Erik ten Hag has made the worst possible start to his Manchester United career after losing back-to-back matches to Brighton and Brentford … though that doesn’t mean the Red Devils are in for a torrid season necessarily.
If the Dutchman has any hope of succeeding at Old Trafford he’ll want to try and emulate Sir Alex Ferguson, particularly the way the legendary Scot navigated United’s equally disastrous start to the season back in 1992.
They might have finished the campaign as champions for the time in over a quarter-of-a-century, but Fergie’s United kicked their 1992/93 Premier League campaign off with back-to-back defeats to Sheffield United and Everton (the second of which was a 3-0 hammering … sound familiar?) before drawing with Ipswich on matchday three.
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Also, just as Ten Hag’s United have wasted the current transfer window unsuccessfully pursuing Frenkie de Jong, Ferguson spent the summer of 1992 trying to lure a young Alan Shearer to Old Trafford, but to no avail.
They scrambled around for a Plan B, eventually settling on Dion Dublin, though the Englishman would break his leg just a month into the new season (which ended up being a blessing in disguise as Plan C was Eric Cantona).
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(Image: Mark Leech/Offside)
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Though in spite of all the mess, Ferguson managed to turn his team into title winners. To make up for injuries and other squad deficiencies, he put faith in the club’s brightest youngsters – handing debuts to David Beckham, Gary Neville and Nicky Butt while building United’s makeshift attack around Ryan Giggs – which, eventually, helped turn the tide.
The lesson here is that a bad start doesn’t guarantee a bad season, and with a couple of weeks left to go before the transfer window closes, and with one of the country’s best academies at his disposal, Ten Hag has plenty of time to turn the tide too.
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