After their embarrassing 'performance' against Spurs, it became clearer that MUFC have a culture issue that predates Erik ten Hag.
He is the man in charge now, but in the years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, we've come to face the same problems time and time again.
David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho (which is where I believe this culture issue truly began), Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick and now Erik ten Hag. Six different managers all had a reoccurring problem: the club culture.
For some reason, Man Utd have changed from being this club where everyone associated with it had a burning desire to be the best and win. No matter what, that were the only two things that mattered.
Of course, other aspects of being a United player would've mattered such as the money, fame, the brands and the simple fact of saying 'I'm a Man Utd player' were all motivators to be part of the Red Devils but that will to win was the major fuel behind every player whenever they were at our once great club.
In the decade following Sir Alex's retirement, that winning culture has taken a complete 180. It appears that now all that's good enough for these players is the money, fame and status rather than being the best.
They'll say the right things and do what needs to be done to a certain extent, but come matchday, we see something else entirely, something that doesn't conform with what our club is all about.
What we saw against Spurs was one of the worst performances in recent times, a performance where the team didn't show up.
This isn't the first time we've said this.
I can't count how many times I've had to say this over the years.
I never did under Sir Alex.
People say that we (MUFC fans) like to keep living in the past and that we're not the club we used to be, which is correct. But the standard always remains and is something current manager ten Hag says quite a lot in that his team has to conform to this standard.
The current crop should look to the teams of the past and find some inspiration from them. A lot of them look up to those players as heros and idols. Would those idols have EVER performed like they did yesterday? Will those same idols have not turned up to games?
That's one thing from the past we should never let go of: the standard.
But it seems like that doesn't matter anymore regardless of how many times ten Hag says it does.
I was really disappointed in Diogo Dalot yesterday. I know he's out of position and is having to do a job for the team but this was the first performance in all his time at United where it looked like he couldn't give a shit.
I've seen him play badly a couple of times before but that wasn't for a lack of trying. The game against Spurs looked like he wasn't.
In one player, he summed up United. Dalot couldn't pass straight, he couldn't control the ball, he was slow to react to things, his marking was poor, he lacked concentration. The full-back looked slow and lethargic. These aren't things we ever associate with Dalot yet it was plain to see.
The team were the exact same.
This is why I say it's more of a club culture problem as players like Dalot didn't even show up. This is from a player who is an ultimate professional and was singled out by Ronaldo in that interview as one of the players who does have the right mindset.
It seems that no matter how good a player is or how strong their mentality is, after joining United, eventually, they will become shite.
Bruno Fernandes is another example.
In his first few seasons at the club, brilliant. Superb. Amazing. Magnificent.
Last season and so far this, he has been a shadow of his former self. I've even noticed a lack of whining and bickering from the captain something that, although quite frustrating, was a part of what made Bruno the player he is. Even that is gone as well.
We also see very little creativity from him nowadays. He doesn't make as many chances, the assists are nowhere to be found, his goals have disappeared.
Before, he would lead the team, he would show those leadership qualities, his performances were ones that the rest of his team-mates could look up to and follow. This was before he became captain.
Perhaps that's also part of the reason as to why we've seen this fall from Bruno: the captaincy. Maybe the weight of the armband is too much for the Portuguese to handle? He wouldn't be the first to have this problem.
He just doesn't seem to be a player who's enjoying his football at the moment. His red card, albeit unlucky imo, was a reflection of where he's at right now. There was no need for the foul whether reckless or not. Absolutely silly from the man who's supposed to lead the team.
Even the new players looked well out of their depth. Yes it is only early days for Mazraoui, De Ligt, Ugarte and Zirkzee but they were as bad as everyone else. Mazraoui was torn a new one by Timo Werner. With all due respect to the German but if he's causing you a lot of problems, then you have a problem.
Zirkzee looks a player low on confidence as everything he did was poor. De Ligt was reckless and out of control at times unnecessarily. Ugarte looked like a fish out of water. Not a great start for a player we have high hopes for, a man that I call the messiah because we need a savior.
Conversely, when looking at those who've left the club, while it is early days for them as well, they too look different class.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka looks like a player reborn at West Ham (at least the couple of times I've seen him play for his new club), Jadon Sancho is always involved with everything good Chelsea do and Scott McTominay does appear to be Maradona reincarted when watching his highlights for Napoli.
Even Fred who left after the 22/23 season, is a mainstay and regular good performer for Fenerbahce. In one of his recent matches, the Brazilian scored a hat-trick.
Fred scored a hat-trick.
Donny van de Beek received some praise by Spanish media after a recent start for new club Girona against PSG in the Champions League.
I also think that the impatience we see in the fan base and media don't help. I'm not saying that their opinions on players and the manager are wrong as perhaps they aren't good enough, but we do like to jump on players and the manager as soon as things go wrong.
Indeed ten Hag and some players have been here long enough to have shown signs of improvement but when looking at the manager's first season, he over achieved, last season he was decimated by injuries and this season so far is the only one where I'd say it's mainly on him as he hasn't been good enough.
However, I do feel that we have shown improvements in our style of play even if there isn't a clear identity. But compared to last season, we saw no identity nor style of play.
We now in general, create good chances, we keep more possession, it isn't given away as easily, we don't concede too many chances. The only main worry has not been scoring.
And this is where the impatience comes in and the club culture being a problem.
If we give the manager a little more time, perhaps we can see this style flourish even more so now that he has a lot of the players he wanted.
Thanks to the culture problem that infects everyone who joins the club though, regardless of who he has and how he wants to play, if the players aren't up for it, then what difference does it make?
It's clear that there isn't only one problem at the club. There's too many issues to pin it onto one person or even a couple of people.
I think the club hierarchy have to set the tone of the club. For too long, much like the stadium, it has been allowed to rot and fall apart into what we've seen these last 10 years. Bringing in players with the wrong mentality and attitude that end up infecting the rest and not doing anything about it has been a major cause for our downfall.
Also not getting rid of those bad apples plays a part in keeping this poor culture alive.
Player power was something that we all knew was a problem and I don't think we've truly removed it.
I'm not solely blaming the players but they do have all of the responsibility whenever they step foot onto the pitch. It is then all on them.
As much as people can say that the manager is not good enough, he needs players that will give him everything more often than not. I believe that then is the only time we can truly judge ten Hag as he will have no place to hide.
Finally, I just want to say, I never really thought about the players not turning up again this season. I thought that was gone. How foolish of me. But as it is ten Hag's third season and he has a lot of the players he wanted, I thought this really was all on him.
As we can see though, the players are still a massive issue as they can turn it on or off whenever they want to.
To not know whether your team will show up or not is a problem. That is unacceptable.
Background Image: Erik ten Hag | Creator: James Gill - Danehouse | Credit: Getty Images via SuperSport