Whenever Manchester United encounter a turbulent period of form, references associated with the past tend to emerge at Old Trafford. A countless number of ex-players who now work in the media regularly refer back to their own experiences during their playing days when analysing problems at the club.
The glory days produced by Sir Alex Ferguson haven't been forgotten by those who took part. The sides produced by the legendary Scot are fondly remembered on the red half of Manchester, although exactly what made them so great is open for debate.
Earlier this week, Gary Neville explained why Antonio Conte wasn't the right man to manage his former club. The Sky Sports pundit seemed to agree with an interview given by Jurgen Klopp after his team's 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield, with the Liverpool boss criticising Conte's defensive tactics.
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"I don't like this football, but that's my personal problem," said the Liverpool boss. "They are world class and I think they should be doing more for the game."
Jamie Carragher responded by highlighting that Neville had contradicted himself by previously naming Diego Simeone as fitting for the role — despite his defensive nature as a coach — to which Neville replied: "Simeone 4-4-2, aggressive style. Proper United, that. Conte wing-backs? No."
Aside from the Atletico Madrid boss actually using variations of a back three more often than 4-4-2 this season, there is a lot wrong with Neville's comments. His logic captures how the supposed 'United DNA' has always seemed to be more of an abstract idea depending on the viewpoint of the person involved.
United are widely associated with offensive football, proactive defending, crossing, counter-attacking, speed, wingers, power and a never-say-die mentality among other conceptual elements. According to Neville, the club's identity even stretches to a team formation, with 4-4-2 described as 'proper United' by the former full-back.
Simeone has used 4-4-2 fairly often over the years, but he's rarely coupled his shape with the sort of attack-minded football that Ferguson is commonly affiliated with. This season, Atletico Madrid place 37th against the 98 teams from Europe's top five leagues for possession, posting 51 per cent on average in La Liga. For goals scored, Simeone's men place 19th. For shots, 44th. For touches in the penalty box, 26th.
Against Pep Guardiola and Manchester City in the Champions League recently, the Spanish side even adopted a 5-5-0 shape for a short period as a means of nullifying the dangers posed by City in the final third.
Aside from an intense defensive game and a loose link with 4-4-2, Simeone appears just as unconnected to United's trademark style as Conte. In fact, the Italian's teams actually seem to perform in a more attacking manner across the board, but all while deploying wing-backs on a regular basis.
What does an authentic United team actually look like? Despite the undeniable dominance of the sides managed by Ferguson for two decades, the United were successful for a whole host of reasons under his leadership, and not all of them should form part of United's fixed identity.
Formations are changing and evolving all of the time, sometimes on several occasions during the course of a 90-minute match. The 4-4-2 was merely a skeleton for Ferguson. The team's go-to formation was not considered as an underlying principle of play. He actually evolved it to 4-3-3 in the late 2000s anyway.
As a consequence of the ambiguity surrounding what does and does not form part of United's lifeblood, perhaps Erik ten Hag should benefit from a clean slate of sorts upon his arrival in England. The Ajax coach will assume control at Carrington at the end of the season, and he must be free from any predetermined ideas surrounding what his team should look like if he's to imprint his own philosophy on the squad.
With the exception of the fundamental demand for 'attacking football' — which still means different things to different people — Ten Hag must be allowed to do things his own way.
If he's successful, conversations about what used to make United great will likely happen a lot less.
