Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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FFS demand a midfield signing pronto
If it's true he wanted Mount and thought he could transform him into an 8, he's got a CM signing for £60m.
I can't believe he watched last night and thought "this is going to take us to the next level" so I think we will see changes for Spurs. As ever we lack speed and mobility in the CMs, that has to change.
 
If it's true he wanted Mount and thought he could transform him into an 8, he's got a CM signing for £60m.
I can't believe he watched last night and thought "this is going to take us to the next level" so I think we will see changes for Spurs. As ever we lack speed and mobility in the CMs, that has to change.

He needs either Amrabat/Onana in next 3 days
 
I'm beginning to have my doubts about ETH. Last season ended atrociously with a lot of strange decisions and the signing of Mount over an 8 seems an odd one.

Bit of an exaggeration. We have accumulated the second most points in the league, after City, in 2023. I think we were joint second with Villa(!) before this week. Throw in a cup final win in, also towards the end of last season, and "ended atrociously" doesn't seem to fit.
 
But isn't that on ETH when he bought Mount instead of that midfielder?

We need(ed) both. Van de Beek is dogshit and we had no attacking alternative for Bruno. Mount adds to the squad and I have no issues with that.

We penny pinch and neglect to fully address holes in the squad every single summer. We’ll do the same next summer as well, until we have the resources (and ability) to go out and completely overhaul the squad to the point that it’s ahead, not behind.

Again, I’ll repeat: Ten Hag isn’t perfect and he’s not helping Casemiro in midfield. We must be play better than we did last night. But our squad just isn’t that good, and lots of people are guilty of thinking that it is. Even our best players like Rashford are dead from the neck up.
 
Bit of an exaggeration. We have accumulated the second most points in the league, after City, in 2023. I think we were joint second with Villa(!) before this week. Throw in a cup final win in, also towards the end of last season, and "ended atrociously" doesn't seem to fit.
Ok was a poor choice of words. Some terrible games/performances though and some of his decisions were puzzling. Also we got pumped by Liverpool by 7 and threw it away in Europe.
 
We need(ed) both. Van de Beek is dogshit and we had no attacking alternative for Bruno. Mount adds to the squad and I have no issues with that.

We penny pinch and neglect to fully address holes in the squad every single summer. We’ll do the same next summer as well, until we have the resources (and ability) to go out and completely overhaul the squad to the point that it’s ahead, not behind.

Again, I’ll repeat: Ten Hag isn’t perfect and he’s not helping Casemiro in midfield. We must be play better than we did last night. But our squad just isn’t that good, and lots of people are guilty of thinking that it is. Even our best players like Rashford are dead from the neck up.
He has spent 400 fecking millions since he came here. Signed Onana, Lisandro, Malacia, Casemiro, Eriksen, Mount, Antony and Hojlund, promoted Garnacho, Pellestri. This is pretty much his team and he spent massively to built it. He could field a full team containing only players he signed or promoted.

Now he should either perform or be fired. And if it is the later, so should Murtough.
 
We need(ed) both. Van de Beek is dogshit and we had no attacking alternative for Bruno. Mount adds to the squad and I have no issues with that.

We penny pinch and neglect to fully address holes in the squad every single summer. We’ll do the same next summer as well, until we have the resources (and ability) to go out and completely overhaul the squad to the point that it’s ahead, not behind.

Again, I’ll repeat: Ten Hag isn’t perfect and he’s not helping Casemiro in midfield. We must be play better than we did last night. But our squad just isn’t that good, and lots of people are guilty of thinking that it is. Even our best players like Rashford are dead from the neck up.
A manager's priority should be to improve the first eleven, first and foremost. We might well struggle in Bruno's absence but he's the marathon man who very rarely gets injured. Mount was one we absolutely could've waited for, especially as he was available on a free transfer next season. Instead we're left woefully short in a midfield that doesn't look remotely fit for purpose.

