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Paul Scholes comments on Andre Onana and Matthijs de Ligt amid concerns over Manchester United style of play
Manchester United have continued to back Erik ten Hag with the signings he wants as the Dutchman attempts to secure his future for the long term.
Nobody felt that last season was good enough for Manchester United.
Sure, ending the campaign with an FA Cup final win was a huge moment but an eighth-placed finish in the Premier League and a Champions League group stage exit just wasn’t good enough.
Ineos decided to keep hold of Erik ten Hag at the end of last season but the United boss is still fighting to prove that he is the right man for the future.
Ten Hag was backed with big signings over the summer and United again brought in two players he knows very, very well.
Paul Scholes on Manchester United problem
Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui both joined United from Bayern Munich having played under Ten Hag at Ajax.
Mazraoui has impressed so far and De Ligt showed promising signs against Liverpool but struggled on international duty with the Netherlands.
Mazraoui and De Ligt became the fifth and sixth signings of the Ten Hag era to rejoin the Dutchman having played under him in the past.
Lisandro Martinez and Antony arrived in 2022 with Andre Onana and Sofyan Amrabat making the move in 2023.
Ten Hag has now signed two of his former players in each of his three summer transfer windows at the club, but Paul Scholes still isn’t impressed.
Speaking on Stick to Football, Scholes noted that Ten Hag has brought in Onana and De Ligt to try and play out from the back a little better, as they did together at Ajax.
Scholes doesn’t think those signings have really improved United’s build-up play and believes United still end up launching the ball forward as the players aren’t quite good enough to play from the back.
“When Pep first started doing it, you thought ‘wow, that’s brilliant’ and he’ll still do it now, of course he will,” said Scholes.
“I think Arteta’s Arsenal are good at it but the players have got to be good enough to actually do it. I think Ten Hag actually wants to do it a bit with bringing that keeper in and De Ligt, but they’re still not good enough at doing it and they end up just booting it anyway,” he added.
Ineos will be watching performances as much as results
United have started the season with two defeats from three and weren’t exactly convincing in the 1-0 win over Fulham.
Ten Hag will need results to fend off immediate questions about his future but Ineos will be looking at performances too.
If United’s all-round game doesn’t improve and we don’t see major changes – improved build-up play, a stronger structure in the middle of the pitch, more consistent attacking play – then Ten Hag will be under pressure.
Omar Berrada, Dan Ashworth, Jason Wilcox and Sir David Brailsford come from high-performance backgrounds, whether it’s with Manchester City, England or even in other sports.
Establishing a level of performance should bring results down the line rather than clinging to an FA Cup or Carabao Cup final win when performances aren’t good enough.
Ten Hag has seen United back him with signings and he must now respond not just with results but also performances, or those murmurs and whispers about his future just won’t go away.
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