Erik ten Hag's first season as Manchester United manager was a long one, with the Dutchman overseeing a mammoth term of 62 games - only three shy of the maximum they could have played, barring any early round FA Cup replay.
Through that all, however, there were plenty of positive headlines and significant progress has been made compared with the rueful 2021/22 campaign, when there were early exits from knockout competitions and there was hardly a fight for Champions League football.
As was expected with the 'process' that Ten Hag has often spoken about ever since his first press conference, the situation remains somewhat of a work in progress. But, that said, he achieved the objectives set out to kickstart his project, and even went beyond and exceeded those expectations too.
In this piece, UTDSPACE reviews Ten Hag's first season in charge of United, looking ahead to his second term...
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Targets met (and more)
To many, the simple concept of 'a step forward' may have sufficed heading into Ten Hag's first season given the dire state the squad was in when he took over. That rang even more true after an abysmal opening two games of the competitive campaign, with a loss against Brighton and annihilation at the hands of Brentford.
That objective has been met, but the real target was to bring Champions League football back to Old Trafford, and ideally come away from the season with a nigh on six-year silverware drought ended. In the grand scheme of things, Ten Hag passed this test with relative flying colours.
United's cup form was generally excellent, aside from a quarter-final Europa Legaue exit to eventual winners Sevilla (albeit even that came after beating La Liga winners Barcelona). They never took their foot off the gas regardless of opposition, reaching both domestic finals, with victory over Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final securing a trophy at the first try.
Falling short in the FA Cup final to Manchester City leaves a sour taste, but ending the trophyless malaise - even with the perceived non-premium domestic accolade - is massively valuable in reinstalling a winning feeling.
Adding to that, United ended with the second-biggest points swing in the Premier League compared to the season prior, improving by 17 points and three positions. Not only did they secure Champions League football, but they did it by an eight-point margin and finished third - stark contrast to missing out by 13 points in 2021/22.
You can call that as targets being met and more. There is now a platform to achieve even more next season and in years to come.
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Home form is a blueprint
One of the biggest positive takeaways from United's season was their form at Old Trafford. Following two losses in the opening four home games - against Brighton and then courtesy of a contentious penalty decision in a strange affair against Real Sociedad on the night of Queen Elizabeth II's death - they went 29 games unbeaten on home turf until the end of the season.
Across 33 games at Old Trafford, United notched a single-season record of 27 home victories. And specifically in the league, they managed 13 more points than the season prior at Old Trafford, with a tally of 48 second only to eventual champions City.
There were big wins along the way at home, including against all of the rest of the traditional 'big six' domestically, including the top two in the league, plus La Liga champions Barcelona as a noteworthy European win.
Ten Hag has viably argued that Old Trafford is a fortress again, and it cannot be argued against when you consider the consistency they have managed to reestablish in front of a home crowd.
They have proven an ability to grind wins out even when not at their best, albeit with lots of glimmers of what is to come in any case. Aside from, at least most notably, the 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in October, there isn't yet a knack for many 'full 90' performances in which a level is sustained.
Nonetheless, there were signs of some much improved football - especially before tiredness latterly began to play more of a part, with a spell of one loss in 20 games (home and away) after the World Cup standing out.
Above all, home form seems to have set a blueprint, as it wasn't always the same away from home...
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Poor away form - especially against top sides
United's near-exemplary home form was by no means replicated on the road. It is hard to say why, but you could suggest it points to an element of the mentality of the squad that still needs to be improved, with pressure more of a factor in front of an opposing crowd. There was certain evidence of crumbling without home support.
Bumps in the road were always going to be natural across Ten Hag's first season, and to United's credit there were very few at home. But there were more stark blips away from home, all stemming from a poor start with the 4-0 loss to Brentford. That was ultimately the first of eight losses in the league, which levelled the record of the previous season.
Four more points away from home than in 2021/22 still shows progress, but to a much lower extent than at home and still to a suboptimal degree. And such similar fortunes to the season prior away from home ultimately provide more of a reflection on the players than the manager.
