Manchester United are simply the most dramatic team ever. Arguably, they may be the greatest reality television show of the past decade if they were picked up by BravoTV instead of NBC’s Peacock. Recently, the news surrounding United is starting to make me question just what is important in life. The man responsible for this crisis of confidence is none other than Erik ten Hag.
I’m not here to lie to you. I’m biased and I know it. There are a few things that I need to prec. I like Jadon Sancho. I don’t like Antony. Ten Hag scares me. Now that that part is over, back to the blog
Is ten Hag a Human or a Robot?
As alluded to before, ten Hag is a madman. To be honest, its a little scary to view his mentality as a head coach. This up close and personal view he lets the English media present is a little alarming. I don’t know much about the life of professional sports players, but I can only imagine you have to be maniacal about your craft to make it to Manchester United. Given that, I firmly believe these people are not perfect, and are often flawed in other aspects of life.
To me, Ten Hag exudes this idea. He has only one goal, and that is to win football games. He does not give a shit about anything else other than the point total at the end of a season, and his trophy cabinet. In theory, thats exactly what you want from a manager, but he has taken it too far this time. Ten Hag’s treatment of the United right wing is nepotistic, and borderline morally compromised. Robots don’t feel empathy, and ten Hag is devoid of it currently.
Questionable Ethical Compass
I mean, what are we even talking about right now? Ten Hag is a psychopath. If we take a trip down memory lane, you may remember Manchester United employed Mason Greenwood as a right winger for the club. After some EXTREMELY scandalous and allegedly abusive behavior, Richard Arnold finally made the call that Greenwood would no longer play for the club. Interestingly enough, United are paying for his home in Spain, but that’s besides the point. If you remember reading quotes, Ten Hag was cautious about speaking out against the player and his alleged actions for one reason, and one reason only. Ten Hag wanted Mason Greenwood to play for him. United were about to bring him back despite the massive Women’s team and general fan dissent, because Ten Hag wanted him. That is too sketchy for me.
Some More Questionable Ethics
Fastforward your brain to Friday September 15th, and Ten Hag had a presser about the upcoming game against Brighton. Of course, the standard run of the mill was talked about, but much more was also discussed. Ten Hag was asked about the Antony situation (see description of situation below) and his comment was “I have no idea. Of course he is disappointed, but he is okay.” He’s not really saying much here, and I think that’s my point. You have another young player alleged of some pretty serious domestic issues with a former partner, and he says nothing noteworthy about the situation. Maybe that’s by design, but my god where is the humanity?
Ten Hag has avoided, and somewhat suggested his support for his precious Brazilian which leaves me bewildered. The man is accused of some not great things, but at least he is doing ok? I don’t know, but this feels like yet another case where Ten Hag will gladly welcome a player with questionable off-field behavior back into the team. He simply only carries about one thing.
Defiant Actions Against Sancho?
This is where I get a little upset at Ten Hag. Rather apparently, all crimes are treated equal in this team. Sancho made a rather ill-advised social media post after being dropped from the team after getting beat down by Arsenal saying he is a scapegoat for the team. Dumb, but maybe there’s some truth to that. Ten Hag clearly has had something against Sancho ever since last year. So much so, he bought a $80m Brazilian who can’t control his temper. Then he got sent off for 3 months last year for alleged mental health reasons (which maybe was EtH crafted, who knows) to get back into shape. From then, Antony never proved he was an automatic starter in my opinion, but he was rarely dropped despite some pretty poor performances.
All of this happens and Sancho reaches a breaking point. He and his entourage make a post and now hes gone from the first team entirely (or until he allegedly apologizes). Life ain’t fair I guess. Sancho is the same age as Antony, and isn’t a significantly worse player than Antony, but he is now gone from the first team entirely.
What to Make of Ten Hag
To me, the literal crimes two wingers are alleged of, and a social media post from another are not on the same level of severity, but to Ten Hag they are. Could this authoritarian leadership style work? Maybe? I know I’m a human, and I’d feel like shit if Ten Hag treated me like this. Ten Hag later said in the presser “Strict lines is what the club asked me because there was no good culture before last season… Team is above everything.” This style only works as long as the team win. Once the play and the performances slip, it will get ugly really quick. Players will become unhappy and the leaks could flood the Suez Canal.
With his two wingers gone, what is going to happen? Will Pellistri get minutes? Will Rashford be forced to move to an unfavorable position yet again? If I were a betting man, I’d say he deputizes Rashford and makes him even more ineffective. After all of this, my approval rating of his surely declines, but he’s still my manager. If United run off 10 games unbeaten all may be forgiven, but it’s a dangerous game to play. Manchester United is the butt of every joke right now, and right now I have no rebuttal.
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