I think this is the beginning of a fairly long ending for him. He won't go in the blink of an eye, it's probably going to be death by a thousand cuts scenario - and he'll go around February or March next year.
Even if we put to one side our dismal away form against teams in the top half of the table (which shouldn't be ignored, there's teams with 1/5 of our resources who have more to show on their travels against these teams than we do) he's just not been very good at squad building, and it's now showing. He ability to change a match in our favour seems non-existent too. Some of his decisions are just bloody odd.
Is De Jong the only player in Europe capable of playing the managers particular brand of football? And how do you pivot from De Jong to Casemiro, two completely different midfielders? To me, that shows he either doesn't know what he's looking for, or he seriously misunderstands the capabilities of the players he's targeting. It's very similar to the Mount signing. Not a single Chelsea supporter has anything positive to say about Mount in the # 8 position, yet he was our priority midfield signing?
Onana - you have one of, if not the best ball playing goalkeepers at your disposal. You then come out and say you want your team to become the best transitional team in the world. What an absolute waste. Onana can spray balls around which will help, but his bread and butter is high volume recycling of possession to build out from the back. We were trying to do that all last season with De Gea. Now that we have a goalkeeper that's capable of doing it, we abandon it?
The full-back positions are a mess, with Shaw, who is tidy on the ball but offers no threat going forward and lapses of concentration at the back, the best of the lot. You have a centre-back pairing who at best are going to play 50% of available games together. A midfield of Casemiro and Eriksen (both 31) and we wonder why our midfield lacks legs, pace and physicality. A winger who knows he'll always get selected regardless of his performance (Antony or Rashford, take your pick) and a striker who's more comfortable being injured than he is on the pitch.
If you aren't buying Real Madrid and Chelsea cast offs and are sensible, you can assemble a fairly decent and balanced squad with £400 million. We've not really got going ever since the League Cup win, and there's an argument to be had that the longer Ten Hag is here, the worse we're looking. The players look lost, defence is at sea, attackers devoid of any real ideas and couldn't finish if their lives depended on it.
We've seen what happens when these players decide enough is enough and down tools. They've already shown a complete lack of character and fight in the numerous spankings away from Old Trafford, and I think he's not far away from losing them completely. Of course, I'd rather get rid of the lazy wasters first, but that's never going to happen.