Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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I think one thing that got overlooked after the performance against Wolves was how our pressing from the front was much improved. I thought it was impressive compared to what we've seen previously. And credit to the person who created the clips below, which highlight our pressing sequences which created big problems for Wolves but we were let down by Casemiro due to his poor positioning. And from having watched the game again in it's entirety, we had a sustained period of pressing where we should've created 5 or 6 big chances to score. But unfortunately the sequences broke down 3x due to Casemiro being out of position which is highlighted in the clip at the bottom. But we'll put that down to a lack of match sharpness because normally Casemiro's positioning isn't a issue. And that's something I'm sure they'll have picked up on via the video analysis team.

The midfielders were definitely not abandoning Casemiro like some have been saying. But rather Casemiro let the team down in the press which is highlighted in the clip at the bottom. But the actual pressing structure was really good, which is highlighted in 4 parts below.







And the clip below highlights some of the flaws where Casemiro was either out of position, too eager to close down the player or was ball watching which allowed opposition players to run off him which caused Martinez big problems. And it also highlighted AWB not inverting into a central zone.

 
I do find the apparent lack of style of play a little concerning. I'd have thought that by now between him and the coaching staff, that we would be much better in possession and keeping the ball than we are. If clubs like Brighton (and I mean zero disrespect to them) can coach players who came up from the Championship (Dunk, March, etc.) and find players who they bring in capable of playing such fantastic football, then surely a club of our size should be able to either provide a similar level of coaching or be able to identify players capable. A lot seems to be made of, "if we signed FdJ it would be different", but he is not the only player on the plant capable of making a pass and suitable to a possession based system.

I appreciate our best player, Bruno, is not necessarily a player best suited for such a system and he is all risk versus reward, but that doesn't have to be the case for the rest of the team. I'm not vouching for us to pass teams to death, but I expect us to be able to dominate games of football against 'weaker' opposition, especially this season. There were a number of games last season where we barley laid a glove on the opposition - that, for me, can't continue into this season as well, or we'll continue to get hammered against better opposition.

Brilliant post.

I was thinking the exact same thing last season regarding Brighton and how they have a really good style of play and as you said they didn't buy players for 100m to do it.

This season will make or break ETH, he's been backed in the transfer market and we've spent huge sums of money on players ie Antony who has not yet justified his price tag.

Our style of play would hardly set the pulses racing so I think it's only right that a massive improvement needs to be seen this season.

Here's hoping it comes!
 
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Apart from the Greenwood Question, which should probably be addressed on that thread, judgment on ETH should take into consideration player failings. I saw quite a few player errors v Wolves. In retrospect it may have been a mistake to start Garnacho but the logic in starting him was reasonable. Our winger play was disastrous last season and at least through matchday one we’re still pretty shite on that front.
 
Things are not that complicated as some of you are trying to make.

After more then a year in charge and after EtH bought a lot of players that should suite his playing style our game is regressed. I'm judging this by second half of last season, this year preseason and Wolves game. There are not special pre-requirements attached to play structured, organized and disciplined football and you don't need hundreds of millions either. Wolves team showed that clearly. Man Utd is failing to do that and that is 100% on EtH.
 
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The overreaction to a start of season bad performance in a game we won.

Remember losing to Brighton and then losing 4-0 to Brentford last season? Nothing about either of those matches ended up reflecting anything - good or bad - about our season overall, or even about the next couple of months.
You're not wrong but on a side note the Brentford false omen thing is somewhat misleading because the result literally prompted us to go spend an unplanned 150m on players who would help save our season. Not that we should go do that but the fans and club were justified in not treating it as just one meaningless game.
 
Seriously hope we get battered and everyone boos the feck out of both EtH and the player if he ever sets foot on the pitch.

Disgusting.
Unfortunately the West Ham deal fell through, so it's only a matter of time before we see Maguire on the pitch again
 
Imo I disagree with you here because we want our kids growing up to be good people and seeing celebrities doing good around them and shows young kids/adults this is the correct way of living. There is a lot of sick young and older people out there thinking “oh he or she did that, it must be alright then so”

Todays news all boils down to a footballing decision at the end of the day, the rest of just noise.
I don't know, I think that comes down to parenting at the end of the day. Relying on celebrities or whoever to be role models just shirks parental responsibilities in my opinion. The sickness portion is a whole other topic that needs it's own thread. You are correct however, at the end of the day it's a footballing decision and the rest is all noise.
 
