'With Ole, There Was Some Good...': Cesc Fabregas on State of Manchester United Under Erik Ten Hag

Statistics can deceive, but in football, the eyes do not lie. Well, in the case of Manchester United, both don’t lie as the Red Devils’ lack of identity and chemistry continues to rear its ugly head time and time again.

Since, losing Rasmus Hojlund, who was in blistering goal-scoring form following his disappointing start to his Old Trafford career, United has slumped to a dismal loss against Fulham in the Premier League whilst barely scraping through the likes of Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup.

And all who have witnessed the Red Devils in action have noticed it all. Including and not only, one of the best midfield maestros of all time, Cesc Fabregas himself.

The former Barcelona man recently called out the lack of planning that the current Manchester United squad suffers from under Erik Ten Hag, going on to state that they seemed better off under the reign of former manager and United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

“I don’t know the numbers. But, with Ole, there were some good big games. At least you saw a plan which was to defend well and have great breaks, and great counter-attacks. And this is exactly what Manchester United don’t have at the moment,” stated Fabregas on the Planet Premier League podcast.

The World Cup winner then went on to point out the deficiencies that plague the current United squad, focusing on the aspect that no top team could look and be so defensively vulnerable on the counter-attack, referring to the Red Devils’ recent 2-1 loss to Fulham.

“With Man United, I don’t have the perception that they are a solid team at the moment. Only looking carefully at the counters that Fulham did to them, and the way they were done, it makes the alarm bells go.

“It cannot happen that a top, top team gets done on counters so many times in one half or over 60 minutes. And this shows that there is something lacking,” expounded Fabregas.

Well, Manchester United would be hoping to sort themselves out to some extent soon, as they are set to take on defending champions Manchester City, who are coming in hot after a utterly dominant show against Luton Town which saw the likes of Haaland and De Bruyne wreak havoc in a 6-2 win over the newly-promoted PL side in the FA Cup earlier this week.