Manchester United were unable to overcome Burnley on Saturday as the Premier League game ended as a 1-1 draw.
For Erik ten Hag these remaining weeks of the season were supposed to be do or die, as Jason Wilcox told him to play the new Manchester United style.
On Wednesday we saw improvements although within this game there were doubts about whether that was simply due to Sheffield United being bad, we got our answers on Saturday.
Facing 19th place Burnley, Ten Hag’s side reverted to the structureless and individualistic style which we’ve become accustomed to this season.
Antony got on the scoresheet which prevented him being one of the things that the manager got wrong, but ultimately after a dire 1-1, there were plenty of bad things to choose from.
Here are the three main things we think Ten Hag got wrong…
Ten Hag got his substitutions wrong
So in the second half, the scene was already set in the game, with Burnley the better side and United struggling to get anything going.
So quite rightly, Ten Hag turned to the bench early with both Amad Diallo and Scott McTominay coming on, while Rasmus Hojlund and Kobbie Mainoo were withdrawn.
Taking off Hojlund left United without an outlet, and instead, it should’ve been the underperforming Alejandro Garnacho who was taken off.
In midfield, Christian Eriksen should’ve been the one taken off instead of Mainoo as this move left basically no legs in midfield and Burnley having so much space to break into.
Not staying set on a possession brand of football
We all read the story about Ineos imposing a brand of football on Ten Hag as it’s how they want the club to play going forward.
If true, this was something Ten Hag made an active effort to do against Sheffield with it being the first game United have dominated in a long time.
This also led to some real success compared to every other game in the past month with a 4-2 win.
But against Burnley, this was seemingly abandoned, with long ball counter football back on the menu as the Clarets dominated possession and had more changes.
This is incredibly counter-productive from the manager considering it’ll be sealing his fate with the new decision-makers.
Not starting Amad Diallo
All month, there’s been one player that Manchester United fans wanted to see starting games and that is Amad.
The Ivorian has impressed nearly every time he’s come off the bench and despite Ten Hag’s consistent admission that he deserves more game time, he refuses to do so.
With Garnacho looking knackered, there’s no reason Amad couldn’t have started either Saturday or Wednesday, at home to the two worst teams in the league.
Due to Ten Hag’s treatment of him, we’re not only a worse team but also run the risk of losing Amad this summer permanently.
