Despite an impressive first campaign for Ten Hag at the helm of affairs, it has been a torrid past two seasons at Old Trafford, with a rollercoaster of emotions ranging from an abysmal start to two consecutive seasons, the win over Manchester City in the FA Cup final, navigating an injury-plagued squad to a draw against Liverpool at Anfield, and the 4-3 win over Jürgen Klopp’s led Liverpool side in the FA Cup.
However, the current campaign has started in a similar fashion to last season — or perhaps even worse — as the club currently languishes in 14th place with 11 points and only eight goals scored in nine matches.
Ten Hag leaves with a record of 70 wins and 35 defeats in 128 games across all competitions in his two-and-a-half-year spell at the club.
During his tenure, he managed 85 Premier League matches and suffered 27 defeats—the most by any United manager since Alex Ferguson. According to a stat by Opta, the Dutchman’s loss rate stands at 31.8%, the second-highest among United managers in the Premier League era, following David Moyes, who recorded a 32.4% loss rate but only led the team for 34 games.
The 2-1 loss to West Ham United last Sunday appeared to be the final straw that broke the backbone, as a third consecutive defeat to the Hammers meant the Red Devils have now recorded their second-lowest points tally after nine matches in a Premier League season.
With Ten Hag gone, assistant manager Ruud van Nistelrooy was entrusted with the mantle to take charge on an interim basis and the 48-year-old has wasted no time to stamp his authority.
With just one game in charge, the Dutchman has spearheaded United to the team’s second-highest-scoring game this season since the 7-0 win over Barnsley.
They hosted Premier League side, Leicester City in the Carabao Cup at Old Trafford and as you’d expect from a centre-forward that netted over 150 goals for the club, Van Nistelrooy’s side was already two goals up inside 28 minutes. Despite Leicester’s late attempts to mount comebacks, United’s firepower grew as the game went on and a 5-2 victory was enough to seal their qualification to the next round of the competition where they will face Tottenham Hotspur.
However, their biggest test will come this Sunday when an impressive Chelsea side will visit Old Trafford as Van Nistelrooy will hope to guide his troops to another goalscoring outing against a leaky Chelsea defence.
Since then the Blues have gone on a poor run of five losses and six draws in their last eleven trip to Manchester to face the Red Devils.
Enzo Maresca will hope to continue his side’s impressive away form this season where they’ve won three of their four matches this season.
Their only loss away from home came in the 2-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield, while they recorded victories against Bournemouth, West Ham and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League.
However, they could not replicate their Premier League away from in the Carabao Cup as they fell to a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United at St. James Park in their last match.
Victory over United could see Chelsea climb to fourth place if Aston Villa fail to win Tottenham, but Old Trafford has not been a friendly environment for the Blues even in their best form and Sunday’s encounter will be no different.
Predicted starting lineup
Man Utd predicted starting lineup
Onana; Mazraoui, de Ligt, Martinez, Dalot; Ugarte, Casemiro, Rashford, Fernandes, Garnacho; Hojlund.
Chelsea predicted starting lineup
Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Colwill, James; Caicedo, Lavia, Palmer; Madueke, Jackson, Neto.
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