Revealed: Why Rasmus Hojlund complained about Bruno Fernandes to Erik ten Hag, as the manager - who looks set for an exit before fixing the 'no good culture' - hides his fury at Manchester United

Exactly two years ago, Ralf Rangnick said the Manchester United squad needed ‘open heart surgery’, and now more than ever it feels as though this soap opera of a club is stuck on a long hospital waiting list.

Rangnick already knew he wouldn’t be getting the job on a permanent basis when he said those words before a defeat at Arsenal in April 2022, so the wonderfully outspoken German – who regularly had United’s communications department running for cover during his short stay in England – was free to take aim and fire.

Rangnick could say the stuff that United managers can’t usually disclose until they are long gone. Only recently, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, whose sacking led to Rangnick’s arrival as interim boss, revealed that some of his players refused to captain the team, while others were asked to put their hands up at half-time of his last stand at Watford ‘if they didn’t want to play’. This is Manchester United, for goodness sake.

It was a battle even Jose Mourinho couldn’t win. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph on Monday, Mourinho said it didn’t feel like he had the club’s backing in his battle of wills with Paul Pogba.

It was no secret that the old United board thwarted Mourinho’s plan to sell Anthony Martial, and he had a difficult relationship with Luke Shaw.

‘There are a couple of players still there I didn’t want five or six years ago,’ Mourinho added. ‘I think they represent a little bit what I consider not the best professional profile to a club of a certain dimension. But I did my job there. Time always tells the truth.’

Ten Hag was brought in to fix what he described as ‘a no good culture’ but he’s never said more than that. In this age of player power, coaches need to pick their battles carefully, and he was still protecting them when he hid his fury to the media after United scraped into the FA Cup final on Sunday despite blowing a three-goal lead against Coventry City.

The Dutchman ran Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho out of Old Trafford when they challenged him publicly, but it’s clear the problems run deeper.

Ten Hag has clashed with Raphael Varane as well and only last week had to reprimand Alejandro Garnacho for undermining his manager by ‘liking’ social media posts criticising him for the cardinal sin of substituting the United winger. Garnacho is 19.

Mail Sport understands that earlier this season Ten Hag and his coaching staff were presented with a tricky issue within the squad when new £72million signing Rasmus Hojlund complained that captain Bruno Fernandes wasn’t passing to him enough.

Hojlund fell out with teammate Diogo Dalot during United’s 4-3 Champions League defeat to FC Copenhagen in November after Lukas Lerager scored a late equaliser, and Fernandes sided with his Portuguese compatriot.

When Hojlund raised his concerns with the coaches, he was told to address it directly with Dalot. It was only when the two men shook hands and put it behind them that Fernandes also made his peace with Hojlund and harmony was restored.

These things happen at football clubs and, for all the criticism aimed his way, it should be said that Fernandes has stood strong for United this season when those around him have collapsed – both physically amid a crippling injury crisis, and mentally on the all too regular occasions that Ten Hag’s side have fallen apart.

Which brings us to Wembley on Sunday afternoon, and the latest episode in what has become a kamikaze second campaign under the Dutchman.

When the time comes to write Ten Hag’s obituary as United manager – and sadly it is starting to feel like it will happen in May – there will be a special place for the FA Cup capitulation to Coventry.

Somehow United recovered to win a penalty shootout and reach their third cup final under Ten Hag. Who knows, they might even beat Manchester City on May 25. But winning the FA Cup couldn’t save Ten Hag’s compatriot Louis van Gaal in 2016, and it probably won’t be enough this time either.

Like Ten Hag, Van Gaal was adamant to the bitter end that he had the club’s backing. Even when his wife Truus interrupted the celebrations to tell him in a lift at Wembley that stories confirming his demise were already starting to break.

It’s to be hoped that Sir Jim Ratcliffe will conduct matters with a little more decency, and all the signs are that he will.