As the season progressed, United were further blown away by City and Liverpool, outplayed by Aston Villa and Newcastle United, and lost 1-0 against Brighton and West Ham United in a feeble manner. Factor in a narrow defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates, and a draw against Spurs was the only point United picked up away against a top nine finisher.
There remains a big gap to City - ruefully the benchmark for United - and lots of that does come from away form. Accumulating 21 points more at home than away is a disparity that needs to be reduced.
United may actually count themselves lucky that they were often drawn at home in cup competitions, outlined by their 3-0 humiliation away to Sevilla in the Europa League quarter-finals. This shouldn't take anything away from their cup form, though...
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Excellent form in cup competitions
Success in the Carabao Cup. An FA Cup final. A Europa League quarter-final. That's not too bad a return in cup competitions for Ten Hag's first season.
The loss to Sevilla in the Europa League is an outlier when you look at the consistency achieved in both domestic cup competitions, with the only loss coming against treble-winning Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
To Ten Hag's credit, he never took his foot off the gas in cup competitions and almost always named his strongest side - evidence of his acknowledgement of the value of bringing silverware back to Old Trafford after a wait that lasted nearly six years.
United rarely looked in that much trouble en-route to two finals, either. Did their draws help them somewhat? Maybe. But where other teams faltered in similarly 'winnable' matches, United were efficient.
The value of these cup runs, and success in the case of the Carabao Cup, cannot be understated. Amid the jubilation on the Wembley pitch in late February after being Newcastle, there is little doubt the players will have realised they want more of that feeling.
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Too many capitulations... but resilience has grown
United rolling over in games, as mentioned with regards to their away form, was a prevalent issue. You cannot be losing while shipping four, six and seven goals and offering little response. And it wasn't always those defeats that were humiliating either, given losses to Villa (3-1), Newcastle (2-0) and Sevilla (3-0) could also easily be regarded as dominations.
This sort of result cannot happen if you want to be challengers on every front, and it speaks to some frailties, particularly mentality-wise, remaining in Ten Hag's squad. After falling behind in matches, United have shown they can easily find themselves chasing the game, and that only makes the situation worse (and often worse again).
However, on the flip side, United's responses to defeats, especially the more humiliating, do deserve credit. They never lost the game after, which does speak to greater resilience having been instilled by Ten Hag.
The Brentford loss was backed up by beating Liverpool. The City loss was backed up by a nine-game unbeaten run. The Villa loss was backed up by a midweek Carabao Cup win over the same opposition. The Liverpool loss was backed up by a 4-1 annihilation of Real Betis. The Newcastle loss was backed up by wins over Brentford and Everton. The Sevilla loss was backed up by reaching the FA Cup final.
While the capitulations that have tainted Ten Hag's first season have to be eradicated, with United being so inferior fairly often inexplicable for a club of their stature, the progress in terms of the response to these setbacks has to be noted.
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Ten Hag has asserted authority
Nobody can say Ten Hag has had it easy. He came into a club in disarray at board level after countless failed signings and adopted a divided squad with unhappy players exuding negative influence. He was never regarded as someone with much of an aura, yet he stepped in and showed everybody who was boss from day one.
With United's recruitment process not renowned as the most efficient, he ensured he was able to sign players in his image, hence the acquisitions of the likes of Lisandro Martinez and Antony - both former players of his. Especially in the case of Martinez, this was vindicated.
And even in Antony's case, there was evidence of a manager coming in and making sure they were backed. This would become a key theme, with the board having plenty of decisions from Ten Hag that they would need to approve.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the biggest - arguably the most famous footballer of all time. He was no doubt a problem, being someone that didn't fit in Ten Hag's system and refused to adapt, kicking up a fuss when he didn't play. But Ten Hag has introduced the principle of nobody, regardless of status, being above the manager.
Cause disruption? You're out. And that was laudably no different for Ronaldo. United were better off for it in the long run, too.