I've been a big fan of Ten Hag's work to this point but this is a huge oversight from him. We can't complain about penny pinching if he spends £55m of the budget on a player who does nothing to improve the team that starts the season. If you're working within a budget you've got to be far smarter than that.
 
He has so much more to prove. He's spent a lot, said a lot, but has not really done much more than what past managers have achieved.
 
IF Qatar take over and Ten Hag finishes around 5th then they will almost certainly be replacing him.
 
I have read the end of the world reactions and found it laughable.

We were sh1t yesterday, but their was flashes of what this team could look like, we found our wingers 1 v 1 against the fullback but due to a lack of quality and no real target to aim for in the box these moves broke down by overplaying. I expect Hojlund to change that, through being a focal point and interplay as we progress through the 3rds and around the box then look to get onto the end of the moves.

I could see a better high press than we have had since he arrived, winning possession more times in there 3rd but we were not clinical and finishing them off.

We gave the ball away 81 times yesterday, how can you control games and constant pressure when your giving it away every minute, course you are going to get caught on the counter as we have positioned ourselves higher.

The defensive structure will improve as I suspect this is being worked on to negate being so open on the break.

I think some of you forget we won yesterday, nothing wrong with criticism and analysis but f1ck me OTT is an understatement.
 
What does this mean in practice?
Significant improvement that results in a top 4 finish, improved quality of football which is balanced and entertaining and good cup runs this season.

Else it should be game over, however I don't trust Murthough and Arnold to get it right either. This club needs a long term DoF that has a vision, and not just buys into whatever the manager has to tell him.
 
Some warning signs appearing but no judgement until the end of the season.
 
IF Qatar take over and Ten Hag finishes around 5th then they will almost certainly be replacing him.

Rightly so if we go backwards this season having spent so much and given him all he asked for.
 
We need(ed) both. Van de Beek is dogshit and we had no attacking alternative for Bruno. Mount adds to the squad and I have no issues with that.

We penny pinch and neglect to fully address holes in the squad every single summer. We’ll do the same next summer as well, until we have the resources (and ability) to go out and completely overhaul the squad to the point that it’s ahead, not behind.

Again, I’ll repeat: Ten Hag isn’t perfect and he’s not helping Casemiro in midfield. We must be play better than we did last night. But our squad just isn’t that good, and lots of people are guilty of thinking that it is. Even our best players like Rashford are dead from the neck up.

Why in god's name is an "attacking alternative to Bruno" the first thing you go after and spend 60m on then? Because Bruno plays basically every minute of ever game anyways and is now the captain, so it's not like he's going to suddenly be rotated/subbed with more frequency. If you wanted a depth piece then that could have been targeted further down the road.
 
Rightly so if we go backwards this season having spent so much and given him all he asked for.

Yeah I agree, if there's one thing we can't complain about it's that Ten Hag has certainly gotten what he's wished in the market. Even if it hasn't always been his first choice, we've gone after everyone he wanted and gotten many of them.
 
He needs either Amrabat/Onana in next 3 days
Part of me agrees but then part of me thinks I have to hold ETH to the same standards as his predecessors. He has got a GK, CM (in his mind) and CF, I do think there is an onus on him now to improve what we see on the pitch. We are going to be putting a lot of hope into Rasmus or Voldemort.
 
He has been trying to change the way we play drastically. He should've just upgraded Eriksen with an actual midfielder. I'm not sure how he became convinced Mount is the answer.
 
He's a good manager, but at the same time there's no doubt in my mind he's way too overrated by many people here.
It seems that he's slow to recognize his errors. He should've changed our shape yesterday and added a midfielder. Last season, he didn't rotate the players at all, causing injuries to a succession of players. And he persists with his favorites, such as Anthony. I'm fearful that he keeps exactly the same shape in midfield next game, in which case we may very well get battered.
 
He has spent 400 fecking millions since he came here. Signed Onana, Lisandro, Malacia, Casemiro, Eriksen, Mount, Antony and Hojlund, promoted Garnacho, Pellestri. This is pretty much his team and he spent massively to built it. He could field a full team containing only players he signed or promoted.

