ERIK TEN HAG may have just been named the Premier League’s manager of the month, but Man United remain a work in progress.
Four successive wins have left the Red Devils fifth in the table with a game in hand on most of their rivals, while making their catastrophic start, in which they suffered back-to-back defeats at hands of Brighton and Brentford, already seem a distant memory.
Yet on Sunday, they face their sternest test yet, when they take on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City — a side most people are tipping to win the title this season.
Man United have only dominated possession in two games this season — their two losses against Brentford and Brighton, in which they had 67% and 63% of the ball respectively.
They had marginally more of the ball in the Southampton win (52%), but their opponents enjoyed greater possession in their other three matches — Liverpool (71%), Leicester (54%) and Arsenal (61%), and this trend will almost certainly continue at the Etihad.
Much was made of the decision to drop Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Cristiano Ronaldo in the wake of the Brentford defeat, but Erik Ten Hag being willing to sacrifice his principles to a degree was arguably just as significant.
Ideally, the manager wants his team to control games, or at least that philosophy was fundamental to his success at Ajax. Yet he has seemingly accepted Man United cannot successfully operate in this way at present, and so recent fixtures have seen them play a counter-attacking style more reminiscent of the better moments of the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer era.
Of their four wins, the most recent Premier League game — the 3-1 defeat of Arsenal — was probably the least convincing.
The Gunners sit top of the Premier League table and that is reflective of the widespread feeling that, along with Man City, they have been the most consistently impressive team so far this season.
And that day at Old Trafford, they were unlucky not to get something from the game.
For large spells of the 90 minutes, especially in the first half, the visitors dominated and looked like the better team.
A more clinical side might have put the game to bed, but instead, Ten Hag’s men hung in there, and a mixture of impressive counter-attacking and poor Arsenal defending won them the match eventually.
“The game was there for the taking,” Arteta told the BBC afterwards. “We haven’t won it because we lacked some discipline in some moments and we weren’t ruthless enough in front of goal.
“If we play with more courage we win the game. It is a big lesson — if you want to win here you have to do everything so right.”
But despite spending much of the game on the back foot, arguably Man United’s two best players were two of their most creative — Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes.
Sky’s Gary Neville gave the former Tottenham star man of the match for his display, while the Portugal international had a hand in both Marcus Rashford’s match-winning second-half goals.
Generally, Fernandes has played as the most attacking midfielder just behind Rashford, while Eriksen has occupied a deeper-lying role that he only undertook sporadically during his time with Tottenham.
Neither of these individuals is renowned for their defensive instincts, but the brave decision to play both was justified by the result against Arsenal, although more naturally defensive players in Fred and Casemiro were introduced in the second half as United saw out the victory.
Tomorrow’s City match could be different, however. Playing at the Etihad Stadium, United are likely to be even more under the cosh than they were against Arsenal, while they will be coming up against a more ruthless attack.
Whether they can get away with accommodating both Eriksen and Fernandes in this game is debatable.
Dropping either would be harsh, considering their influential displays against Arsenal and how good they are at picking out passes for United’s attackers to run onto.
There is also the added complication that Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford are both injury doubts, meaning Ten Hag may have little option but to recall Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 37-year-old Portuguese legend is a player of many talents, but electric speed on the counter-attack is not one of them anymore.
So Ten Hag might conclude that Sunday is the right time to play Casemiro, who was signed from Real Madrid in August for a fee that could rise to €70 million, but has yet to start a Premier League game for the Red Devils, making three substitute appearances since his arrival.
The manager could also consider playing the familiar pairing of Fred and McTominay, although Ten Hag will likely be aware of the fact that the two individuals in question started both league fixtures against City last season when United were beaten 2-0 and 4-1 in the respective home and away games.
Yet perhaps the wisest call is to go again with Eriksen and McTominay. They coped in the Liverpool and Arsenal games, and so perhaps deserve the benefit of the doubt this time again.
But regardless of the personnel Ten Hag settles on, it will likely be a difficult afternoon against a team yet to be beaten this season and who have scored 23 times — at least five more than any other team in the top flight, with one-time United target Erling Haaland leading the way having registered a phenomenal 11 goals from seven appearances.
Upcoming Premier League fixtures (games kick off at 3pm unless stated otherwise)
Saturday
Arsenal v Tottenham (12.30)
Bournemouth v Brentford
Crystal Palace v Chelsea
Fulham v Newcastle
Liverpool v Brighton
Southampton v Everton
West Ham v Wolves (17.30)
Sunday
Man City v Man United (14.00)
Leeds v Aston Villa (16.30)
Monday
Leicester v Nottingham Forest (20.00)