Manchester United have a huge problem with a near-impossible solution

As inevitable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. As reliable as the seasons. As dependable as the Taylor Swift Twitter army making life hell for anyone who dares express mild distaste for her pop music. You guessed it, noises of discontent are once again emerging from the Manchester United dressing room.

It's such a predictable development that you could set your watch by it. After a year of steady progress, Erik ten Hag has hit a really difficult patch in his reign as United boss and the distancing has already begun. You can almost picture Ten Hag as a poor little Puritan in a 1600s New England township, shunned by his fellow settlers who no longer wish to be associated with him. Soon to be banished.

It's a script everyone is frustratingly familiar with at this point, United's vastly underperforming stars move to shift the blame off themselves and onto the manager. It was Jose Mourinho's strict criticism they didn't like, then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's slack training sessions and then Ralf Rangnick's tactical approach and his 'Ted Lasso' assistant (a show United's belligerents clearly didn't watch given Lasso actually managed to break through to a squad of bitter, downtrodden, think-they're-better-than-this players who initially laughed off his methods).

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Now Ten Hag has fallen victim to the anonymous voices of disgruntlement. MEN Sport understands there is increasing unrest among a number of those in the squad. Dressing room sources have told the Manchester Evening News doubts are growing over the Dutchman's management.

Like a banshee's cry, it may well