What can Ten Hag do about the sorry decline of Manchester United?

Erik ten Hag: you have three weeks to save Manchester United’s season. Sound ridiculous after only 90 minutes of Premier League action, even if that was a dire 2-1 home defeat by Brighton on Sunday – their first ever home loss against those opponents in 113 years?

Of course it does, but this is the glaring truth that faces the new manager. And it certainly does not help that Ten Hag’s ability to rebuild an embarrassingly mediocre squad is materially affected by two branches of the executive: the smarts of football director, John Murtough, and the desire of the Glazer family to splurge a serious amount of cash.

The capitulation on Sunday was as if there has not been four months-plus since Ten Hag’s appointment as manager to overhaul the squad, as if last season did not end with the 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace on 22 May and Ralf Rangnick’s tenure as interim head coach concluding with United in sixth, 35 yawning points behind the champions Manchester City. Brighton’s visit was akin to match No 39 in an ongoing sorry campaign and the latest low point in the club’s post-Sir Alex Ferguson era. The evidence is searing: nothing much has changed since the dog days of last term.

When Ten Hag was appointed on 21 April, the gun was fired on a fresh recruitment drive. The prime target was Frenkie de Jong. Murtough and the Glazers had a relative age to sign the Barcelona playmaker or walk away at a judicious juncture if, say, due diligence found that he may be reluctant to join, or there was an outstanding issue of £17m in deferred wages.

But, no. Instead Ten Hag, Murtough and the Glazers continued with the pursuit of De Jong – a “game of poker”, as characterised by one club executive – up to and beyond the debacle on Sunday with him