Manchester United’s ’22 class view, lifting the FA Youth Cup at Old Trafford on Wednesday, lifted the spirits of supporters, but the good news did not end there last week.
The academy brought a little mood in a terrible season and it was a rare experience to see smiles on the faces of Old Trafford in the middle of the week, on the field and in the stands.
Eric ten Haag will be happy to see the talent coming through the academy, but his immediate focus will be on overturning the first team and there is an awful lot of work to be done.
READ MORE: Eric Ten Haag’s success story at Ajax and how he can do his job at Man United again
If the youth raised the mood, the first team lowered the standards once again at the beginning of the week, leading to new depths in the 4-0 loss to Brighton.
The arrival of Ten Hag and a coach who is actually qualified to work with these players will bring some improvement, but it is also a summer when the winds of change will blow through the M16.
Five senior players have expired and are leaving – Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata and Edinson Cavani – and there are several other players who either want to leave or need to be brought in.
This will make a lot of space for incoming. Ralph Rangnik may have suggested that up to 10 new faces will be needed, but this is desirable thinking along with some of his tactical moments of hope and prayer this season.
United will probably consider this window a success if half of that number arrives, but it still gives them something to do in a shortened summer.
The curtain falls on this horror show at Selhurst Park next week, but in six weeks United will return to pre-season training and the new season will start on August 6 due to the World Cup.
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Ten Hague will also want his team to be as settled as possible before the 16-day pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia. The foundations for next season will be laid in Bangkok, Melbourne and Perth, and the 52-year-old will want to refine the players here in the long run, instead of wasting time on those who can still leave.
This means providing as many transfers as possible by the departure date of July 8, so time is really essential. Every manager dreams of finishing his club’s transfer business by the start of pre-season training, but the reality is rarely so smooth.
However, this seems more important than usual for United this summer. The complication of the change of manager and the growing football structure of Old Trafford could have delayed this even more, but Ten Hague showed this week that he knows he can’t have time to lose.
The morning after the night before in Amsterdam, he changed his focus from Ajax to United. A third Eredivisie title was secured on Wednesday night and the festivities lasted until late at night, a perfect farewell for Ten Hag, who is taking responsibility for his last match today.
But on Thursday morning, he was already planning how to repeat that success at United. His laser focus on Ajax, which wraps up the title, meant he avoided any question at the United press conference and tried not to be distracted by his new job, but once the silverware was secure, that changed.
After most of Amsterdam overcame the hangover that won the title, Ten Haag sat down with his assistant Mitchell van der Haag, another man he wanted to bring with him to Steve McLaren and United football director John Murtow.
The desire to get a job as soon as possible was an indication that Ten Hag was aware of the task ahead. He could have finished the season with Ajax and gone on holiday before thinking too much about the scale of Old Trafford’s recovery.
Instead, he threw himself into the project at the first opportunity. This is an encouraging approach for United.
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