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👆 This is what David Moyes had to say back in December 2013 after United narrowly beat Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.

Fast forward a decade, and we can safely say that we are in pretty much the same position.

Consistency 👌.

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When looking at the start to the season, Erik ten Hag somehow managed to improve upon Man Utd's joint-worst start to a Premier League campaign last year by racking up a total of 8 points this term compared to last season's 9.

He's also managed to score fewer goals (5) this season after seven games which is 2 fewer than last season and 6 fewer than his first.

United are also in 14th which again, is worse than this time last year when we sat 10th in the league which was worse than season 22/23 when we were 6th.

We've won fewer games, scored fewer goals and sit further down as the season's have gone by under ten Hag.

He's managed to be crapper than crap. Takes some doing. Fair play to him.

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Unlike the excuses of it being his first season, not being properly backed and a whole host of injuries, there really is nowhere to hide for ten Hag as this campaign (his third), he's best equipped to go on and have a good season.

So far though, we are closer to relegation than the top 4 😬.

So what does he need to improve?

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Best team

The biggest thing for me is finding his strongest team and sticking with it regularly.

I don't think there's any fan out there that can give us what would be ten Hag's strongest XI. I struggle to predict his lineups for matchdays.

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He has come in for some criticism by his players for his rotation. According to the Daily Mail, they've said that United's players are "puzzled" at the manager's rotation and using the excuse that they look "tired" is confusing.

While I disagree with the players questioning ten Hag's decisions, I will say that it is puzzling to me who and when he rotates.

Benching I mean rotating 👀, Marcus Rashford for the draw at Palace was confusing after the forward managed to find some form in the previous games. He picked up 3 goals and 2 assists in the wins over Southampton and Barnsley making everyone think that perhaps this is where his season starts and hopefully see Rashy return to form.

ten Hag then rotated Rashford - which was a surprise because he NEVER did that before - at Selhurst Park. He then did something even more silly as in the draw at Porto, Rashford scored and assisted whilst also being our biggest threat going forward. ten Hag subbed him at halftime to the beffudlement of all.

We suspected that change was because of injury simply because of how strange it was.

Not rotating the likes of Eriksen and Bruno shows that the manager is contradictory in that he's only willing to change certain players but not all.

Something has to change with this.

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Identity

While many have complained about the lack of a style of play, I disagree as we see that ten Hag does want his team to play out from the back; Dalot inverts into midfield to allow the CM to push forward and give us an extra body in attack while maintaining a solid defensive cover; he wants his defensive line high so as to squeeze the opposition in their half; there is a high press; and we've seen the improvement in chance creation.

It may not be consistent and easy on the eye, there is something.

But therein lies the problem: consistency.

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For United to play in this way, we need to implement this style week in, week out and the team needs to play in this way constantly. This allows everyone to get used to it a lot more and make it easier for them to play 'ten Hag ball' as the games roll on.

The manager also needs to pick a consistent side, one which has the ability to play his style. Ideally, you'd want the entire squad to be able to play in this manner so that when changes are made, the style remains, similar to what the best teams do.

As we're not at that level (yet 🤞) we first need to establish a proper playing style and clear identity with the first team. We cannot be changing our XI and style based on the opponent and/or location.

If we want to be a big club again, we HAVE to play as WE want and have others adjust to us. It will take time but the more the manager sways away from this the longer it will take and I doubt he'll be here to enforce it.

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Favoritism

This needs to stop. Erik ten Hag can no longer have favorites. If they're performing, no problem, when they're not, drop or rotate them as he says. This goes for all players but he does seem to favor some over others.

It has been surprising to see him rotate Rashford because as we know, the doctor is his adopted son (not really). The fact that he is now dropping/rotating him shows that there are signs of improvement in reducing his favoritism as Rashford was probably at the top of that favorites list.

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Bruno was the next and is still picked regardless of his performances. Understandably, as the captain, it does make things slightly more iffy for ten Hag to drop Bruno but just because he is the skipper shouldn't be a reason to keep selecting him when he is underperforming.

For a while now, Fernandes has been nowhere near good enough. He's only gotten 3 assists this season. No goals so far.

It isn't all about stats but as we know with Bruno, even when he's playing badly, he can still produce those moments.

Those have disappeared this season.

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Many (including myself) have called for him to be dropped and would like to see Eriksen pushed further forward with new signing Ugarte given some game time in that midfield.

That overturned red card wasn't a good thing in my opinion. I would've liked to have seen how we play without him.

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Other things I'd like to see improve with ten Hag is for him to be a lot more honest, much like he was in his first season. I'd also like for him to be a bit more animated on the touchline and not just stand there with his hands in his pocket. As a fan, I do enjoy seeing my manager give it out to players, linesman, fourth officials and referees. It just shows that he cares.

Of course a lot of this depends on the players. Some of them may not have the quality to play and do what ten Hag wants but more than anything and as we've said on multiple occasions over the years, we don't know whether the players will show up or not.

Then it doesn't matter what the manager does.

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The next four league games after the international break are super important should Erik ten Hag want to stay at the club until after the November internationals.

• Brentford (H)
• West Ham (A)
• Leicester (H)
• Chelsea (H)

Come out of those unscathed and he should be here at least until Christmas. Lose one or two...

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Background Image: Erik ten Hag | Image credit: Getty Images via Goal