Ten Hag isn't afraid to show his authority by making big decisions. Even star player Marcus Rashford was dropped from a starting side after oversleeping and arriving late to a meeting while in the peak of his resurgent form.
The right precedents have been set.
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A culture and identity are returning
In recent years, United have had a bit of an identity crisis - both in terms of their style of football and the culture of the club off-field. One big task for Ten Hag was to install a clear style of play and rectify some of the standards that had started to slip.
This has very much started to be achieved.
The squad may not yet be completely as Ten Hag would like long-term, however there was a clear impetus placed on front-foot, attacking, high intensity football. And while there were some anomalies, largely through other root causes, the players showed much greater mettle in terms of their fight and commitment, aided by Ten Hag's desire for personalities such as Martinez.
When the going got tough in matches, and there were struggles to close games out, spirit and collectivity would get United over the line on numerous occasions. The latter is significant given talk of cliques in the previous campaign, with a much greater team ethic helping United's progress more than some may perceive.
There is a desire from each individual to act in the best interest of the team, with leaders emerging and players willing to operate different roles, such as Luke Shaw willingly filling in at centre-back (and with avail).
With a squad co-operating with his demands, Ten Hag is well on the way to raising the standards once more, brining back a winning and fighting culture, as well as a clear identity.
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Successful signings and individual renaissances
United fans found themselves in a unique position - at least based off recent years - by having an actual conundrum to contend with when it came to Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year voting. There were, for the first time in a while, a number of contenders. The bulk of those were either new signings or reinvigorated individuals.
There could have been more from Antony given his extortionate price tag, however the summer additions were generally vindicated. Both Martinez and Casemiro were pivotal to much of United's progress, while Christian Eriksen offered an upgraded dimension in midfield after being signed for free, and the relatively cheap Tyrell Malacia offered excellent depth.
Further than that, there were individuals that felt like new signings under Ten Hag's management, evidencing the Dutchman's man-management and, along with his coaching staff, ability to develop players.
Rashford is the most notable name, transitioning from a bit-part, out-of-form feature under Ralf Rangnick into a pivotal starter under Ten Hag, improving drastically on five goals and two assists with a sensational output of 30 goals and 11 assists. Adding to this, he looks motivated and as though he is enjoying his football again.
A vast amount of players underperformed in the 2021/22 season, but arguably most disappointing was Bruno Fernandes, who was another to improve massively to become a viable player of the season contender in the 2022/23 campaign.
Other resurgences include those of right-backs Diogo Dalot and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who have both quelled the need for a signing in that position. Even the likes of Victor Lindelof could be considered in a similar bracket - now looked upon much more favourably by fans.
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Defensive improvements (generally)
On the whole, United appeared much more assured defensively through the season (this is, of course, with the caveat of the more humiliating). They conceded 43 goals in the league, which was bettered only by City and Newcastle, and level with Arsenal.
Take away the fact they conceded 23 goals across five games in which they conceded three or more goals alone, and United's defensive record deserves a lot of credit. Conceding only 20 goals in the 33 other matches is a remarkable record - emphasised further by the fact that 17 clean sheets won David de Gea the Premier League Golden Glove.
However, as much as clean sheets do reflect on a goalkeeper, De Gea still showed flaws and the defence should gain plenty of credit for their part. Ten Hag also should be lauded for his role in increasing the organisation of the defence while also introducing a higher line.
Much of the development does come from having a reliable starting pair in the form of Raphael Varane and Martinez, complimenting each other excellently with a mixture of measure and aggression. There was also evidence of solid depth, shown by Lindelof's reliability, Harry Maguire's ability to step in, and Luke Shaw adaptation too.
The depth extends to full-back areas too, where Dalot and Wan-Bissaka can cover different games suited to one another with efficiency on the right, while Shaw has proven excellent on the left with Malacia perfectly able to deputise when required.
Casemiro's defensive influence cannot be understated either, with United long having lacked the sort of protection he has offered to the defence.
