Mentality changes, two game-changers and three key signings - inside Erik ten Hag’s plans to improve Manchester United

The Manchester United manager’s office at Carrington overlooks all of the training pitches. In the penultimate week of last season, diggers arrived to uproot the turf from those farthest away. From a distance, it resembled an excavation.

Erik ten Hag might have wondered whether the workmen had unearthed a cursed object embedded in the turf. He repeatedly referred to the unprecedented number of injuries United recorded in a season - 66 was the final count - and the 30 different back fours he was forced to select.

A United analyst compiled every quartet using the online statistics site Soccerbase. The sheet was printed out and handed to Ten Hag, who unfolded it to present as evidence to anyone at Carrington who questioned his position.

It evoked memories of the former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez reeling off his infamous “facts” in January 2009. Ten Hag’s were more concrete and, eventually, compelling enough for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his cohorts after much deliberation.

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Contrary to his public proclamations at press conferences, it rankled with Ten Hag that he never received backing from Ratcliffe or any of United’s new power brokers during the season. Ineos took until June 11 to decide that Ten Hag should stay, having sounded out at least five possible replacements. Their intention to offer Ten Hag a contract extension further undermines their decision-making process.

Ten Hag operated in an atmosphere that was often fraught, though not of his own making. He was not responsible for the banning of journalists from a press conference or denying them questions at other pre and post-match