Keep or roll? What do the powers that be at Manchester United do with Erik ten Hag now?
Five of them sat and watched this horror show at Old Trafford with frustration written all over their faces. In the front row, Jason Wilcox, Dan Ashworth and Omar Berrarda looked pale and dazed as if they had just seen a ghost.
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Their team certainly gave up, surrendering to their oldest enemy, which is unforgivable.
Behind them, in this two-row jury, sitting in Ten Hag’s judgement, were INEOS knights Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford.
Ratcliffe had a face like thunder. Brailsford raised his hand to his face, almost as if to hide his eyes from this unfolding humiliation.
They backed Ten Hag in the summer by triggering an extra year on his contract. They backed him in the transfer market with more of their picks from Dutch football.
They actually had a good transfer window, releasing and selling as well as recruiting, but any optimism disappeared amid the sounds of Liverpool fans chanting “ole”.
What will worry INEOS is that today there was a Dutch manager at Old Trafford who looked like he had been with the team for three years and another who looked like he had only recently met them.
Unfortunately for INEOS, newcomer Arne Slot seemed by far the most in tune with his team. The Liverpool players knew exactly what they were doing under Slot and had an identity. The Ten Hag players really only had one shirt in common.
United have some good players: Alejandro Garnacho, Kobbie Mainoo, Lisandro Martinez and Bruno Fernandes are all significant talents, but as a team they are painfully less than the sum of their parts.
Those who will eventually decide Ten Hag’s fate have watched players not do the basics, like Casemiro failing to keep the ball, like Marcus Rashford not making enough of the right runs. Is Rashford being told to come in more often, rather than unleashing all that pace behind a right-back? Bizarre.
Ten Hag deserves criticism for failing to improve Unitedwhether it’s the players individually or the team collectively. He deserves criticism for leaving his midfield so open in an effectively 4-2-4 system.
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But players also need to take on more responsibility, with Casemiro, Mainoo and Bruno Fernandes responding to Ryan Gravenberch or Dominik Szoboszlai pushing forward through midfield.
The culture at United under the Glazers has been one of lack of individual responsibility, lack of leadership, lack of sacrifice for the cause.
So INEOS can change the manager; but they also have to change the culture.
Twist? Bringing in any of Gareth Southgate, Ruud van Nistelrooy or Thomas Tuchel, the three favourites to succeed Ten Hag, seems premature even now, even after this miserable display.
Having backed the manager in the summer, they have to give him more than three games. They have to hope that when Rasmus Hojlund and Lenny Yoro are fit, and Manuel Ugarte can start and protect the back four, United look like a more cohesive and progressive unit.
What is certain is that Ten Hag cannot risk repeating this without success.
The reason this game looks so damaging to Ten Hag in the eyes of the powers that be at United is down to the reaction of the fans.
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Even those diehards at the Stretford End, the home of United’s most loyal supporters, began heading for the exits early. They did not stay to boo – United fans are largely supportive of their managers – but voted with their feet. It felt like a silent protest.
INEOS must certainly have noticed this.
Ratcliffe and co certainly realised that United had taken a lesson from their biggest rivals.
Slot has inherited a strong collection of players from Jurgen Klopp and in three games he has moulded them to his game plan. It is still difficult to know what Ten Hag’s game plan is. Build from the back or quick counter-attacks?
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It’s very easy to see in a fortnight’s time Slot’s Liverpool: full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson aren’t making as many crosses.
Liverpool are more concerned with working the ball through the middle, passing effortlessly between Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Szoboszlai, with Salah dropping back and passing the ball past the inferior Lisandro Martinez to Szobozslai.
Liverpool’s identity is clear. United’s is hidden, or simply too afraid to show its face.
Slot saw United’s weaknesses and exposed them. Salah, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz pressed high and hard, losing possession to a nervous and sometimes sluggish United defence.
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What will also worry United’s leaders is how Ten Hag’s team suddenly folded like a deckchair in a hurricane. Matthijs de Ligt was good for half an hour. He spotted Szoboszlai on the right, intercepted a pass from Jota to Diaz and then dispossessed Jota.
He looked calm, composed, in control. United then conceded and De Ligt lost his early authority.
Ineos will see how the goals highlighted Liverpool’s increased hunger for the ball and understanding of the most effective routes to goal. The goals also highlighted United’s pathetic ball retention.
First Casemiro gave the ball away, Gravenberch advanced, fed Salah, who crossed for the unmarked Diaz: 0-1. Diaz then stole possession from Casemiro, Alexis Mac Allister and Diaz worked the ball to Salah, who cut the ball back to Diaz: 0-2. Diaz was involved three times in the play and no United player followed him. Mac Allister then harassed Mainoo, Szoboszlai cleared the ball to Salah, who finished unerringly: 0-3.
As easy as 1-2-3. And it could have been two or three more.
Liverpool worked harder. When Rashford broke forward down the left with 12 minutes remaining, Salah immediately chased back and Rashford was forced to abandon his advance and track back.
When Amad Diallo, very active on his entry, ventured down the right, he was chased by Mac Allister and substitute Darwin Nunez.
Slot players wanted more, and that is the biggest indictment of Ten Hag’s management.
If INEOS remain calm and supportive for now, Ten Hag has to show signs that he can actually organise and inspire United. Otherwise, it will be United we will be rooting for again.
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