Expectations are low at Manchester United. Nobody expected the twenty-time champions to defeat Guardiola’s side. However, even in defeat, they lacked the fight you would normally expect from a club of such magnitude. They sit 8th in the table after 10 games with just 15 points out of a possible 30. Manager Erik Ten Hag is rightly under the microscope. Following his saga with Jadon Sancho, ten Hag’s new comments following the derby haven’t gone down too well with supporters. Craig Burley of ESPN FC has been particularly critical of ten Hag’s statements and it is quite difficult to not agree with him.

Manchester City were on cruise control throughout the match. Even without Belgian Superstar Kevin De Bruyne, they dominated possession (60-40), and shots on goal (10-3), all while creating four times the goal-scoring chances (XG 1.03-3.95). United Barely had any penetration and other than potentially Andre Onana, none of the players could claim to have a good match. All of this makes Ten Hag’s comments even more puzzling.

Should Erik Ten Hag have rephrased his words in a better way?

In the post-match interview, Erik ten Hag said “The execution of the gameplan was very good“. He also added that until the penalty, the game was quite even. Craig Burley, however, shares a much different opinion. He said that the only chances United created came from City mistakes and none of them were through good pressing. He added, “The rest of the time, City totally controlled this”. Burley also mentioned Onana’s point-blank saves, twice from Haaland to deny him a hattrick.

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From a neutral perspective, Burley’s comments make perfect sense. Perhaps, Ten Hag was trying to keep the team spirit up. Or he could be trying to justify the results despite signing players worth over 350 Million Pounds. Either way, Ten Hag is in desperate need of a reinvention, if he wants to bring success to Manchester United.

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Ten Hag must alter his style

Erik Ten Hag is not a man to charm you with his words, unlike Klopp or Pep. This will hinder him from building connections with the media and fans. In fact, an old tweet on Ten Hag is doing the rounds on social media.

Ten Hag prefers a more authoritarian style of management, evident from his treatment of Sancho and Ronaldo. This would work in clubs with less spotlight but such an approach would be naive at Manchester United. It brings a lot of media attention while potentially alienating him from the players.

Is Ten Hag the man to bring Manchester United back to the top? Or is he next in the long list of failed successors to Sir Alex Ferguson? Let us know in the comments below.

Watch this story: Banished Jadon Sancho Snubs Idol Cristiano Ronaldo’s Path to End Tensions With Erik ten Hag at Manchester United