Man Utd crisis blamed on absence of three 'leaders' as Marcel Sabitzer defends 'perfectionist' Erik ten Hag

The Austria international midfielder, who is now on the books of Borussia Dortmund, spent the second half of last season on loan at Old Trafford. He took in a Carabao Cup triumph while in England – as the Red Devils brought a six-year wait for major silverware to a close – but Erik ten Hag has been unable to build on those trophy-winning foundations.

Sabitzer believes injuries suffered by three experienced internationals are contributing to the lack of consistency at United, with the 29-year-old telling The Athletic when asked to cast an eye over a team that is fighting fires on and off the field: “I feel very positive about my time there and still talk to a couple of people. You ask yourself, ‘what’s going on?’ There’s a lot of noise, results are not good, they’ve had defeats at home, which almost felt unthinkable last season. And there’s still the unresolved situation of the ownership. You can see what that does to a team. I feel sorry for them because they’re all good guys, and extremely hungry for success.

“Casemiro, Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez - they are leaders that provide structure and stability to the team. Erik ten Hag comes with up very specific match plans and patterns of play. But if you have too many important players missing and too many changes as a result, things get lost between the tactics board and the pitch. The rhythm of players coming isn’t right, processes aren’t right. In the Premier League and Champions League, you need your best players available. Everything feels a little laboured and uncertain now. They need their big guys to show up and change the course of the season, but I believe things can change quickly once they get important players back.”

Sabitzer has also offered his support to under-fire coach Ten Hag, with the Dutchman being absolved of blame as underperforming players fail to deliver on his remit. Sabitzer added: “You can wake him up at 3am, he’d tell you his whole match plan by heart. He’s very knowledgeable about football and tactics, a very hard worker, a perfectionist. And he’s very straight with you. When I had a bad game, he showed me some situations and told me how to do it better next time. I liked that. You knew where you stood with him. He never threw you under the bus. Instead, he told players to go out and do better in the next game. I learned a lot about football working under him. He’s a very good coach.”

United, who have suffered five Premier League defeats this season to sit eighth in the table, will be back in action on Wednesday when taking in a crucial Champions League trip to FC Copenhagen – with their European aspirations also hanging by a thread at present.