“We need a reset in the culture of the club. That’s how I feel,” said Juan Mata just before his exit from Manchester United in the summer.
“Many things that need to be clear - this is Manchester United and anyone who doesn't meet those standards is not up to the task and should not be here. That's as clear as I can be.”
After the worst Premier League points tally in their history, the Reds needed an overhaul. Ralf Rangnick suggested 10 players needed signing in the summer while many others feared how long it would take for Erik ten Hag to dig the club out of the mire.
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Two months before Mata’s candid comments, United had sunk to a 4-1 Manchester derby loss, which would be their first of eight winless games in the club’s final 11 Premier League outings of the season.
Speaking after the game, Gary Neville feared for his former club and said they needed to reimplement the camaraderie associated with United that had clearly been lost under Rangnick and perhaps even before his tenure.
"That's the biggest concern as those players have to get that spirit back,” he said. “They've got to get the fight back.” A month later they announced that Ten Hag would be Rangnick’s successor shortly after a 4-0 loss to Liverpool.
Despite a promising pre-season, Ten Hag learned the scale of the task at hand after the opening day loss to Brighton and the 4-0 humiliation to Brentford - two results that now look understandable but are nevertheless still unacceptable.
Ten Hag was placed under immediate pressure before leading United to a 2-1 win over Liverpool in a real landmark result on the night Casemiro was presented to Old Trafford. United have not lost a league game at home since.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s explosive interview threatened to rock the now upright boat but an exit was facilitated and team spirit remained unaffected. In fact, some argue it has bolstered.
Lisandro Martinez’s passion has been clear to see and Casemiro’s emphatic goal celebration after his equaliser in October’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea will be one of the images of the season.
Jamie Carragher recently admitted that there is "something different" going on at United under Ten Hag, who "knows what he’s doing". He added: "There’s a spirit at United that we haven’t seen for five or six years."
And speaking to Sky Sports recently, Ten Hag himself agreed with this analysis. He said: “The team is growing. I see this about the culture of being hard to beat, win games, do it in the United way, in togetherness, and doing it in an attacking and proactive way.”
United have an air of unity about them arguably for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement and fans are rightly getting excited with the club back on track for Champions League football and in the League Cup final.
“The connection between the fans and the club is coming back. There’s a spirit there, when they score a goal, they’re all celebrating,” Carragher went on to say on The Overlap. Neville, sitting next to him, will have been inwardly grinning.
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