Now he should either perform or be fired. And if it is the later, so should Murtough.

And so have the teams around us. The ones we’ll be battling with for top four.

We’re well past the point of looking at net spend figures. The reality is that our squad this time last year was atrocious. The worst group of players I’ve seen in my thirty years on the planet. The idea you fix that with eight players is for the birds.

Fix it properly, anyway. It’s fixed in as much as we’ll finish on around 75-80 points. That’s as good as this lot can do.
 
I'm still not certain about him. We've obviously improved but is he good enough to bring us back to the top competing for PL and CLs.

I'm not certain about his recruitment.
We could've got two players of similar quality for the price of Antony. Was he really the best left footed attacker available for 90m?

Tomali of Newcastle seems a better purchase than Mount.

Our midfield still looks weak.
Rasmus Højlund is completely unproven.

Our backline is susceptible to pace I think.

We struggle to create chances still. We were much more creative under Ole.

I think because he projects himself as competent and intelligent, we perceive him as so. Perception is everything.
 
I'm honestly not sure what he's thinking.

He came with the tag of a possession based coach but some of his decisions make me think he's abandoned that approach. I feel like he's realised you can't play possession football with Bruno and Rashford and is maybe opting for a more Klopp type approach of aggressive counterpressing to win the ball back high up the pitch and get overloads in the box.

This is all well and good but absolutely cannot be done with a DM like Casemiro.

In my opinion building to the strengths of Bruno and Rashford limits us to what we achieved last year and in the good Ole seasons. He's making a big mistake if he thinks that style gets us the big trophies.
 
IF Qatar take over and Ten Hag finishes around 5th then they will almost certainly be replacing him.
I'm a huge Ten Hag fan but I wouldn't be against this happening should the scenario arise.

We need to be ruthless and move on the soonest it becomes clear its not going to work out in the long run.
 
A manager's priority should be to improve the first eleven, first and foremost. We might well struggle in Bruno's absence but he's the marathon man who very rarely gets injured. Mount was one we absolutely could've waited for, especially as he was available on a free transfer next season. Instead we're left woefully short in a midfield that doesn't look remotely fit for purpose.

I've been a big fan of Ten Hag's work to this point but this is a huge oversight from him. We can't complain about penny pinching if he spends £55m of the budget on a player who does nothing to improve the team that starts the season. If you're working within a budget you've got to be far smarter than that.

Hence we need(ed) more than one.

Personally, I think we needed three. Get rid of shit like McTominay and Van de Beek and actually sort out the midfield once and for all.
 
He has been trying to change the way we play drastically. He should've just upgraded Eriksen with an actual midfielder. I'm not sure how he became convinced Mount is the answer.
Yes, and it not working at all.

He has some options:

1. Optimize current setup. Maybe play Sancho instead of Garnacho.
2. Play McTominay in CM and move Bruno to RW. Antony is useless anyway.
3. Play Eriksen instead of Mount.
4. Buy a CM with a physical presence such as Onana, who is not a great improvement over McTominay imho, and bench Mount.

Not very attractive options. But Mount, Bruno and Casemiro in the same will get slaughtered. Add to that no established striker and no quality RW. De Zerbi to manage us next season?
 
Significant improvement that results in a top 4 finish, improved quality of football which is balanced and entertaining and good cup runs this season.

Else it should be game over, however I don't trust Murthough and Arnold to get it right either. This club needs a long term DoF that has a vision, and not just buys into whatever the manager has to tell him.

That happened already, but some of our rivals have arguably improved more than we have in the transfer market.

To be frank, you haven’t got a scooby what Murtough and Arnold do. You’re pissing in the wind there.
 
IF Qatar take over and Ten Hag finishes around 5th then they will almost certainly be replacing him.

