What direction are Manchester United heading in?

Do INEOS really have a plan?

Data is from FBRef unless stated otherwise

The early stretch of the season has been, well, not great at Old Trafford.

INEOS are keen to change things behind the scenes, restructuring the club and laying off staff members. They might be too frugal and uncaring of people’s livelihoods, but that does tend to be what you get when business people come in overhauling a football team. There’s a lot happening. On the pitch, however, it’s as frustrating as it was last season. They’re still drifting under Erik ten Hag and it still probably feels like a chore for most fans to watch them every weekend. Beating Brentford was a good result and performance, quickly deflated by the draw to Fenerbahçe. It’s still not right at Man Utd.

Of the eleven players to start against Brentford, only one (Matthijs de Ligt) was signed this summer. Noussair Mazraoui and Joshua Zirkzee have also featured a fair bit, and Manuel Ugarte would’ve presumably played if not for his late arrival back from the international break. Lisandro Martínez also missed most of last season through injury. So this team is changing, but it’s still largely the same core of players under the same manager. Improvements have to come from a shift in Ten Hag’s approach.