Erik ten Hag and the Manchester United job that is probably impossible – The Warm-Up

FRIDAY'S BIG STORIES Godspeed, Erik Ad/> Was Erik ten Hag watching on Tuesday night, as Manchester United went to Anfield? As the side he will take over this summer lay down meekly on the chopping board; as they were filleted, seasoned, lightly fried and then devoured by a rampant title-chasing Liverpool? He probably was. Dereliction of duty not to. And Liverpool do play some very watchable stuff these days.

Premier League‘A serious threat’ – Maguire receives bomb threat to his home17 HOURS AGO What did he make of it all? He was announced into his new job a couple of days later, so he probably didn't have a last minute change of heart. Or if he did, his lawyer had some bad news, and everybody's agreed to pretend the tearful late night phone calls never happened. We've all spent the days since picking over the gory details of United's performance: can't defend; can't attack; can't transition; can't hardly find the will to run, let alone somewhere sensible to run to.

Let's assume that Ten Hag, a clever man who knows his onion bags, was just as horrified and fascinated as the rest of us. But perhaps — and we're guessing here — there comes a point where a mess becomes so big that it starts to look like a good time. After all, Manchester United have to be the biggest blank slate in football at the moment.

Everything about the first team is under question, and so everything is up for grabs. United's best players on Tuesday were, in order, Jadon Sancho, Hannibal Mejbri and Alejandro Garnacho, and one of them didn't even get off the bench. We've included him here because the sight of his name on the teamsheet didn't make anybody wince or laugh.