Erik ten Hag and Manchester United could be acting differently to what they are saying

Whether watching players he is about to inherit or replying to probing questions, Erik ten Hag was reticent on his two visits to markedly different English football stadiums over the last week.

Ten Hag must have been on camera a dozen times during the broadcast of Manchester United's 12th Premier League defeat at Selhurst Park and his lips never moved. He barely smiled for a selfie request. At Old Trafford the next day, Ten Hag smiled like a Cheshire cat.

For the United supporters tuning in, his most stirring response was about 'battling' Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, cautioning "you always see an era can come to an end", a quote worthy of a film poster. Guardiola and Klopp will not find that too portentous, with Manchester City and Liverpool so far ahead of United they resemble a mirage.

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In an 18-minute press conference, Ten Hag uttered the word 'analysis' and its derivatives seven times. Ten Hag has eschewed The Lowry for the more remote Mere as he initially settles in England. There are acres at a nearby National Trust and a revered golf course nearby - Ten Hag unwinds on the fairways - for the Dutchman to mull over certain decisions.

The representatives of Dean Henderson, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Brandon Williams have already sought clarity and are already planning an exit strategy. The agent of another United player is so in the dark he asked a reporter if they were aware of any decision made on his client's future.

United wasted little time in drawing a line under last season with Ten Hag's introduction on Monday and he conducted his interview with MUTV in Amsterdam two weeks earlier. It was during that sit-down he referred to United's second-place