On the one hand, it's true that the club's structure is not great and that Ten Hag should ideally have a Director of football that aids with the behind the scenes work. Especially with buying players, as Ten Hag's choices of players are questionable at best.
On the other hand, it is one of the unique situations where Ten Hag has so much influence at the club that we can hardly blame anyone but him. United gave him large sums of money to spend, and the only three you can say have been successful so far are Martinez, Casemiro, and Hojlund.
He also receives more credit than is due for his first season. United got Champions league and won the Carabao cup, but to put that in context:
1. Based on their expected points, they were the sixth best team in the league last season, as Brighton and Liverpool were both much better than them. This became very obvious when United played those teams during the season.
2. The Carabao cup is a similar situation: they should have been beaten comfortably in the semi-final by Brighton, but they missed an obscene amount of chances. And in the final, Newcastle had to use their 3rd choice goalkeeper due to a bizarre situation.
The final thing that worries me is Ten Hag consistently getting bad performances and then saying "no this is good, actually". I agree he should not be expected to reach the heights of Klopp or Pep, but he's struggling to even reach the heights of Arteta or Emery.
A World Cup on three continents? Pathetic
The Ten Hag situation is a conundrum for me.
On the one hand, it's true that the club's structure is not great and that Ten Hag should ideally have a Director of football that aids with the behind the scenes work. Especially with buying players, as Ten Hag's choices of players are questionable at best.
On the other hand, it is one of the unique situations where Ten Hag has so much influence at the club that we can hardly blame anyone but him. United gave him large sums of money to spend, and the only three you can say have been successful so far are Martinez, Casemiro, and Hojlund.
He also receives more credit than is due for his first season. United got Champions league and won the Carabao cup, but to put that in context:
1. Based on their expected points, they were the sixth best team in the league last season, as Brighton and Liverpool were both much better than them. This became very obvious when United played those teams during the season.
2. The Carabao cup is a similar situation: they should have been beaten comfortably in the semi-final by Brighton, but they missed an obscene amount of chances. And in the final, Newcastle had to use their 3rd choice goalkeeper due to a bizarre situation.
The final thing that worries me is Ten Hag consistently getting bad performances and then saying "no this is good, actually". I agree he should not be expected to reach the heights of Klopp or Pep, but he's struggling to even reach the heights of Arteta or Emery.