In amongst the euphoria of Manchester United’s dramatic late comeback against Brentford at the weekend, it was easy to see how Erik ten Hag’s criticism of his team could get lost.
There was a desire to paint the Scott McTominay-inspired win against the Bees as a turning point, but as Ten Hag acknowledged, that will require an improvement in mentality as much as performances.
For most of Saturday afternoon, they had looked on course for a seventh defeat in 11 games. It would have been a major crisis at Old Trafford. Instead, they came away with a fortuitous win but Ten Hag admitted after the game that he hadn’t been enjoying what he’s seeing from his team so far this season.
“In football it is eat or get eaten. Too many times in the first half of this season we got eaten by opponents who are more hungry. This can’t be. It has to go away,” he said.
“Every player has to deliver that in every second he is on the pitch. That is the demand, the standard, when you do that we have seen last season you get a determined team. We were not always determined on every occasion in games, and you get hammered for it. This has to change.”
This is a pretty ruthless criticism of his players from Ten Hag. He isn’t accusing them of making technical errors, or of not understanding tactical requirements. He’s saying they lack the fight and the hunger to succeed. It should be the most basic of requirements for any professional footballer, never mind one trying to succeed at Manchester United.
You wonder whether this message is sinking in inside Carrington, because it’s not the first time the players have heard of it. Ten Hag has generally responded to most of his difficult days as United manager by turning on them. At some point, they stop listening and wonder when the blame will be shared.
After miserable defeats by Brentford, Manchester City, Liverpool and Sevilla last season, Ten Hag followed a similar theme. It was a lack of desire, a failure to run, that was proving problematic.
“I have to acknowledge (a lack of fight). It’s the truth. It’s hard, it’s tough. It’s the truth,” Ten Hag said in the wake of the 3-0 defeat in Sevilla that ended United’s Europa League campaign.
“It can’t be. It’s unacceptable. We showed in the past we can quickly bounce back. We have done it many times this season but we have to start games better; more desire, more composure on the ball. When you get the setback you have to deal with it and carry on.
“It’s the truth that we have to be better and it’s not about playing skills, no. It is about character. So be composed, desire and passion. They had more willingness to win, it can’t be. I think it’s unacceptable.”
After that defeat, Ten Hag said the “standard has to be higher in a club like Manchester United” and that “we let the fans down”. A few days later, before the FA Cup semi-final against Brighton, he said the reason for these defeats and failure to respond to setbacks was “mental, definitely”.
Ten Hag had labelled the 7-0 defeat by Anfield a week earlier as “unprofessional” and said the players stopped playing as a team. The criticism has so often been damning and so much of it comes back to those words he used at the weekend; hunger, determination, standards.
Every United fan will agree that this is part of the problem, but at some point, there is an obligation on the manager to fix it. This is now basically Ten Hag’s team with a lot of his signings. If they aren’t fulfilling these most basic of requirements then why were they signed and what is going wrong?
Ten Hag still has the backing of the club and the supporters to turn this season around and maybe McTominay’s double against Brentford will become a turning point. But if complaints about a lack of hunger, failure to meet standards and not having the right mentality continue to be aired then that is a problem for Ten Hag as well as his players.