COMMENT: Was that his Mark Robins moment on Saturday? Did Scott McTominay do for Erik ten Hag what Robins did for Sir Alex Ferguson over 33 years ago...?

Martin Edwards, the former Manchester United chairman, has since told Tribalfootball.com that Ferguson was never in danger going into that famous FA Cup 3rd round tie at Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest. But the papers were full of it. It was palpable. Defeat and Ferguson was gone.

Saturday at Old Trafford and you fancy circumstances were similar. Defeat to Brentford and Ten Hag was in real danger. They were certainly predicting it in his native Holland. Though word from inside the club, just as Edwards had insisted to us, was that the manager's position was not under threat.

McTominay, with that injury-time double, affirmed those club sources. The man who "bleeds Manchester United", as Ten Hag would say in the aftermath, rescuing both his manager and the board from two weeks of sack speculation. If Ten Hag hadn't thrown on McTominay in those final minutes. If the player hadn't reacted as he did to those two opportunities that fell for him. You can just imagine the speculation generated - some wild, some sourced - to fill the void that the international break creates. For Ten Hag, the rumour-mill would've been merciless.

But he fights on. As does the club. All thanks to McTominay. Oh and also the ever-maligned Harry Maguire. United fans reading this need to recognise, you're not having that experience of a classic late, late win without Maguire's cushion header to set up his young teammate. It was the former captain who created that moment.

In the meantime, for Ten Hag. For his backroom staff. The battle goes on. And it is a battle. Just as Sir Alex faced all those years ago. He has good players. Good men. The dressing room issues have been bombed out. Eliminated. Ten Hag, as with Ferguson, has the support of his squad. But something's still not quite right...

This column likes to draw comparisons with the past. The history. The patterns. It's worth probing. And what Ten Hag is now confronting was similar to what Sir Alex was finding in his second full season in charge. A second place finish in his first full campaign had United fans buoyed. Liverpool were way out in front, sure. But Ferguson had righted the ship. The club was back on course. The good times were about to return.

Only it didn't work out like that. The following season was a 11th place finish. The next? 13th. Can you imagine such a situation today? Yet Edwards stuck by Ferguson. He was losing the fans, but not the board. They could see what he was putting in place. They knew the size of the overhaul he had to make. They stood by him, stride-for-stride.

For the moment, internally, Ten Hag enjoys the same support. And he will have even without McTominay's intervention. The club knows, as Ten Hag hinted last week, the team's issues go beyond ability and personalities. There is a rot. A decline. Something that has been eating away at the culture inside Manchester United for the past ten years. And it's something that simply throwing money at isn't going to solve.

Ten Hag raises the issue when he talks about "consistency" and "standards". He talks about "fighting every day". This isn't about the ability of the players. Their personalities. Their professionalism. Again, those dressing room issues are gone. The isolation Jadon Sancho is now enduring is proof of that.

"When we won the Champions League I was expecting a big party. Parades. But there was practically nothing. Some short congratulatory messages and that was it. We just don't do that here. You're expected to win. That's our job..."

That soundbite came from Eduardo Camavinga, discussing his Champions League triumph with Real Madrid. They don't do parties at Valdebebas. They train. They work. And they win. Those words from Camavinga could easily have come from a young Louis Saha or Jesper Blomqvist at United over the turn of the century. The club was a winning machine. It existed to collect trophies and nothing else. And if you couldn't contribute to the mission, you were quickly, ruthlessly, moved on.

Over this past decade, United have lost that. They've had the players. They've had the potential. But that ruthless, winning culture has gradually vanished. Replaced by short cuts. Excuses. A nearly enough is good enough attitude. Again, it's not the individuals fault. They walk into such an environment and it envelopes them. A 'graveyard' for players and managers? Well, this is why...

Indeed, it's why there would be no room at the United of the 2000's for Marcus Rashford. The manager. Even the dressing room. It just wouldn't be tolerated. Accepted. Nothing to do with Rashford the personality. But the idea that United must wait for a player to find a way out of his slump? To almost being held hostage by one individual's form? It just would not have happened in the Ferguson era. Indeed, this column would argue Rashford would not have allowed himself to get in such a state given the culture at Carrington and The Cliff at the time.

This is what Ten Hag is battling against. This is what he's trying to fix. It runs right through the club. That final five per cent. That winning five per cent. The demand to "fight", to be "consistent", every moment of every day as a Manchester United player. It's not yet there.

Which is why this board must hold their nerve. Just as Edwards and his directors did all those years ago. United have the manager. They have the players. But they don't have that missing 'five per cent'.

But Ten Hag has recognised it. He's working on it. And if he is supported, you fancy he'll fix it a lot sooner than the five years it took Sir Alex to turn Manchester United around.