The message remains that Ineos are focussed on putting in place an executive team, and new technical director Jason Wilcox started work at Carrington on Monday. Chief executive Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth will follow, although it would be foolish to think that both men aren’t already having some degree of input.

The focus then will be on United’s coaching situation, which sounds rather ominous for Ten Hag.

Ultimately he must carry the can for United’s performances this season, and the sight of red shirts in disarray as another opponent has United on the run is becoming all too familiar.

‘It’s hard to explain,’ admitted Casemiro. ‘I’d say for 70 minutes, it was a calm game. A controlled game. Then a team panic. We lost control of the game. It’s been very hard to have these highs and lows.’

Harry Maguire, meanwhile, spoke about a lack of ‘responsibility’ among the team, and that’s where the finger of blame moves from Ten Hag to the players who once again let him down.

The manager is said to have torn into them in the dressing-room afterwards, furious that United had allowed another game that was under their control to get away from them.

By the end, United were a rabble. Maguire was playing up front, as he did against Liverpool in the quarters, and Casemiro was still there as an emergency centre-back.

Christian Eriksen was being overrun in midfield without the younger legs of Kobbie Mainoo and Scott McTominay beside him. Amad Diallo and Omari Forson were on the wings after Ten Hag took off Garnacho before the roof fell in. Fortunately, the youngster didn’t feel the need to go public with his feelings this time.

United had run out of options. The only outfield players not used by Ten Hag were the four teenagers – Harry Amass, Ethan Wheatley, Habeeb Ogunneye and Louis Jackson – sat on the bench without a single first-team appearance among them.

There is no doubt injuries have done for Ten Hag this season, and none more so than Lisandro Martinez, a warrior off the pitch and key ally in the dressing-room who has been limited to 11 appearances.

But it’s also true that he has been given £400m and two years to improve United, and they look further away than ever.

Casemiro and Eriksen, two success stories of Ten Hag’s first season, have grown old before our eyes. Throw in Sofyan Amrabat and is there a slower midfield trio anywhere in the Premier League?

Mason Mount has only managed 673 minutes since a £60m move from Chelsea, and was missing again at Wembley. We haven’t even seen Tyrell Malacia this season.

Hojlund coverted the decisive penalty but that was the only time he troubled Coventry keeper Bradley Collins after 120 minutes of football. The Dane isn’t lacking in effort but too often he has shown all the poise of a dog chasing a paper bag in the wind.

In fairness to Hojlund, he has had little support from Marcus Rashford and Martial. Rashford continues to look like a lost soul who would benefit from a new home. Martial hasn’t played since early December and it would be a surprise if we see him again in a United shirt.

And then there’s Antony. It can be hard to warm to the Brazilian, who Ten Hag says has struggled this season following allegations – which he strongly denies – of domestic abuse against an ex-girlfriend.

But the sight of United’s £86m winger cupping his hands to his ears at the Coventry players after they lost the shootout was unedifying in the extreme.

At least one of Ten Hag’s signings continues to go from strength to strength, with Andre Onana producing a crucial save in the shootout.

But you still had to remind yourself that United had won, and it’s quite possible they will win the next two games as well.

Ten Hag’s side face bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United at Old Trafford on Wednesday night and second-bottom Burnley at home on Saturday as they chase the consolation of a Europa League place.

Can these players be trusted to even deliver that, though?

Solskjaer used to confide in his staff that ‘this lot will get me sacked’, and it looks as though they will soon have another manager’s blood on their hands.

Alan Shearer has been around the game long enough to read a situation, and he saw the writing on the wall at Wembley.

‘I think the future of the Manchester United manager is already determined. Even if they win the FA Cup, I think he’s gone,’ said Shearer on Monday.

‘When you look at the players, when you look at the attitude, where they are in the league and all those things.

‘You know how it works: new owner, new director of football, new director of strategy, new this, new that, new whatever. It just tells you: new manager incoming.’