Brilliant post.

I was thinking the exact same thing last season regarding Brighton and how they have a really good style of play and as you said they didn't buy players for 100m to do it.

This season will make or break ETH, he's been backed in the transfer market and we've spent huge sums of money on players ie Antony who has not yet justified his price tag.

Our style of play would hardly set the pulses racing so I think it's only right that a massive improvement needs to be seen this season.

Here's hoping it comes!

Tend to agree with this. He can have no excuses if it doesn’t come together this season given how well he’s been backed and the time he’s already had from last season to become acquainted with the rest of the squad. But it’s hard for fans not to be concerned with Wolves come to Old Trafford and look the more dominant and expensive side.
 
I do find the apparent lack of style of play a little concerning. I'd have thought that by now between him and the coaching staff, that we would be much better in possession and keeping the ball than we are. If clubs like Brighton (and I mean zero disrespect to them) can coach players who came up from the Championship (Dunk, March, etc.) and find players who they bring in capable of playing such fantastic football, then surely a club of our size should be able to either provide a similar level of coaching or be able to identify players capable. A lot seems to be made of, "if we signed FdJ it would be different", but he is not the only player on the plant capable of making a pass and suitable to a possession based system.

I appreciate our best player, Bruno, is not necessarily a player best suited for such a system and he is all risk versus reward, but that doesn't have to be the case for the rest of the team. I'm not vouching for us to pass teams to death, but I expect us to be able to dominate games of football against 'weaker' opposition, especially this season. There were a number of games last season where we barley laid a glove on the opposition - that, for me, can't continue into this season as well, or we'll continue to get hammered against better opposition.

I’ve been very forgiving of the lack of tactical development purely because of how insane our schedule was last season. Ten Hag came in quite late, we had an incredibly down group of players, the Ronaldo issue etc.

However, I am expecting more this season and it actually seemed to get worse through pre-season culminating in a very poor performance against Wolves.

Last year we’d have already bounced into another game so at least we will get the full week of training. It feels like we are waiting for something to click but it’s frustrating for sure.

Even much poorer teams than we are seen to win handily on occasion. We very rarely score more than 1 or 2 goals.
 
Sir Alex continued to play Giggs after the world found out he was sleeping with his sister in law for several years. Are you going to pile on Sir Alex now too?

If you’re using professional football as a barometer for moral authority in society then I suggest you take a hard look at yourselves and the choices you’re making in life. Football is about profits and winning. Ten Hag could give a feck what you think, he wants to deliver success to ensure he leaves a winner.
This. I am more concerned with why we always start disjointed and play like drunkards one day while play like contenders on other day. There is 0 consistency in how our squad performs
 
I don’t fecking care about other clubs, this is the club I have supported for over 30 years and I have never been this disgusted before.

Vile.
Giggs and Cantona do you probably hate as well.
 
Things are not that complicated as some of you are trying to make.

After more then a year in charge and after EtH bought a lot of players that should suite his playing style our game is regressed. I'm judging this by second half of last season, this year preseason and Wolves game. There are not special pre-requirements attached to play structured, organized and disciplined football and you don't need hundreds of millions either. Wolves team showed that clearly. Man Utd is failing to do that and that is 100% on EtH.

Regressed? We won a trophy, got far into the Europa League and the final of FA cup and managed to come 3rd in the league. This is despite having no strikers (well Weghorst) Garnacho, Martial, Martinez, Dalot, Eriksen were pretty much out. Then we had Rashford, Varane and Shaw in and out the 2nd half of last season. We also played the most games out of any team in Europe last season.

Maybe some of you forget the tepid football under Ole and say we regressed? Laughable.
 
I think one thing that got overlooked after the performance against Wolves was how our pressing from the front was much improved. I thought it was impressive compared to what we've seen previously. And credit to the person who created the clips below, which highlight our pressing sequences which created big problems for Wolves but we were let down by Casemiro due to his poor positioning. And from having watched the game again in it's entirety, we had a sustained period of pressing where we should've created 5 or 6 big chances to score. But unfortunately the sequences broke down 3x due to Casemiro being out of position which is highlighted in the clip at the bottom. But we'll put that down to a lack of match sharpness because normally Casemiro's positioning isn't a issue. And that's something I'm sure they'll have picked up on via the video analysis team.

