GTECH STADIUM – If the Hoover Dam were to burst, and you turned up to the clean-up effort with a packet of Kleenex, you might get a sense of the arduousness of the latest task Christian Eriksen has been given at Manchester United.
Erik ten Hag is desperately trying to mop up the mess he has been left in midfield and there was a logic to putting Eriksen in a deeper role. In the defeat to Brighton, he had begun in the middle of a front three, in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo; it had taken 78 minutes for Scott McTominay to be hauled off, and the Dane shifted into his place. It prompted an immediate improvement, so at Brentford Ten Hag sought to plug the gap with the playmaker once again.
Here lies the end of the cursed McTominay-Fred pivot which endured for an unfathomable length of time. On one hand, it was a necessity because it provided one extra dimension of protection against this hapless defence, with a centre-back of 5’9” who – prepare to be shocked here – has struggled to adapt to the physicality of the Premier League. Ben Mee says thank you very much for the free header.
Together, though, McTominay and Fred left United devoid of creativity. That is why they were so keen to sign Eriksen, whose position was not an absolute priority – but he was free, and he had shown in his brief months at Brentford what a difference he makes. And to think, the Bees wondered how they would ever survive without him.
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“We give options, players have to choose,” he said of De Gea’s ball out. Ten Hag also accepted it was “naïve” to play out from the back with Brentford pressing so high; he now finds himself questioning his strategy with a goalkeeper who is weak on the ball – and wasn’t in “shot-stopping” mood either judging by the first howler – and a defensive pairing of Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez. It is a recipe for disaster and that is what the start of United’s season has turned into.
Ten Hag is subsequently their first manager in more than 100 years to lose his opening two matches. United, meanwhile, are on their worst run of form away from home since 1936; they have lost their last seven on the road, compared to 10 nine decades ago.
The pity is that with their new manager lacking time, quick solutions threaten to clip the wings of the talent he does have. At Tottenham, so many of Eriksen’s great assists came from more incisive passes, not speculative balls into a centre-forward – in this case, Ronaldo – who was being totally controlled by Pontuss Jansson. Now there’s a sentence you never thought you’d read.
In Ten Hag’s defence, it’s not like he didn’t see this coming. Frenkie de Jong was the one signing he explicitly asked for, and whatever you make of the plan to turn United into the Ajax of 2018-19, once again the head coach has been let down by the Glazers and the rest of the hierarchy. Adrien Rabiot will not fix this, but it should not be Eriksen’ job either.
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What stemmed the tide eventually, albeit at half-time when it was far too late, was the three substitutions of Raphael Varane, Tyrell Malacia and Scott McTominay in place of Luke Shaw, Martinez and Fred. Malacia was better equipped than Shaw to deal with the pace of Bryan Mbeumo. McTominay may not be the glamorous option but he did a more effective job than Fred in combatting Vitaly Janelt and Shandon Baptiste.
Ten Hag will not want to join the pantheon of esteemed United bosses who were ridiculed and sacked, only for the world to belatedly realise that they alone were not the problem. Ralf Rangnick warned in April that up to 10 signings were needed. It was predictable, in fact inevitable, that the board did not deliver anything close to an overhaul and they are now paying the price. Again.
Eriksen could so easily be freed up to make the front three tick if he had a midfield two behind him as he did in his Spurs heyday – a Victor Wanyama to do the horrible bits, Moussa Dembele to carry the ball forward. Instead, he is left flitting between positions and it made for a painful return to the capital. “You should have stayed at a big club,” sang the Brentford fans. “You’re only there for the money” was another taunt – an unfair one, but the 30-year-old must be left wondering what exactly he is there for. As he was jeered off and replaced with Donny van de Beek, he could hardly leave the pitch quickly enough.
There are two weeks left for United to invest properly in this midfield. It won’t happen of course, and there is just one week until they face Liverpool for what could well be an even greater humiliation, if that’s possible.
They may not use the Eriksen experiment again, for it was only a temporary solution. At least it was a sign that Ten Hag is trying to make the best of a bad job in impossible circumstances – essentially what managing Manchester United is these days.
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