I think Ten Hag also wants that where he wants a positive result where Manchester United can win the trophy for the EPL it's just that with the situation they always receive the same at the beginning of the season (internal player problems even in these 2 seasons player and coach quarrels always occur) then it is very difficult to make them consistent at the beginning because of the lack of chemistry between players and coaches.
Although in the end towards the end of the season Ten Hag was always able to make a breakthrough where his position remained in the top 4 but indeed his achievements only got there no more.
In addition, some clubs now such as Liverpool, Manchester City and even Arsenal are still above them so this is also still very difficult to be used as momentum because in fact Manchester United are still below them in terms of performance.
I don't know what kind of chemistry can emerge between Ten Hag and the players if all we've seen is conflict and degradation of even good players. Even those with whom Ten Hag had an excellent relationship deteriorated, suppose in the case of Casemiro this can be attributed to age-related changes, in the case of Rashford it is difficult to come up with any excuses.
As for competition from other clubs, this is a general problem of the Premier League - there are too many strong clubs and even if you are good, you may end up a loser at the end of the season.
That is what happened until now because during Ten Hag's coaching at Manchester United from the beginning until now it seems that for clubs in the EPL only Manchester United has always had problems between coaches and players so that in this case the chemistry clearly has to be rebuilt because after all with the conditions that are happening now it is not suitable if every season there must be a dispute between players and coaches.
For Casemiro despite his current age he actually did decline when at Manchester United which makes me quite sure that communication is still a problem in this case especially since the difference is quite far when he is in the midfield of Madrid and the midfield of Manchester United at least for now the nickname tank pinned for Casemiro in midfield when he was at Madrid it decreased slightly.
For the problem of competition, it seems that it actually depends on the conditions of each club but on the other hand competition can be built if there is already good chemistry and good cooperation in a club to make its performance increase.