The midfielders were definitely not abandoning Casemiro like some have been saying. But rather Casemiro let the team down in the press which is highlighted in the clip at the bottom. But the actual pressing structure was really good, which is highlighted in 4 parts below.







And the clip below highlights some of the flaws where Casemiro was either out of position, too eager to close down the player or was ball watching which allowed opposition players to run off him which caused Martinez big problems. And it also highlighted AWB not inverting into a central zone.



Interesting. I remember thinking we were pressing them well when they were building from the back, particularly there was no easy out ball like we've seen opposition GKs play to the full backs wide last year. At the same time they managed to play thru our press multiple times and ended up running at the defense so much. All in all I thought our pressing wasn't great. Ultimately thought if we give the ball away 81 times, no amount of tactics or set up can compensate
 
Interesting. I remember thinking we were pressing them well when they were building from the back, particularly there was no easy out ball like we've seen opposition GKs play to the full backs wide last year. At the same time they managed to play thru our press multiple times and ended up running at the defense so much. All in all I thought our pressing wasn't great. Ultimately thought if we give the ball away 81 times, no amount of tactics or set up can compensate
Our out of possession game was good in the first half, and we were let down by one player.

Of course we weren't good enough in possession and there's much to be said about why we were bad and how we could improve in that regard. But I think we should expect to see improvements from the team in possession in the coming weeks and months. Wolves were setup to stifle us centrally and they seemed to have done a good job in a very narrow 4222 shape.

The tweets below basically sum up how I saw the game and it was encouraging to see the pressing from the front work for the first half. So we need to develop the team where the press is coordinated, we handle opposition transitions and also have the ability to build play through the thirds effectively. And when you can do all three things to a high level as a team, that's when we'll be challenging for the league. Hopefully we can add a first phase midfielder who will help us get closer to making the above a reality.

 
I think one thing that got overlooked after the performance against Wolves was how our pressing from the front was much improved. I thought it was impressive compared to what we've seen previously. And credit to the person who created the clips below, which highlight our pressing sequences which created big problems for Wolves but we were let down by Casemiro due to his poor positioning. And from having watched the game again in it's entirety, we had a sustained period of pressing where we should've created 5 or 6 big chances to score. But unfortunately the sequences broke down 3x due to Casemiro being out of position which is highlighted in the clip at the bottom. But we'll put that down to a lack of match sharpness because normally Casemiro's positioning isn't a issue. And that's something I'm sure they'll have picked up on via the video analysis team.

The midfielders were definitely not abandoning Casemiro like some have been saying. But rather Casemiro let the team down in the press which is highlighted in the clip at the bottom. But the actual pressing structure was really good, which is highlighted in 4 parts below.







And the clip below highlights some of the flaws where Casemiro was either out of position, too eager to close down the player or was ball watching which allowed opposition players to run off him which caused Martinez big problems. And it also highlighted AWB not inverting into a central zone.


Very intersting. Thanks mate.

Case seems to be the type who starts his season a bit slow and would need a while to hit top form. Same with Rooney back then or Kane. But he will so no worry imo.
 
Sexual abuse and people forgiving sexual abuse.
But good to know where you stand.
Just out of interest, where and when do you feel a person has been reformed from said 'crimes' and what do you feel the punishment should be for someone who may have committed said crime but is still with one's partner and is engaged to marry with a child all coming after the event?
 
Our on the ball play is still a massive red flag for me when you compare it to other teams in the league with worse resources. Let’s see.
 
Seriously hope we get battered and everyone boos the feck out of both EtH and the player if he ever sets foot on the pitch.

Disgusting.
This is a bit too much imo. On one hand I understand how some might feel about him. But wishing him and the team bad things is what truly disgusting here imo.

Our current pastor is an ex convict. He was a drug dealer. Even shot someone. He did his time and came back a new man. Now he's been doing everything to help and keep our kids away from those shit. If we didn't give him a chance and believe in the good part in him I don't think he'd be who he's now. And surely we didn't wish bad things happen to him or our community.
 
Our out of possession game was good in the first half, and we were let down by one player.

Of course we weren't good enough in possession and there's much to be said about why we were bad and how we could improve in that regard. But I think we should expect to see improvements from the team in possession in the coming weeks and months. Wolves were setup to stifle us centrally and they seemed to have done a good job in a very narrow 4222 shape.

