In his latest column for Sky Sports, Paul Merson reacts to the news of Erik ten Hag’s departure from Manchester United…
Merson: Ten Hag has had his chance
I’m not shocked.
It’s got to a stage at Man Utd where a goalless draw at Aston Villa is a great result. It’s gone so far the other way with United now. Where they were and where they are now, it’s light years in difference.
Ten Hag had his chance. It’s not like he had only 10 minutes at the club. I think he had enough time to change things at Old Trafford and the gulf between United and the top teams has got bigger, not smaller in that time.
I think this is for the best.
Too many times in Ten Hag’s reign they had Polyfilla results. After a poor run, they always had a game where they were expected to win, and they won. Every time he’s been under pressure, he’s had a nice game to relieve it.
That didn’t come this time.
Has he bridged the gap? No. Has the gap got bigger? Yes. How many players has he improved? None. If I’m the owner of a club and I’m looking at the manager and looking around and I’m seeing no improvement in the players, that’s a concern.
Ten Hag didn’t improve the players at Man Utd and at a top club like United, you have to do that. Your job is to make players better.
‘Cups not enough for Man Utd’
Anybody can win a cup.
Last season, Chelsea lost in a semi-final and probably should have won a final in a season that really wasn’t great for them. They had their day a few times last season but they weren’t consistent. That’s Man Utd.
Inconsistent teams can give you a cup run. On their day, they can beat anybody. They can be a nine out of 10 but they are not capable of producing eight out of 10 every week. That’s what the big boys do.
The name of the game in football now is to get into the Champions League. That’s where you start. You go from there.
The game has changed. At the start of the season, every top manager at a top club will be told top four. If you can win a trophy in between that, great.
Man Utd are not doing that and they would have taken a top-four finish over a trophy. I know they beat Man City at Wembley and they stopped their rivals doing the double, but Man Utd want Champions League football.
‘I have no idea what Man Utd under Ten Hag tried to do’
There wasn’t a style of play or structure on the field at Man Utd.
I didn’t know how Man Utd played under him or what the idea was. I don’t know what the trigger was for them to press. I don’t know when they drop off. I didn’t see any plan of what they were trying to do.
I see a plan from Tottenham. I see a style from Liverpool, definitely. The same at Man City and Arsenal. I’m even starting to see it at Chelsea.
They are playing it out from the back, and they are taking a chance. It’s something for the fans to hold onto and get behind.
At United, we haven’t seen that. It wasn’t there under Ten Hag at Man Utd.
It reminds me of 11 top-class players who have been released by clubs all over the world. They have just been dropped in at Man Utd and brought together to play. There doesn’t seem to be a plan or a togetherness there.
‘Recruitment hasn’t been good enough’
I don’t think the signings made under Ten Hag were great. They bought in a lot of players where another coach may come in and look at the squad and go, ‘absolutely not’.
For a player like Rasmus Hojlund, a young striker, they paid an awful lot of money out for him. Striker is a hard position and it’s been a struggle for him. He’s not really improved since joining United. It’s a signing that gives you the vibe that Ten Hag was planning for being at Old Trafford for a long time.
More recently, Matthijs de Ligt has come in. He’s been at Bayern Munich and Juventus. Both clubs got rid of him. I think that tells you a lot of the story.
Who actually has been a good signing under Ten Hag? Antony for £80m, that’s bordering on a sackable offence in itself.
How many players, off the top of your head, can you think of that have ripped it up in Holland and come and continued that in the Premier League? There aren’t loads. People will say Dennis Bergkamp but he came to Arsenal from Inter Milan.
The recruitment just hasn’t been great and that is something that has got to improve going forward.
‘Man Utd have to start all over again’
Man Utd need a new plan. They need a new project.
They have to give a timescale and stick to it. They cannot be changing managers again in six months’ time.
This manager had a lot of say. He bought in his players; he bought in new staff and a lot of people have gone behind the scenes. There’s been a lot of change. Now a new manager will come in and there could be a lot of change again. But now there has to be the understanding that this is going to take time.
There’s a feeling that Man Utd are trying to sprint before they can run, but they’ve got try and learn to walk again.
Behind the scenes, this new structure at United has now got to come together.
It won’t happen overnight but there’s got to be unity now and the understanding that this could take five years, minimum, to turn around.
There are no quick fixes. The progression will be slow, and they have to accept that. There’s going to be pain. They are going to have to take their medicine on players like Antony in the transfer market.
They are going to have to start all over again.
This used to be the job everyone would queue around the block for many years ago. I don’t see that being the case now. It’s not a great job, now. They are a million miles away from challenging.
But anyone who is offered it has to take it. It’s still one of the biggest clubs in the world.
‘Tough decisions now need to be made at Old Trafford’
He’s not going to go to Old Trafford because why would he? He won’t leave Real Madrid.
However, I have always felt United have needed a figure like Carlo Ancelotti.
They need a manager with experience who can come in for a year or two and report to the powers that be about the football side of things.
He’s been around top players all his life and he could run the rule over the squad. He could report back and say who needs persevering with and who needs letting go.
That’s what needs to happen at Man Utd. They need someone with experience who can give them some time as they try to sort this mess out.
This is a big job.
Tough decisions need to be made.
This won’t turnaround quickly. You could put Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp in at Old Trafford, but they wouldn’t turn this around quickly. It’s going to take a long time to fix.