OPINION: Ten Hag's Man Utd legacy will be leaving behind a side with no world-class players

After surviving last season by the skin of his teeth, the pressure has been on this season to start delivering the type of performances and results that got the Dutchman one of the hottest seats in football in the first place. However, thanks to a dismal start to the 2024/25 season, Ten Hag's days are surely numbered.

It feels like the beginning of the end.

So with his inevitable sacking and Ruud Van Nistelrooy's interim stint until the end of the season surely on the not-so-distant horizon, I believe it is time to focus on an even bigger problem facing United's new leadership - the players.

Now, the new co-owners (INEOS) can be partly to blame for the sorry state affairs since they invested almost £200 million in the summer on players who have been underwhelming at best and deeply concerning at worst. However, a collective recruitment failure over the past decade has resulted in an average squad with not one world-class player.

What went wrong for Ten Hag?

If you look at the United team, it has a heavy Ten Hag influence and his inability to get the best out of players he wanted, deserves criticism.

You have to say that Manchester United's squad looks weaker now than it did when Ten Hag was appointed - it is a team lacking leaders, star quality and workhorses. Crucially, multiple players have regressed under Ten Hag too - just look at the Bruno Fernandes now versus the one who ran the show under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Marcus Rashford was primed to take his game to the next level when Ten Hag came in and, bar season one, he has also gone backwards. It is hard to know how much blame lies at the managers' door and how much should go to the players who have let the fans down for years.

I would say it is a combination of many factors ranging from an uninspiring manager and confusing tactics to a simple lack of confidence. However, when I look back to the end of Ten Hag's first season, I have to question - where did it all go wrong?

A style of play was slowly starting to be seen (even if it was on an inconsistent basis), there was a strong spine with Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane and Casemiro while Rashford was en route to being on top of the world.

From world-class to part of the problem

If you asked me then, I would have said United have three world-class players and two former great players (Casemiro and Varane) who were still very handy.

The three world-class players - Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Lisandro Martinez - all played key roles in an impressive first season for Ten Hag as the Red Devils finished third in the Premier League and won the Carabao Cup.

Fast forward to October 2024 and Martinez has had a poor start to the season. He was even dropped in United's most recent match against Aston Villa after a horror display against Porto in the Europa League.

Fernandes looks a shadow of his former self and unironically spends most of his time chasing shadows as he deploys a one-man press - maddening.

And whilst Rashford is starting to pick up some form again, he has still gone missing in big games this season and after a miserable 2023/24 campaign, he has a long way to go until he is back in the world-class debate.

These are three players who possess world-class qualities but all of them have bad habits, ones that have become destructive to themselves and to the team.

Fernandes' bad habit is to take on too much responsibility off the ball - he runs around tirelessly for 90 minutes pressing the opposition but rarely gets close to the ball. In the modern game, you must work together in a collective press to close the gaps and force the turnover - one player can't do it all.

The Portugese's other bad trait is instead of playing the simple pass to keep possession and build an attack with measure and calmness, he often looks for the money ball in behind the defence. Occasionally it works perfectly and results in a goal. However, so far this season it hasn't worked and instead, it often results in the loss of possession.

Despite his poor form this season, the United captain has continued to play almost every minute in all competitions and has only once been subbed off in the Premier League by Ten Hag.

Martinez's bad habit is his recklessness. The Argentine is lucky to have not received a red card this season for a couple of careless and needless fouls where he has gone in studs up. That reckless nature is also a problem when defending his goal. Martinez doesn't possess the greatest pace, so when at times he lunges in for a tackle and the attacker dribbles past him, he doesn't have the speed to catch up.

Martinez is still a very good centre-back but I fear he is never going to be on the likes of Virgil van Dijk's or William Saliba's level and the 'butcher' may not be the signing many fans had believed he was.

Finally, Rashford's bad habit is not knowing when to release the ball. Even now that he finally looks to have his confidence back, one aspect of his game remains - he is selfish in the final third. And it doesn't take long to think of a recent example where Rashford's greediness cost United a likely goal.

Against Porto in United's last Europa League game, Rashford went on a mazy run and just had to slip in Rasmus Hojlund for an easy finish but instead, he pulled the trigger and his shot was blocked. If Rashford got his head up every so often he would get so many assists to add to the goals that I fully expect him to score this season.

Of the three, Rashford has the best chance of still becoming the player he seemed destined to be. If he can just snap out of his bad habits and be coached into becoming a more selfless player then opponents had better watch out because United will have a world-beater on their hands.

What will Ten Hag's legacy be?

But the reality is that (unless a miracle happens) Ten Hag will be leaving Manchester United before too long without his side having one world-class player and that is a fundamental reason why his managerial tenure has been a failure.

I, and many others, expected so much more from a man who was supposed to be the next big thing in football management.

Ultimately though, after over two seasons at the helm, there are very few similarities to Ten Hag's Ajax side in terms of the 'total football' style he implemented there or player development.

A lot of money was spent buying into the Dutchman's philosophy and trusting his judgment after an impressive track record at Ajax. And whilst it is hard to understand why it went so wrong for him at Manchester United, his inability to develop United's star players is at the front and centre of his shortcomings.

Ten Hag will claim his legacy is winning two trophies in two full seasons but I would argue that isn't the mentality of a Manchester United manager - winning the Premier League should always be the aim and he has never come close.

His true legacy will be leaving behind a weaker squad than the one he inherited and that is a damning indictment for any manager.