'‌Patience and time will be promised but will they be given?'

Are Manchester United, united? Hammering Leicester then drawing at home to Chelsea might be seen as some improvement on Erik ten Hag's time, but it tells us very little. The club hasn’t taken off yet, indeed this is nothing more than a holding pattern until Ruben Amorim lands.

‌They haven’t even tried to play in Amorim’s style yet. Ruud van Nistelrooy kept to the tried-and-tested back four instead of the back three which will be the new normal at Old Trafford. I thought the new Ineos regime had finally started for real when Ten Hag left, but in reality it hasn’t.

‌So what has to be done differently to get the club back to where the fans think it should be? Obviously getting the best out of the players already there is high on the agenda. The employment of tactics that suit the available players will help.

‌Clearly a better hit rate from the acquisitions department is essential, there have been too many players bought for too much money who have had limited effect.

‌There are lots of big jobs but maybe the toughest will be giving the new coach the time to change things. He changed Sporting quickly, but the Primeira Liga isn’t the Premier League and this is a much bigger task.

‌Patience and time will be promised but will they be given? That more than anything else is what is important now.

‌Improving from their current league position will not be too difficult in the short term. Becoming top four challengers may take an entire season, at the very least, even for the highest-rated young coach in the business.

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