ERIK ten Hag might insist Manchester United are “on the up,’ but it’s difficult to find evidence to support the Dutchman’s opinion. His team are already 11 points off the top of the Premier League table having lost five of the 10 matches they played so far this season. Sunday’s derby humiliation was another sign of how far away United are from being among the best.

Manchester City barely broke a sweat as they claimed an extremely comfortable 3-0 win. They were dominant in all aspects of the game and would have scored more than three had it not been for the heroics of Andre Onana. This was in stark contrast to the derby win United pulled off in January, when it appeared ten Hag’s ideas were taking root.

Everything ten Hag built last season has quickly and dramatically fallen apart. Manchester United’s summer signings have failed to make much of an impression, but most damning is the lack of identity on the pitch. It’s impossible to tell what sort of football ten Hag wants his team to play.

Injuries and outside distractions – primarily the ongoing takeover saga involving the Glazers – have been a factor in United’s dreadful start to the season, but fans are entitled to expect better from their team. Fingers are being pointed and ten Hag is under increasing pressure to turn things around before the entire season becomes unsalvageable.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Manchester United have gone through this cycle. The same thing happened to Louis Van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who all achieved some success early in their managerial tenures at Old Trafford only for everything to ultimately disintegrate through their fingers.

Solskjaer certainly knows how ten Hag feels right now. He led United to a second-place finish in the 2020/21 season, but was pushed out the Old Trafford exit door within six months after a complete collapse at the start of the following campaign. Just as it seemed Manchester United were ready to take the next step under Solskjaer, they capitulated.

Even under Mourinho, Manchester United looked to be heading in the right direction for a period. He also led the club to a second-place finish in the 2017/18 season and was sacked within the next six months. United have become the Premier League’s most predictable team over the last decade – they can’t stop themselves from doing the same thing over and over again.

Next Premier League manager to leave

This is why sacking ten Hag would solve nothing. The Dutchman deserves criticism for some of the decisions he has made this season, but there are deeper issues at Manchester United that mean they are doomed to repeatedly follow the same pattern under every manager that sits in the dugout.

Manchester United stand for nothing. They have no sporting principles and that has manifested itself in a team without structure on the pitch. Rival fans pointed out United have spent close to £400m since ten Hag’s appointment, but the Dutchman has been handed too much power to dictate transfer policy.

No other elite level club would have bent to their manager’s transfer market desires like United have to ten Hag’s over the last two years. This leaves the former Ajax boss open to scrutiny, but this is also proof of a club that is rotting from the top down. As an organisation, Manchester United is completely hollow.

Football is a results business and there are only so many more defeats ten Hag can absorb before Manchester United consider his position. However, replacing the 53-year-old would simply send the club back to the start of a spiral they have failed to escape since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson. Ten Hag is the least of United’s problems.