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Manchester United’s woeful league campaign last year culminated in Erik ten Hag’s underperforming side registering the club’s lowest-ever Premier League finish.
It took an unexpected FA Cup win to save Ten Hag’s job at Old Trafford but the Dutchman will be well aware of the need for improvement next time out.
A raft of issues arose during last season’s struggles and the United boss will be hoping to find some answers in the summer to prepare for the new campaign.
As reported by The Athletic, Andy Mitten asked six former Reds what they felt Ten Hag needed to fix to make next season a success.
Lee Sharpe and Ronny Johnsen both believe United’s injury issues played a huge part in the team’s poor performance last year and agree that keeping the squad fit is going to be key moving forward.
Sharpe also added that United’s squad is good enough to compete but the staff must figure out the reasons behind the record numbers of injuries suffered last season.
“You can say that the squad needs players in this position or that position, but if the squad hadn’t suffered as much with injuries, the situation would have been very different.
“Injuries are part of football, but why so many at one club? Is it bad luck? Is it because of the way they train or play? The pre-season? It can’t be the number of games because when I played we had just as many games and far fewer injuries – you simply can’t be competitive with half the squad missing,” said Sharpe.
Treble-winner Johnsen echoed Sharpes sentiments and pondered whether Ten Hag could make adjustments to his tactics to avoid so many setbacks particularly in defensive areas and also touched upon the new offside rules.
“Ten Hag said it himself (injuries). But what causes all the injuries? Why are so many defenders getting them, especially hamstring injuries? Is that because of the surfaces or the way United play or the way officials act?
“The team play a high line, the linesmen keep their flags down so defenders have to turn quickly and sprint back. All of these could affect the way the team play,” claimed Johnsen.
Johnsen’s centre-back partner Jaap Stam believes United need to up their game with regards to recruitment having wasted good money over the last decade.
“It’s difficult to see from the outside — you’re always guessing a bit — but look at the players coming in — do they really fit the manager’s philosophy? Do they have the quality to play for United?” he questioned.
Stam continued by stating he feels United need improvements across the park with only a few players capable of reaching the required standards in the current squad.
“I look at centre-back and left-back and also at the middle of the park, a player who can play out, who can dribble and go from box to box and who has the quality to play under pressure from the opposition. Up front, you need wingers with pace who can take players on. They have a couple, but they need to add more,” said Jaap.
United struggled for goals last season, finishing comfortably as the lowest-scorers in the top eight of the division.
David May and Danny Webber believe that adding to the striking options should be top of Ten Hag’s to-do list this summer.
“United need another centre-forward. Anthony Martial has gone so we need someone to play alongside Rasmus Hojlund. Probably someone a little more experienced because when you play with two wingers who come inside, they get limited service,” said May.
Webber agreed and suggested United should be looking at a player with the similar profile to England striker Ollie Watkins, to ease the load of Hojlund.
“You need competition. If the team wants to be title contenders then you need options beyond a sticking plaster if Hojlund is injured. A player like Ollie Watkins would be right: knows the league, experienced, amazing attitude. But he’s just signed a new deal at Aston Villa and they wouldn’t want to sell him,” he said.
Former Premier League winner Danny Simpson gave an alternate view and says United must sort out their problem in the middle of the park with the team far too easy to play against last season.
“Look at the midfielders at various Premier League teams. They have legs. Do United? They need a solid box-to-box midfielder who wins the ball back, who leads, who goes alongside Kobbie Mainoo while he’s inexperienced. Get that sorted, a player who goes up and down while the other drops in,” said Simpson.
Given the variety of responses, it’s clear Ten hag faces a huge task to get United back amongst the elite in the Premier League.
INEOS will look to provide the United boss with better tools to help make up ground on the top four before eventually mounting a charge for the title over the course of his stay at the club which is set to be officially extended in the coming days.
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