United sit 13th in the Premier League after just two wins from their opening six games and have been far from impressive in the Europa League either, with a late Harry Maguire goal required to salvage a 3-3 draw at Porto on Thursday, making it two draws in two to start the competition.
Carragher blames new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe for the club’s continued woes and has sympathy for Ten Hag, but insists the claim made by some that the Dutchman needs more time to implement his style at Old Trafford can be dismissed by looking at one particular statistic.
‘Over Ten Hag’s entire reign, 82 league games, that goal difference figure rises to +11, which is extremely low for a top club. This was already a red flag in a good season when the team finished fourth, and the side have been on a downward trajectory in the 15 months since. How can anyone be surprised that they still look like they are going in the wrong direction?
‘The standard modern defence for an underperforming coach is: “Look how long it took Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta to get it right. It needs time.”
‘After his first 82 games in charge of Liverpool, Klopp’s goal difference was +61 and Arteta’s +38. It is an insult to those managers’ early work to suggest their teams were ever as consistently bad as this United side, who have conceded at least three goals on 24 occasions under their current coach, including some historic horror shows such as a 7-0 defeat at Anfield as well as Thursday night’s collapse from 2-0 up in Porto. United are sending a shocking message about how low they are prepared to let standards slip before they act.
‘There are examples of top-class managers showing what is possible in less time than Ten Hag has had at United, with a fraction of his budget. Look at Unai Emery at Aston Villa, who needed only a few months to construct a side executing an identifiable vision. As I wrote last week, Ange Postecoglou still has much to prove but there is no doubting what he is trying to do at Tottenham Hotspur. We have never seen anything like a distinctive style under Ten Hag.
‘But pinning the blame on him for producing more of the same is a convenient shield for those who should have seen this coming. Anyone with experience knew it would only take a couple of bad performances and results for the fractures to resurface. That is what has transpired.’
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