You certainly couldn’t blame Erik ten Hag if he was having any second thoughts about joining Manchester United at this stage. Saturday’s heavy defeat at the hands of Brighton once again highlighted the multitude of issues he’ll be facing when he arrives at Old Trafford in the summer.
With Ralf Rangnick lobbing more grenades with each passing interview, Ten Hag will have to be an expert firefighter if he’s to repair the damage caused over the past year or so. And this is more than just a case of signing a few players in the hope they’ll improve an underperforming side.
He has so many big decisions to make to cure what looks to be a toxic environment in the dressing room, with his choice of captain vital this summer.
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With Harry Maguire out of the side at the moment, Bruno Fernandes has taken the armband in recent outings, although there were no signs of his leadership having any effect in United’s latest humiliation on the south coast. He did his best though to try and give the air of a defiant leader after the defeat to Brighton.
"I don't want to talk about the future," he told Sky Sports. "We still have one game this season and we have to win.”
That might well have stirred something up in United fans, had they not heard the exact same player take a defeatist attitude at Anfield just over a fortnight ago. “Liverpool are fighting for the title. We are fighting for nothing. That is the difference,” Fernandes said after the 4-0 defeat to their old rivals – it’s worth remembering United were just three points off fourth heading into that game.
Fernandes’ comments are indicative of a club that are not only failing on the pitch, but off it as well. These mixed messages are coming on a regular basis, and show a group of players not acting as if they’re singing from the same hymn sheet. In fact, they show that some of the players aren’t even paying attention to what they said themselves just days previously.
Maguire has also been guilty of dropping his own clangers away from the pitch. The United skipper is in serious danger of having done irreparable damage to his own cause with his ill-timed and tone deaf comments ahead of the Anfield embarrassment, and leaves the incoming manager with the unenviable task of trying to pick a leader out of this wreckage of a season.
The current captain may well be beyond the point of return given the way things have gone across the campaign. Fernandes is the next cab off the rank, but fans have become just as exasperated with his performances – not to mention his petulance on the pitch – and his mixed messages won’t have endeared him any further.
Beyond those two, the obvious choice would be Cristiano Ronaldo, but the obvious question remains over whether he’ll even be at Old Trafford next season. The pictures of him laughing and shaking his head at the Amex on Saturday suggested even he might not have the answer to United’s issues anymore.
Raphael Varane is another experienced head who could take on the mantel, but his injury record this season suggests Ten Hag would be looking for a deputy far too often. David de Gea is perhaps the only other name in the current squad who could be seriously considered for the role, demonstrating just how limited the new manager’s options are.
You’ll often hear the phrase ‘a team of leaders’ being coined for the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City. United this season have proven to be the antithesis of that, and Ten Hag’s decision of who takes on the armband is crucial if he’s to stand any chance of clearing the air in the dressing room, and reuniting his squad with a set of fans who have long lost patience.
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