Erik ten Hag risks undermining his own Manchester United standards

Erik ten Hag has worked hard to set new standards at Manchester United, but right now he risks undermining them unless he makes some ruthless decisions.

It was only two-and-a-half weeks ago that the question of standards came into question once again when it was announced Jadon Sancho would be training alone following his falling out with the manager.

"The club asked me, because there was no good culture before I entered last season, to set some standards, and that's what I did," the Dutchman insisted at a press conference. United have played six games since then, losing four of them. Those are not the expectations of a team of this size.

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Ten Hag also insisted that the greater good of the team would always come before any individual, but there have been mixed messages about such an outlook.

While the manager puts his foot down with Cristiano Ronaldo and Sancho, as well as punishing Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford for poor punctuality, he risks contradicting the mantra by persisting with underperforming players in the team.

"Team is ahead of everything else, and in the team, everyone plays a different role," he added. "[There are] different characters, and you have to manage those characters, but also, as I said, the team is always above anything else."

What might be hard to accept is that right now some players simply aren't justifying their regular place in the team and it might be for the greater good of it if they are taken out of the firing line for a while.

Ten Hag has already indicated his faith remains in Andre Onana,