The inquiry was devastating, invited by the exhaustion of every other possibility.
At what point Erik, do you account for results in terms of the failures of the coach rather than the players?
Though it was raised by a journalist, it triggered the inescapable thought; how long before Sir Jim Ratcliffe is sitting before Ten Hag putting the same question?
The picture of Ratcliffe with his head in his hands as Mo Salah celebrated Liverpool’s third goal, captured the sense of utter desolation felt around Old Trafford.
It was an image that yelled: “Really? After all we have done, after all the changes made, after a successful transfer window, we are back to this?”
It was an opportunity for Ten Hag to show some humility and accept responsibility for his part in the debacle.
Instead he offered ironic sympathy for his interrogator, said he had a different vision and felt sorry for him that he understood so little about the most successful team in England after Manchester City.
This level of delusion is frankly embarrassing. That Ten Hag should place United above Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Brighton on the basis of last year’s Carabao Cup win and victory over City in the FA Cup is for the playground.
Does Ten Hag really believe United are better than any of the seven teams that finished above them last season?
Currently they sit in 14th place, and were lucky to see off Fulham by the only goal in the opener, just as they were 12 months prior to beat by the same score a Wolves team that also outplayed them at Old Trafford.
That first half at Wembley in May was the best of Ten Hag’s tenure, largely because the coherence and purpose stood in vivid contrast to the dross served up before.
That result, plus the lack of a trusted candidate to replace him, bought Ten Hag another season in his post.
Yet just three games into the new campaign, the debate around United is as febrile as ever, the optimism generated by a well-executed transfer window shredded by a coruscating loss to Liverpool one week after falling to a goal in the fifth minute of added time at Brighton.
Rebirth is the buzzword framing the new regime at Old Trafford, the Ineos leadership seeking a change of narrative and mood. But for that you need a peg on which to hang the new messaging.
What is the game here? Still no-one can tell you to what pattern or style Ten Hag’s United are attached. Still no-one can say what kind of team United are trying to be, what identity they are seeking to establish.
The lack of a recognisable system or shape is the element that most exposes Ten Hag. When moves break down, the players are enmeshed in chaos. Matthijs de Ligt’s arms were aching, so hard were they working to lift spirts and urge his team-mates into some kind of shape.
De Ligt was outstanding before Casemiro self-destructed by gifting Liverpool two opportunities in the space of seven minutes, all his endeavour for nothing.
Kobbie Mainoo is a fine player of excellent technique and high ambition. He tries stuff, but so much of it is instinctive, reacting to the bombs going off around him.
He is a teenager, a kid who needs leading. He is desperate for someone or some framework to guide him, to issue the right prompts to help him find his place in the team. He cannot prosper solving problems off the cuff on his own.
Ratcliffe’s key lieutenants were assembled around him. Sir Dave Brailsford in the next seat along and chief executive Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth and director of football Jason Wilcox immediately in front. The compromise that was Ten Hag’s retention was terribly exposed by a Liverpool team who won standing still.
No new arrivals of any note on the Liverpool roster, save for a new coach who, simply picked Jurgen Klopp’s team and let them get on with it.
Arne Slot’s 100 per cent start to the season is basically a consequence of the structure he inherited. The club knows what it is doing and operates according to methods with which the players are familiar. Slot will have his tweaks and refinements but, essentially, he is playing Kloppball.
This was Ratcliffe’s big idea, to establish a style of play and roll it out down the age groups at United. In the context of a reboot, the coach is central to that process. Ineos passed their own judgment on Ten Hag by scouring Europe for alternatives in the summer.
Perhaps the FA Cup win perverted the club’s thinking and caught them off guard.
Three games is a small sample, but when added to the greater body of Ten Hag’s work it constitutes a professional death spiral.
Not only does Ten Hag appear incapable of taking United forward, he might even be setting them back. A technical department deemed super smart for delivering a successful transfer window must surely recognise that. Perhaps retaining Ten Hag is Ratcliffe’s first misstep, a can that can’t keep being kicked down the road.
