Ten Hag has spent over £400m on new signings, but McTominay & Maguire save him
For all his heavy spending trying to rebuild Manchester United, Erik ten Hag is indebted to the players he inherited for keeping the season alive.
While Rasmus Hojlund, Andre Onana and Antony struggle to justify their hefty big price tags and Casemiro and Christian Eriksen are unavailable due to injury, step forward Harry Maguire and Scott McTominay – neither of whom ten Hag wanted to stay – to become United's main men.
Other major contributions to United's best performances of the season – Wednesday's 2-1 win against Chelsea and the recent 3-0 drubbing over Everton at Goodison Park – have been homegrown youngster Alejandro Garnacho and Luke Shaw, signed nine years ago while ten Hag was still managing the reserves at Bayern Munich.
They say it's better to be a lucky manager than a good one. Nobody is suggesting Ten Hag isn't good – his record at Ajax and first season at United suggests he is.
Yet even his biggest fan must admit there is an air of good fortune in his failure to sell Maguire and McTominay as they have been brilliant for United this season when others have let them down.
Maguire's rags to riches story has been told before but it still beggars belief. Fifth-choice centre-half not long ago, he rejected attempts to send him to West Ham.
He's now the first defender on the teamsheet while World Cup winner Raphael Varane is nowhere. Maguire was a solid against Chelsea, distributed the ball well and even broke forward with authority when United were in possession.
McTominay's renaissance is even more stark. He was seen as the poster boy for United's struggles in midfield.
Now he's not only playing regularly and a hero for the Scotland international team, his double against Chelsea made him United's top scorer this
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