Bad signings, no identity and big losses: Here's how Erik ten Hag got it wrong at Man United

Erik ten Hag's 2 1/2-year tenure at Manchester United will divide opinion.

He ended United's longest trophy drought in nearly 40 years, claiming two domestic cups — and beating fierce rival Manchester City in one of the finals.

Yet, there were too many humiliating moments and matches for a team of United's stature to accept, making his departure on Monday pretty much inevitable.

Here's a look at what went wrong for the Dutchman at Old Trafford:

SPENDING

Ten Hag oversaw the spending of around 615 million pounds ($800 million) on players since his arrival at Old Trafford in the summer of 2022. In the Premier League, only Chelsea has spent more in that time. Yet, few of the signings were a success and there was a short-sightedness involved, given the majority were either Dutch players — and therefore well-known to Ten Hag — or had previously played in the Netherlands. Just this summer, United spent around $240 million on five new signings — two being Netherlands internationals in Joshua Zirkzee and Matthijs de Ligt and another, Noussair Mazraoui, who played under Ten Hag at Ajax. Undoubtedly the biggest flop has been Brazil winger Antony, who followed Ten Hag by joining for $95 million from Ajax but barely plays.

STYLE

Arguably the biggest criticism of Ten Hag has been his inability to instill a distinguishable philosophy or style of play at Old Trafford. Under the Dutchman, United has been a “moments” team — a far cry from the cohesive and attractive side he built at Ajax. Managers like Ange Postecoglou (Tottenham), Unai Emery (Aston Villa) and Arne Slot (Liverpool) have quickly established a clear identity at their respective teams despite being in charge for less time than Ten Hag. Across town, Manchester City — under Pep Guardiola — has been playing some of the best soccer ever seen in the English game. Meanwhile, Ten Hag has appeared to stumble through matches, without United showing a clear pattern of play and the team relying on big individual moments to score goals. Tactically, Ten Hag has been found out many times, too. Just last week, he surprised fans by deploying Mazraoui — a fullback — as a No. 10 in a Europa League game, when United drew 1-1 at 10-men Fenerbahce.

STATISTICS

Ten Hag will leave United with a couple of trophies but far too many big defeats and bad statistics. United is currently on its worst ever start to a Premier League season — 14th place and 11 points after nine games — and that comes hot on the heels of its worst finish — eighth — in the Premier League era (since 1992). The 7-0 loss at Liverpool last season was the heaviest defeat at its fiercest rival, its worst competitive defeat in more than 90 years, and surely the low point in his tenure that has also featured a 6-3 loss at Man City, 4-0 losses at Brentford and Crystal Palace, and a last-place finish in a Champions League group containing Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen.

SITUATION

There will be some sympathy for Ten Hag, who might have been destined to fail because he was a good coach simply at United at the wrong time. His entire tenure has been dogged with upheaval and behind-the-scenes change, whether it was the first two years when United was up for sale — and its American owners were heavily criticized for how they run the club — or the last few months when United was adjusting to its fresh soccer leadership fronted by new minority owner Jim Ratcliffe. However, Ten Hag has always had plenty of money to spend, whoever he was reporting to, and should clearly have been doing better with the standard of players at his disposal. United needs a big personality to get the club out of its current malaise and competing with the likes of City, Liverpool and Arsenal — and Ten Hag never seemed to be the man for that.