Excellent come-back post. I respect it. My point about Fernandez was that although I like Reguilon, Fernandez was good enough to have a chance and just another example of the favouritism and inconsistency that ten Hag is guilty of. I'm also not referring to De Gea staying on but just the manner in which he was jettisoned out of the club for no reason. I would promote more youngsters in place of Maguire, Martial etc. (they can't be any worse), and I'm sorry but you don't bench Varane behind Maguire, Lindelof, Evans and an out-of-position Shaw, you just don't. And despite all of ten Hag's positive achievements, when you look at the overall picture, you just see the same sequence of events unfolding as with all the other managers post SAF.
The question is at what point do say it's the manager? You can't deny that he is scoring some massive own goals at the moment. And who else is going to take responsibility for team performances?
“At what point do you blame the manager” is interesting if you have a more inquisitive, as opposed to a more absolute opinion on the topic.
One could argue that no other manager at United has had to navigate so many issues at the one time. No one United manager has had all the usual issues and more.
I think it’s a very fair question but there’s so much been going on it’s a hard one to answer.
The mistakes ETH has made are far worse because I don’t think United in its current situation is a place that can afford mistakes. I personally think that everything that could go wrong or unsettle things is happening all at the same time.
In saying that, it’s hard to defend what you see on the pitch. It’s hard to really know how much of this is a manager struggling to juggle everything versus a dysfunctional club making it harder the it needs to be. Maybe it’s a bit of both.
when it comes to “he’s spent 400 million” I wonder how relevant that truly is.the Chelsea owners have spent over double that in the same tine and look at how that’s gone. The previous owner knew how to run the club.
This is at the heart of the divide on manager I think. People think “the glazers don’t coach the team” as if what the glazers do or don’t do is completely separate from the team. Signing off on top targets , having finance or commercial people in positions that do affect first team (pre season or player retention for book value), top 4 target (turn off funds when we get top 4- look at transfers season after we qualify for CL) and many other thugs that have been highlighted in the past.
We keep buying players who are available, it’s remarkable how many top signings United make where it’s players looking for a move. On paper they look good and have a “why would any manager not want them” look , but they were not planned and usually look like part of our lack of planning.
I want to see what a fit ETH team with no other dramas looks like. Ownership clarity, no injuries (and players Fit, not just available), no player issues/scandals , players like martial gone (why is he even here), an actual starting fit striker etc. these aren’t crazy requests for a super club, but we can’t even put our manager in a position to have some of the most basic things that other top clubs take as a give.
I mean even thinking of the Ighalo, weghorst, martial situation, that’s what United managers have to work with up front. Do people think these are the strikers man United managers want? This is what our club has given our managers. I don’t see Klopp/pep having a beautifully balanced front line with this options.
I feel like people act like managers are ringfenced from the sh*t and all they have to do is coach. I wish it were that simple. How do Varane and Casamerio feel when they see United have to start either martial or an unproven/unfit Houjland? How do they feel when they see our manager have to get loanees in because the club hasn’t the funds to act like a proper super club?
People need to realise that players need hope and when our club does things like sign Dalot and Fred to help bridge the gap with city, it destroys everything. Managers might aswell quite when the club has quited.