The tweets below basically sum up how I saw the game and it was encouraging to see the pressing from the front work for the first half. So we need to develop the team where the press is coordinated, we handle opposition transitions and also have the ability to build play through the thirds effectively. And when you can do all three things to a high level as a team, that's when we'll be challenging for the league. Hopefully we can add a first phase midfielder who will help us get closer to making the above a reality.



Don’t let facts get in the way of saying our season is already over, great post as always.
 
Our out of possession game was good in the first half, and we were let down by one player.

Of course we weren't good enough in possession and there's much to be said about why we were bad and how we could improve in that regard. But I think we should expect to see improvements from the team in possession in the coming weeks and months. Wolves were setup to stifle us centrally and they seemed to have done a good job in a very narrow 4222 shape.

The tweets below basically sum up how I saw the game and it was encouraging to see the pressing from the front work for the first half. So we need to develop the team where the press is coordinated, we handle opposition transitions and also have the ability to build play through the thirds effectively. And when you can do all three things to a high level as a team, that's when we'll be challenging for the league. Hopefully we can add a first phase midfielder who will help us get closer to making the above a reality.



Very good post and it really is not so much doom and gloom. People are overreacting as usual.
 
Our out of possession game was good in the first half, and we were let down by one player.

Of course we weren't good enough in possession and there's much to be said about why we were bad and how we could improve in that regard. But I think we should expect to see improvements from the team in possession in the coming weeks and months. Wolves were setup to stifle us centrally and they seemed to have done a good job in a very narrow 4222 shape.

The tweets below basically sum up how I saw the game and it was encouraging to see the pressing from the front work for the first half. So we need to develop the team where the press is coordinated, we handle opposition transitions and also have the ability to build play through the thirds effectively. And when you can do all three things to a high level as a team, that's when we'll be challenging for the league. Hopefully we can add a first phase midfielder who will help us get closer to making the above a reality.



I can see what he is going for: he wants us to play a high press and win the ball back in the opposition half. It said on Sky that we won the ball back about 9 or so times in the opposition half during the match, but the problem was clearly our poor use of possession.

If our players use the ball better, it will look a lot better. The decision making and passing quality was just dreadful, which will look especially bad when you want to play a high press.
 
Hot take, our own fans are the primary reason that managers are not given enough time at the club. Clear signs on here that some are judging him much much more harshly than last season already.

Hope we don’t see the tide turn as I believe he’s the right man.
 
Incredibly disappointed in him. I know he had nothing to do with his suspension in the first place, but for a man who is strict on team spirit and atmosphere, he now has a tendency to support vile human beings because they can kick a ball well (Promes, Greenwood).
What do you think of Sir Alex then who kept playing Giggs?
 
Hot take, our own fans are the primary reason that managers are not given enough time at the club. Clear signs on here that some are judging him much much more harshly than last season already.

Hope we don’t see the tide turn as I believe he’s the right man.

You are overrating the influence of Fans on How United operates in regards to managers and you are actually wrong in saying that United fans are short on patience when it comes to Managers or the players performances , I would actually argue United's fanbase at least majority of it goes fairly easy on Managers as well as players in terms of expectations and are guilty of giving them too much time and patience even when they disappoint on regular basis .
 
What do you think of Sir Alex then who kept playing Giggs?
Giggs had an affair. It was obviously shitty thing to do but if clubs and managers were to punish players for cheating I doubt there would be many players to chose from.
 
Hot take, our own fans are the primary reason that managers are not given enough time at the club. Clear signs on here that some are judging him much much more harshly than last season already.

Hope we don’t see the tide turn as I believe he’s the right man.

That's to be expected after a whole season and about 300-400m spent on players no?
How long are we meant to wait before we can criticise a manager who's team can't seem to string 3 passes together? I'm in no way having a go at ETH and I'm still fully behind him but he will have to show improvement by Christmas or the tide will start turning.
 
Hot take, our own fans are the primary reason that managers are not given enough time at the club. Clear signs on here that some are judging him much much more harshly than last season already.

Hope we don’t see the tide turn as I believe he’s the right man.

Just take a look at Reddit, people are going mental in there. Obviously he is the right guy and he need our backing. Most of the fan base will give him that regardless of situations with the sale of the club and MG situation.
 
My gripe with the Wolves game is that nothing changed at half time, same system same crap.

Players change games not systems.

Whatever the system if players can't control a ball, pass a ball, it's not going to be good.
 
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