Manchester United trio have ‘no pace at all’ and Erik ten Hag must emulate Guardiola in 2015

While Manchester United’s Christian Eriksen gift-wrapped that FC Twente equaliser at Old Trafford last week, Sam Lammers still had a long way to carry the ball before firing past Andre Onana.

And against Tottenham Hotspur four days later, it was Micky van de Ven’s turn to drive through the heart of Man United’s ever-exposed underbelly. It wasn’t even so much a case of ‘knife through butter’, given that United had melted before the bread had even finished toasting.

Every time Manchester United take to the pitch these days, it is to be reminded of Bayern Munich’s 4-1 humbling by a Kevin de Bruyne-inspired Wolfsburg back in early 2015.

Pep Guardiola’s Bayern were torn to pieces in transition that day. A central defensive partnership of Jerome Boateng and Dante left chasing shadows.

Handed the most brutal of wake up calls, Guardiola then spent much of the next 18 months of Bundesliga action obsessed with setting up his Bayern team both to attack in numbers and to ensure they were no longer so vulnerable to rapid-fire counters.

“If we don’t stop those actions, then it could happen again,” Guardiola said at the time. “The reason for our loss was tactics.”

Rio Ferdinand says Erik ten Hag tactics expose Manchester United weaknesses

Unfortunately for Erik ten Hag – Manuel Ugarte, Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt all hung out to dry by his kamikaze approach against Spurs – his rival in charge of Man City is unlikely to give away any of his secrets. This is a problem he must solve, or risk losing his job.

The legendary Rio Ferdinand, meanwhile, is sick of seeing his old employers commit the same basic errors game after game.

“Man United, for far too long, have been playing transition football,” Ferdinand sighs, Ugarte, Martinez and De Ligt all fine players but lacking the raw speed to make up for those massive holes in the Red Devils centre.

“The goal [which gave Tottenham the lead through Brennan Johnson] is in transition.

“As a defender, we were always thinking; ‘What’s the worst case scenario when we have the ball’. When I was trying to be my most switched on in the entire game was when we had possession, just in case we lose the ball.

“Now, the game has changed a bit. More managers are more expansive. But Man United’s midfielders especially haven’t got the legs. And our two centre-halves, [there is] no pace in there at all.”

“I think you have to be more diligent when we lose the ball, so the FC Twente situation and the Van de Ven situation doesn’t happen when you can run through the pitch over a big distance.”

Man United stars have had this concern for a while now

This does not appear to be an issue Ten Hag is willing – or knows how – to fix.

The same glaring issues remain.

And, as reporter Andy Mitten told The Athletic’s Talk of the Devils podcast, there are already plenty of Manchester United players concerned with Ten Hag’s tactical approach which allows even Sheffield United, Burnley and Coventry City to breeze through the Red Devils at will.

“An hour after the FA Cup final win, I spoke to half a dozen of United players outside the dressing room and asked them about the manager,” Mitten explains, frustrations evident even amidst the glory of a Wembley victory.

“The words weren’t being recorded.

“Not one said the manager should absolutely be sacked. And not one said he should absolutely stay. Yet, there were clear issues between players and manager about his style.

“One of them said; ‘You cannot have teams in the relegation zone like Sheffield United and Burnley coming to Old Trafford and carving us open’.”

And, honestly, would anyone really be surprised if FC Porto did exactly the same as Twente, Tottenham and countless others did at the Estadio do Dragao on Thursday?

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