Cup. He told them to remember the feeling and challenged them to do it again.
Beating City at Wembley two months ago helped keep Ten Hag in a job. Do it again on Saturday and it will be a positive first step towards answering some key questions and making sure his marriage of convenience with Ratcliffe and INEOS eventually becomes a happy one.