That was used as an argument against Qatari owners which I found quite bizarre to be honest. I like ETH and I back him but he's far away from the stage of being untouchable. I still the issue lies in how the club is run which affects the players we buy.
 
Yes, and it not working at all.

He has some options:

1. Optimize current setup. Maybe play Sancho instead of Garnacho.
2. Play McTominay in CM and move Bruno to RW. Antony is useless anyway.
3. Play Eriksen instead of Mount.
4. Buy a CM with a physical presence such as Onana, who is not a great improvement over McTominay imho, and bench Mount.

Not very attractive options. But Mount, Bruno and Casemiro in the same will get slaughtered. Add to that no established striker and no quality RW. De Zerbi to manage us next season?
Why would De zerbi leave Brighton to join us? And why on earth would we sack ETH after 2 seasons. we would have to have one of the worse seasons ever and finish bottom halve for him to be sacked. We’ve had 1 game… chill out
 
Why in god's name is an "attacking alternative to Bruno" the first thing you go after and spend 60m on then? Because Bruno plays basically every minute of ever game anyways and is now the captain, so it's not like he's going to suddenly be rotated/subbed with more frequency. If you wanted a depth piece then that could have been targeted further down the road.

Pretty much every team in England has more than one attacking midfielder at the club. We needed a younger one given the over-reliance on Bruno and the age of Eriksen. I’ve never been overly fussed with Mount, but a younger midfielder of his ilk was always part of the plan. We just need(ed) more.
 
I am afraid it is a 2nd season syndrome. All United manager who comes in suffers. I think it is a curse, maybe in a couple of years he would be sack and we would be cursing him for leaving Antony, Mount, Onana, Hoijund, Malacia, Martinez and Casemiro behind. Frankly speaking, we might overpay all players that he buy except Malacia. Biggest overpay in Antony, he is just promising player that has proven nothing, that goes for Hoijund as well. Hope these players do justice for him especially Antony. I can't understand his decision making, looks great until the key moment where he Will brain fark.
 
Pretty much every team in England has more than one attacking midfielder at the club. We needed a younger one given the over-reliance on Bruno and the age of Eriksen. I’ve never been overly fussed with Mount, but a younger midfielder of his ilk was always part of the plan. We just need(ed) more.

Again I agree with the sentiment, just not the plan of prioritizing it as essentially our first signing, and going after a rather expensive one coming off a poor season with Mount. How someone could watch us last year and not see that we needed a deeper player with more pace/physicality to replace Eriksen is beyond me.
 
That happened already, but some of our rivals have arguably improved more than we have in the transfer market.

To be frank, you haven’t got a scooby what Murtough and Arnold do. You’re pissing in the wind there.
You thought we played balanced and entertaining football for the majority of last season? Wow.

It's very clear how much power EtH has been given so far during his tenure. We are briefed nearly every two weeks in seeing how EtH is putting his stamps on the club side, usually positively I'd hope. However it shouldn't have taken a manager to come and achieve these things. For example aligning the academy to the first team, which EtH has done a lot of work on. These are basic things at most clubs.

Let's not even start of the mess Arnold is making with the whole MG situation/investigation, it's good there isn't much of a platform on here to discuss that but oh boy.

But continue in la-la-la land mate. Something with ignorance and bliss.
 
That was used as an argument against Qatari owners which I found quite bizarre to be honest. I like ETH and I back him but he's far away from the stage of being untouchable. I still the issue lies in how the club is run which affects the players we buy.
Agreed, arguably once the new owners hopefully come in then we could actually see a "New Owners" bounce, what is happening off the pitch
is bound to be having an effect on the players for sure.
 
Again I agree with the sentiment, just not the plan of prioritizing it as essentially our first signing, and going after a rather expensive one coming off a poor season with Mount. How someone could watch us last year and not see that we needed a deeper player with more pace/physicality to replace Eriksen is beyond me.

By all accounts, Ten Hag can see this.

I don’t think we prioritised Mount due to position. It probably just made sense to pursue due to his contractual situation.
 
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