Ten Hag and Manchester United up against it in Copenhagen as omens and feelings emerge all over the shop

Manchester United must overcome their own sticky form and the formidable record of a team that last won a Champions League home game seven years ago.

The Omen
Lord knows Erik Ten Hag has enough on his plate at the moment trying to right the good ship Manchester United. What he surely doesn’t need is the emergence of a ‘worrying omen’ ahead of a crucial game against Copenhagen.

But, as worrying omens are wont to do, emerge it has.

Look, it says so right here in The Sun so it must be true.

Man Utd face must-win FC Copenhagen clash to avoid Champions League exit but worrying omen emerges before crucial tie

First and most drearily, we must point out that it is in no way a ‘must-win clash to avoid Champions League exit’.

It would be enormously sub-optimal for United to lose, for sure, but if they were to lose in Copenhagen and Bayern Munich beat Galatasaray in the other game then United would be on three points and one point behind Copenhagen and Gala. Not good by any stretch. But certainly not out. So that’s that sorted.

Now to that worrying omen. What is it, exactly?

But Erik ten Hag’s modern-day Devils face a… challenging task given their host’s imperious home record.

From each of their five seasons in the Champions League, Copenhagen have lost just two home games, winning six and drawing eight.

It is a formidable record – and a worrying omen for Manchester United.

Right. That’s not an omen. That’s a form guide. And let’s dig slightly deeper into that ‘formidable’ and ‘imperious’ record, shall we? There’s a clue in there that half Copenhagen’s home games in the Champions League have ended in a draw – which doesn’t sound particularly imperious – and another clue in the fact they have played only 16 home games in the Champions League across five seasons.

That record could just as easily be spun, if one were so inclined, as Copenhagen haven’t won a home game in the Champions League since September 2016. Formidable indeed.

One of those two rare defeats for the imperious Danes was also… their most recent Champions League home game. Might also be a factor.

But it’s not just Copenhagen’s formidable home record United must overturn. There’s another omen: Manchester United lost a game here 17 years ago. Nightmare.

And even that’s not all. On top of all that, Paul Scholes has issued a ‘dire warning’.

It just gets worse and worse.

“They showed last year they’re frail in away games, you think of Sevilla away. It was a brilliant atmosphere, it was hostile, they crumbled, they couldn’t handle it.

“It makes me worry about going to Copenhagen, who aren’t a brilliant team but they’re organised.

“I don’t know if there’s the character and fighters in that team to be able to cope with a big atmosphere.”

Frankly we’re surprised Ten Hag and the lads have even bothered travelling to Denmark for such a lost cause.

Fergie time
Some good news for poor beleaguered omen-riddled Ten Hag, though. It’s not just omens emerging, you see. Also emerging from the mists are the views of Sir Alex Ferguson on the Manchester United manager’s fragile position.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s feelings on sacking Erik ten Hag emerge following showdown Man Utd talks

That’s the mischievous headline from the Mirror’s online content scamps, which blurs a couple of lines rather cheekily.

The ‘showdown talks’ in that headline have absolutely nothing to do with Ferguson, of course, and are in fact the talks Ten Hag held with his own players at his own instigation ahead of the game against Fulham. A game that, inconveniently, Manchester United won.

And even that phrasing – ‘Ferguson’s feelings on sacking Erik Ten Hag’ – is a bit naughty, because Ferguson’s feelings are apparently that he should not be sacked. So really the headline should if anything be about how Ten Hag retains Ferg’s support. But that’s less fun and far less clicky.

You’ll notice also that we use the word ‘apparently’ there and that’s because we don’t actually know for sure what Ferguson’s views are because he hasn’t actually given any recent quotes on the matter.

Where Ferguson’s feelings have in fact ‘emerged’ from on this crisp, cold Wednesday morn is it turns out a story in The Sun on Monday which carries quotes only from an anonymous source. An anonymous source with a fortuitous fondness for talking at great length about the great man’s thoughts on the matter and also doing so in fluent tabloidese, a language literally no human on earth has ever used when speaking out loud.

And all that is before we even get to the arguably significant unmentioned point in either story of how healthy it is for Manchester United that Ferguson remains such an influential kingmaker – or kingkeeper in this case – given his record at identifying good managers is somewhat spottier than his record at actually being one.