We could see what the goal, his first in the Premier League, meant to Rasmus Hojlund, his face stretched out of shape by the force of primal responses. In front of him, the Stretford End convulsed. Behind him, Erik ten Hag danced on the touchline, busting all manner of awkward avuncular shapes.
The goal had turned his night around. It might also have saved his Old Trafford career. At half time, Ten Hag was swept down the tunnel to the howl of boos. His abject Manchester United team were playing him out of a job, two down to Aston Villa with seemingly no way back.
And then, in an eerie evocation of another day in a distant epoch, Hojlund swung his left peg at the ball in an instinctive blur and watched it fly in off a post. It was United’s third goal in a febrile 22-minute spell in which Alejandro Garnacho gave his finest display in a red shirt and Hojlund changed the arc of history.
Those with longer memories will recall a similar outcome 33 years ago, when Sir Alex Ferguson took his team to Nottingham Forest in the third round of the FA Cup looking for gold. He was in his fourth season as Manchester United manager. Then, as now, the natives were restless. Brought in to resurrect the fortunes of a fading institution, Ferguson bought big but the alchemy that split the Old Firm atom in Scotland eluded him in Manchester.
The magic of Aberdeen remained stubbornly out of reach until Mark Robins stooped to head in a cross from the outside of Mark Hughes’ boot to send United into the fourth round.
Ferguson would go on to win the trophy and lay the foundations for the most successful period in the history of English football.
The conditions that allowed Ferguson to dominate are no longer in Ten Hag’s favour.
Football in the age of sovereign wealth funds and private equity muscle has stripped United of their economic advantage.
Ten Hag cannot spend his way out of the mess the club has become, but he might just be able to coach them towards a competitive space that gives the Ineos takeover of football operations something on which to build.
Ten Hag had become increasingly isolated in his conviction that the squad before us was worth our time. What we were seeing bore no resemblance to what he was saying. Talk of resilience, fight, togetherness, progress, talent, desire, etc. were just flighty abstractions parroted by a coach seemingly on the edge of insanity.
With Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s first lieutenant, Sir Dave Brailsford, in the director’s box, Ten Hag had to show his new masters something to persuade them that the Premier League table was not the reality but a false indicator of the true, bejewelled picture that would reveal itself in time.
Ten Hag revealed after the Villa win how he had spent many a session at the shoulder of Hojlund convincing the young Dane he had the credentials to thrive in the Premier League. He is after all, scoring at a goal a game for Denmark and exited the Champions League as the competition’s top scorer.
“When strikers don’t score it is always a problem but he has a strong character and a big personality, which is what a striker needs,” Ten Hag said.
“When he keeps investing, the goals will come and he will score more. I had several talks with him. I pointed out he scored a lot for Denmark and scored in the Champions League, so that demonstrated ability. He had to believe in it.”
Hojlund is essentially a raw recruit at a mature price. He has the all the elements a striker needs to prosper, save for experience. He cannot work any harder. But he can be smarter. Against Villa the ball fell before him and he responded instinctively. The requirement for thought was removed. Boom. Back of the net.
The signs were already there before the goal. The deployment on the right of right-footed Garnacho changed the dynamic importantly, allowing the Argentine rapier to beat defenders on the outside and fire in the kind of crosses that Hojlund needs, not to mention rattle in the goals.
It required other stars to settle in a new constellation to improve the whole. Kobbie Mainoo in tandem with Christian Eriksen behind Bruno Fernandes flourished in a reshaped midfield and Marcus Rashford looked reborn on the left.
To validate the Villa victory United must do it all again at Forest on Saturday without falling asleep at set pieces, just as Ferguson’s team did all those years ago. This has to be the start of something substantial for Ten Hag to hold on. After all, United beat Chelsea at a fair clip three weeks ago only to chuck it in against Bayern Munich, Bournemouth and West Ham.
The Ineos venture awaits ratification in the New Year. Ten Hag is also under review. The former is a formality. Ten Hag still has much to do to make the numbers work for him.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/frTqFn9
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