The stakes are larger for Erik ten Hag in his second season at Manchester United.
A 12 months into one of the vital daunting jobs in world soccer, the Dutch coach has spent huge and made some even greater calls.
As a end result, he’s now anticipated to deliver the nice instances again to United.
While Ten Hag’s first season was successful on many ranges, there have been additionally blunt reminders of the work wanted to be finished to show his staff into a real Premier League title contender.
He delivered his first trophy by successful the League Cup and likewise secured a return to the Champions League.
There have been notable wins in opposition to Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Barcelona, in addition to a feel-good issue amongst supporters after a decade of decline because the retirement of United nice Alex Ferguson.
PHOTOS: Man United supervisor Ten Hag has spent huge and now the stress is on to problem Man City
Under Ten Hag’s steering, Marcus Rashford scored a career-best 30 targets.
Those have been the highs.
At the opposite finish of the size there have been humbling losses. United was routed 4-0 by Brentford, 6-3 by City and 7-0 by Liverpool, which was the membership’s heaviest aggressive defeat in 90 years.
United additionally superior to the FA Cup ultimate, however was comfortably overwhelmed by City. The 2-1 rating line didn’t mirror City’s dominance in that match.
In dropping that ultimate at Wembley Stadium, not solely did United fail to cease City’s treble of titles, which additionally included the Premier League and Champions League, however the sport underlined the hole that also existed between the groups.
In response, Ten Hag has made huge calls within the offseason.
Long-standing goalkeeper David De Gea was launched when his contract expired and changed by Andre Onana, who will higher enable Ten Hag to give attention to constructing play from protection.
Harry Maguire has been stripped of the captaincy, with Bruno Fernandes taking on.
The United supervisor has additionally discovered an unlikely alternative for Cristiano Ronaldo at heart ahead. Despite being repeatedly linked with a transfer for Harry Kane, Ten Hag opted to signal the largely untried Rasmus Højlund, who was purchased from Atalanta for a price that would attain 72 million kilos ($92 million),
“I think he has such a huge potential,” Ten Hag mentioned of the 20-year-old Denmark worldwide, including “the whole team was waiting for a type like him”.
There is little doubt United wanted extra targets, even after Rashford’s excellent marketing campaign.
Its return of 58 targets in 38 league video games final season was the fewest of any staff within the prime six.
While United describe Højlund as one of many “best players in the world for his age group,” he has been handed an enormous duty to fill the void left by Ronaldo’s departure final 12 months.
He remains to be to play 100 senior video games and solely scored 10 targets in all competitions final season.
He will face comparisons with Erling Haaland at City, regardless of the very fact they’re at completely different levels of their improvement.
But United will want him to ship shortly to offer the targets the staff lacked final season.
Ten Hag’s different key addition to his squad is England midfielder Mason Mount, who joined from Chelsea for 55 million kilos ($69 million) and was instantly given the enduring No 7. shirt worn by United greats like Ronaldo, David Beckham and Eric Cantona.
The summer time enterprise takes his whole switch spending to 334.6 million kilos ($426.3 million) in his time at Old Trafford.
That kind of expenditure provides to the stress on Ten Hag to return the membership to the summit of English soccer sooner, slightly than later.
By comparability, Pep Guardiola has spent 230.8 million kilos ($294.1 million) over the identical interval.
United has definitely backed its supervisor, each available in the market and with the daring selections he has remodeled the squad he inherited.
Maguire was the most costly defender in soccer when he signed from Leicester for 80 million kilos (then $97 million) in 2019. Despite that, and his standing as membership captain, Ten Hag benched him for a lot of final season and has now stripped him of the armband.
United can be fortunate to get again a lot of Maguire’s unique value if he’s bought this offseason.
Ronaldo, in the meantime, left the membership after struggling to ascertain himself in Ten Hag’s system, leaving a void up entrance for the second half of the season.
De Gea’s exit got here after his limitations with the ball at his ft have been uncovered.
Ten Hag needed to accommodate De Gea by altering his most well-liked tactical strategy, which sees keepers being concerned within the buildup play, as has been efficiently deployed by City and Liverpool in recent times.
The ranges set by City and Liverpool are what Ten Hag is aiming to realize at United.
While few anticipated him to hit these heights in his first season after taking on a staff that had recorded United’s worst Premier League factors tally (58) in 2021-22, supporters are hoping for a major step ahead this 12 months.
Ten Hag has a extra settled squad and he’s now used to the pains of England’s prime division.
He has star signings and a staff that has already received silverware underneath his watch.
Knocking City off its perch should be too huge an ask at this stage of his reign. But he can be anticipated to run Guardiola a lot nearer than earlier than.
Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com