Manchester United: A Work in Progress Under Erik Ten Hag

Erik Ten Hag has gradually raised the standards since he took charge of Manchester United, but there is still plenty of work to be done before he has his side playing in the exact vision of his dreams. Ten Hag wants his team to play a proactive style of football, both on and off the ball, with courage and willingness to have the ball and give each other options. United’s win over City at the weekend showed their brilliance on the counter-attack, though the success was dependent heavily on flashes of brilliance rather than total dominance. It was a similar story in their home victories over Arsenal and Liverpool this season, when their opponents dominated possession and completed more passes, only to be punished by counter-attacks. United’s main focus this season is qualifying for the Champions League, something that will not only give them the financial power to pursue elite targets in the summer, but will also help to convince others to join the club. Ten Hag needs to do whatever he can to ensure that is the case, even if that means embracing an underdog status to some degree. He has fine-tuned the approach more so than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did, sticking with his best technical players and adjusting their tactics rather than personnel. United have also made a recent deal for Wout Weghorst, who is seen as an effective squad addition, even if he is not the most obvious fit for Ten Hag’s preferred system. United are still far from finished and must be given more time to get there before being judged fairly under Ten Hag. Further development is needed on and off the pitch to get where they want, but it doesn’t matter how that happens, as long as they do.