Fans fight in stands and against owners – but players lack 'belief' on pitch, says Erik ten Hag
Erik ten Hag claimed Manchester United are lacking in “belief” and blamed the problems of last season as they slumped to a shocking opening weekend 2-1 defeat at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
In an, at times, febrile atmosphere at Old Trafford there were protests against the Glazer ownership of the club prior to kick-off with United’s Mega Store forced to close as 1,000 fans gathered outside to express their frustration.
To compound United’s misery their bitter rivals and champions Manchester City were imperious as they swept West Ham United aside with an impressive 2-0 victory away from home and with new signing Erling Haaland – who turned down United – outstanding as he scored both goals on his debut.
The protests at Old Trafford took place in front of Avram Glazer with the executive co-chairman making a rare appearance – he is less visible than his brother Joel - as he sat in the directors’ box and listened to chants for his family to sell up. It was only the third game he has attended in three years.
A large group of fans walked towards the stadium with a banner which read: “Fight greed. Fight for United. Fight Glazers” with another stating: “We want our club back”. The loud protest continued inside the Munich tunnel and outside the store.
Wantaway striker Cristiano Ronaldo cut an unhappy figure as he sat on the bench, before coming on as a second-half substitute, with Ten Hag declaring he was not fit enough as he defended his decision to play new signing Christian Eriksen as a “false nine’. Ronaldo had earlier declared he was “ready” to play, however.
As the game went away from United the players were booed off at half-time and full-time while there were even small skirmishes between their own fans as the anger boiled over. Captain Harry Maguire admitted it was a “nightmare” start and agreed with Ten Hag that “confidence has been hit” after the chaos of the last campaign as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked and Ralf Rangnick failed to turn the team’s fortune’s around as they finished sixth.
“It’s a hell of a job,” Ten Hag admitted as he became the first United manager since fellow Dutchman Louis van Gaal, in 2014, to lose his first Premier League game.
“We dropped down a level. Dropped down in belief. That cannot happen. And we made mistakes and the opponent punished us,” Ten Hag said of United’s appalling first-half performance when Brighton scored twice as they won at Old Trafford for the first time in their history.
“I can understand that after last year but it’s not necessary because they are good players. They are good players, they have proved that so many times in the past and will do so in the future.”
Ten Hag suggested he had seen the warning signs despite United’s encouraging pre-season. “I know it could happen, but it’s clear we should have better. But we know it will also not come overnight,” he said.
“It’s definitely a set-back and we have to deal with it. I knew from the start it would not be easy and it’s a process and it takes time but we don’t have time. It was unnecessary to give two easy goals away and in our organisation it was a big mistake.
“We have made it clear how to deal with such situations. We have to take the lessons…I am not satisfied, totally not because we lost and that was not necessary. We should have done things better.”
With Anthony Martial injured and Ronaldo not fully fit and wanting to leave United are bidding to sign 33-year-old Marko Arnautovic from Bologna to help solve their striker. It meant Ten Hag played Eriksen, on his debut, as the furthest forward and although he claimed the Dane had featured there before when he was at Ajax it did not work.
“If there was available a striker I would have played him,” Ten Hag said. “Cristiano Ronaldo was now 10 days in team training and it was too short [a time] for 90 minutes. That’s the reason we didn’t start him. He has to do more to get fit. This game will help him and he will be better next week [when United are away to Brentford].”
Maguire: ‘It was the worst possible start’
Maguire admitted it had been a torrid afternoon for United who were looking for yet another fresh start after their failures. “It was the worst possible start, to be 2-0 down at half-time at Old Trafford,” the central defender said. “We huffed and puffed and got one back and had chances to equalise but it’s bad start for us… It was a nightmare start to be 2-0 down.
“I think everyone knew the task ahead. We had a bad season, last season. There was a lot of confidence hit. The manager has come in and you can see in certain parts of the game what he is working on and the philosophy. But you see when we don’t get it right we are far too open. We will keep working, keep improving.”
For Brighton manager Graham Potter the result and performance was the perfect response to losing arguably his best two players this summer with Yves Bissouma sold to Tottenham Hotspur for up to £35m and Marc Cucurella leaving for Chelsea for a fee that could rise to £61m.
“It’s not easy to lose the players we lost in the summer window but the players are calm and the club are calm at how we work,” Potter said as he continued to enhance his own reputation.
“When we started we took over a side that finished fourth from bottom with a different style of play but we have managed to keep progressing and keep going forward.”
