Is this
Manchester United team frustratingly inconsistent or beautifully chaotic? United have been moulded into Erik ten Hag's vision, he's spent more than £400million across two summer transfer windows, and they have become agents of chaos. "I cannot take this seriously, I think it's so obvious," said Ten Hag last week about United's style of play. "I think we play very good football, against the biggest teams we get ourselves in winning positions not by luck. It's by playing decent football. We dominated against
Chelsea." United should have won at Stamford Bridge, but by the end of that madcap game they'd faced more shots (225) in 2024 than any other side in Europe's big-five leagues. Many supporters feared an onslaught from a title-chasing
Liverpool on Sunday and Jurgen Klopp's side had recorded 14 shots to United's none when half-time arrived. ALSO READ: United player ratings as Mainoo good vs Liverpool ALSO READ: United fans have made their feelings clear on Greenwood But Liverpool failed to score a second goal before the interval, which meant that United were still hanging in the game and could get something in the second half. Jarell Quansah's mistake preceded a world-class finish from Bruno Fernandes and the chaos returned from that moment. That suited United, who began to create opportunities. Liverpool looked rattled and Kobbie Mainoo's tremendous strike teased another unlikely victory. Ultimately United only got a result because of two moments of exceptional individual quality and that red flag has been frequently raised this term. Gary Neville, who was on commentary for Sky Sports, likened United's performance to children playing
Football in a schoolyard and he's not the first to make that comparison. United fans are split on Ten Hag. After an excellent first year for Ten Hag, it became clear by October that United had become hopelessly erratic, which is why they're set to fail to qualify for the
Champions League. United simply haven't been consistent enough this season, their structure is poor, they often look disjointed and the attacking press is disorganised. They concede far too many chances on goal and don't give themselves the best chance of seeing out a positive result. If United had anything about them, they would have seen out the victory after Mainoo's goal. Of course, Aaron Wan-Bissaka was responsible for conceding the penalty for the equaliser, but it always felt like Liverpool would score given the chances and possession they had. Although it's been a treat for neutrals to watch United on TV because they're guaranteed entertainment, they have given season ticket holders heart palpitations. Remarkably, Ten Hag has defended his style of play - it would go down better if he could explain what it was - and he's insisted that conceding so many shots isn't a problem. So in other words, if he's to continue as manager next season, then chaos will continue to reign. Ten Hag has been unable to fix the tactical problems that are seen each week and believing they will be solved when everyone is fit is naive, as the issues are not due to personnel. Ten Hag's future will not be decided by an isolated result or a specific performance - it will be decided on close to 24 months of evidence and naturally, there will be recency bias. The Dutchman has embraced chaos when it's his remit to prevent it. It would be brilliant if United could control matches and win comfortably on a semi-regular basis. It's understood Omar Berrada, who has been poached from
Manchester City to become United's CEO, will make the decision on Ten Hag and key figures at the Etihad certainly wouldn't accept the standard and style of the performances that have been produced this season. Berrada is cut from the same cloth and will understand United are underperforming. Someone must put an end to the chaos on the pitch at Old Trafford.