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Goalscoring is an issue
United need to sign a striker. That is as clear as day. They far too often had the chance to put games to bed in a routine fashion, yet chances kept on going begging - 2-0 leads being lost to draw against Tottenham and Sevilla standing out as two examples where this was costly.
United scored 58 goals in the league, which was the worst inside the top six and notably lower than Spurs (and level with Brentford) too. A mere 22 goals scored away from home was worse than every top 10 finishing side aside from Villa, and even worse than relegated Leicester City (plus level with relegated Leeds United).
Chance creation wasn't always an issue, with Fernandes again the leading creator in the Premier League and collective chance creation on par with even the likes of Arsenal. But United far too often lacked a clinical edge - exacerbated by Ten Hag not being backed with funds to sign a striker in January, with Wout Weghorst failing to score a league goal after signing on loan from Burnley.
A drastic underperformance of expected goals shows United should really have more wins to reflect the job Ten Hag is doing in terms of setting his side up given there is only so much possible in terms of allowing big chances to be converted.
United have to start scoring more in games having scored three or more goals in only around one quarter of their games in all competitions, only managing to score more than that three times.
Too much onus was placed on Rashford as another issue, with greater distribution of goals necessary through the squad, shown by Rashford's next-closest competitor in United's scoring charts being Fernandes on 14 goals.
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Ten Hag has dealt well with misfits remaining
It is no secret that Ten Hag's squad still requires further upheaval. After all, it is only one season beyond Rangnick's claims that the squad needed open heart surgery, such was the disarray within.
Ten Hag has had to operate with some players still misfits profile-wise, with his style of play having to be adapted to an extent, such as not playing out from the back due to De Gea's substandard distribution. There was also the lack of an ideal third midfielder possessing tenacity and invention enabling full control, even with Eriksen elevating the level in that area, while the absence of a potent striker was a clear limitation.
This sort of thing has held Ten Hag back to an extent, with the goalkeeping issue limiting build-up efficiency, for instance. But it speaks to Ten Hag's coaching pedigree that he has overcome and dealt with these issues to still allow marked progress.
There remained signs of Ten Hag's tactics taking force, with evolution of certain players, such as the full-backs growing accustomed to inverting. Of course, there is further to go when the right players are acquired, particularly with a view to improving build-up.
Overall, though, excellent progress has been made with a squad not yet fully in the manager's image. And it is an exciting prospect seeing what Ten Hag can do with a group of players more entirely suited to his demands.
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The squad can still be deeper
Beyond still not having all of the right profiles, United's squad still isn't deep enough in terms of having quality alternative options in a variety of areas - something that will have to be addressed over time.
Fixture congestion riddled United nigh on all season, with midweek breaks hardly existent at any juncture, particularly beyond the World Cup. But amid this all, there was little rotation from Ten Hag, pointing towards a lack of trust in the more sporadic players in his squad.
It was a lose-lose in many ways. Rotate and the side is weakened too much. Don't rotate and tiredness becomes a factor (and it did as performances latterly declined).
The model of top sides like City has to be what is followed, with two players able to start in each role a necessity in the longer run. At present, a few injuries can leave certain areas of United's squad looking bare.
One big plus-point from Ten Hag's first season was his in-game management, yet even his substitutes started to become largely ineffectual as the season went on and injuries were accumulated. Even when the majority of options are used, there is inadequacy indicative of United's subpar levels of depth.
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"We are in a project - we want to go back and win trophies," Ten Hag said towards the end of the season. "We win one trophy but we want more trophies, compete with the best."
And United are definitely, at least on the pitch, on the right course to returning there. The summer transfer window and resolution to the ownership debacle are both crucial in supporting the continuation of a clear upward trajectory.
"I think other teams can see that United are coming back," Shaw said in an interview with Sky Sports. "Our goal at the start of next season must be to win the Premier League and the Champions League."
And that is all of the evidence you need to prove United have the right man in Ten Hag. The belief is back, and there is evidence to support it too.
Note: Thank you to everybody for their support for UTDSPACE across the season. Here's hoping for more success in 2023/24 and beyond!
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