CHENNAI: Manchester United have had better weeks. After losing 0-4 to Liverpool last weekend, they went down 1-3 to Arsenal on Saturday. Six points off the top four with only four games left to play. To compound matters, captain Harry Maguire has had a difficult second season at the club. He didn't start the game against Arsenal — taken out of the firing line after a 'serious threat' was sent to his family following the Liverpool loss — and did not come on after being named on the bench.
However, one piece of news that may provide hope is the appointment of Erik ten Hag, the Ajax manager who has won two doubles during his time there. Ten Hag is viewed as a more modern coach in terms of playing out from the back, pressing more and viewing full-backs as attacking options.
But the job of rebuilding a club the size of Manchester United could take a long time. There is going to be no magic wand. That was the opinion shared by Peter Schmeichel, who won the treble with them in 1999. "With the new manager coming in, he might have a lot of ideas about how football is supposed to be played," he said during a 'United We Play' event, an initiative between Apollo Tyres and the club, in the city on Sunday. "But there are a lot of issues to be sorted before that can happen.
"Changing of personnel, working on the culture of the dressing room maybe... he has got a very big job on his hands. It's not going to change in one day."
A couple of issues that Ten Hag will have to get to address straightaway are the fate of club captain Maguire and long-time goalkeeper, David de Gea. While the latter is an excellent shot-stopper, he isn't viewed as somebody who is good with his feet. However, Schmeichel was of the opinion that the 31-year-old is highly adaptable. "Very difficult to say anything that's not good about him," he said. "You can always count on top performances from him. (The) thing about him is he is adaptable. If required, he will play out from the out. I think he is good enough to do that."
Vidic empathises with under-fire Maguire
Coming to Maguire, who has been a lightning rod for criticism, Nemanja Vidic, one of the seven former club players who were in the city as part of the programme, has only empathy for him. "If you have one, two bad games... you are losing confidence, that's not good for me and the team. I remember that happening to me because football players are always under pressure. Especially Maguire because of the money involved in his transfer. He has always been questioned, it's a very difficult position to be in. To be fair, United have not played well this season and we cannot put everything on his shoulders. What I would suggest is if I'm the coach, you see some player is not in form and that's happened to all of us, sometimes it's not bad to get a break."
The Serb, who formed a memorable partnership with Rio Ferdinand, was also fairly intimate with United's defensive issues this campaign. "They haven't been able to create partnerships because of injuries to certain players. (The partnerships) are always changing. (Raphael) Varane has just come. No consistency in the back four and the understanding between the players is not at the level it should be. The stats say that United have conceded more than 40 goals. That's a lot for the teams wanting to be in the top four. Definitely an issue and I don't think that's just coming from the centre-backs. When I was playing as a defender, I always praised the team because we had Louis (Saha), Wayne (Rooney)... Wayne was tackling, running back, chasing players. Lots of players who went both ways... that's the key, you know. And I think this is what we have to improve as a team if we want to challenge for trophies and what the manager should look at when he comes. I know he likes playing offensive football... but if you look at Manchester City, Liverpool... they concede less than 20 goals and they play offensive football. So that shows something, if you want to win trophies, you aren't allowed to concede more than 20-25 goals."
Vidic, part of the last side to have the league title with United, also hinted that players have to play as a team. "It's a bad time to pick names, I think that's what the media like to... I think it's more than that... system, belief. Players have to play as a team. We are individuals, yes, but if you don't play as a team, doesn't matter. Look at Paris St Germain (for example). I feel that because of the pressure players have now because they are picked in the media all the time, they come to this situation 'just want to play my game'."
The pressure that Vidic refers to will only grow. After the losses against Liverpool and Arsenal, it's not going to get any easy for Maguire, De Gea & Co. Their next game is against Chelsea on Thursday night.
Four winners of the United We Play programme
RS Preyarhanjan (Chennai), Federick Kurbah (Meghalaya), Ronald Singh (Chandigarh) and Kunal Yeole (Pune).
The four winners will be taken on an all-expense trip to the club for various activities including matchday experience, training sessions and interaction with former players.