Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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What would be the point?

Well it’s for the fans who have full faith in him. His inability to set up a team away from home needs questioning, no? It’s not just the EPL, Sevilla made United look like chumps last season and they were struggling in mid table in La Liga
 
My first doubts are starting to creep in with regard to the transfers and general plan. I just don't see how that midfield can dominate and it's ok being a transition team with an aggressive press-we did in fact press both Wolves and Spurs into some mistakes- but there's not enough control. Teams can just waltz through our centre or get in behind the fullbacks and the attack is blunt and we're relying on a talented but very young new striker to save us.

I want to be positive but i'm worried :(
 
Do you think it is time to reconsider the inside winger role ?
they are just not arjen robben quality/consistency. why is he keep insisting inside winger/forward. ???

left footed on the left.
right footed on the right.
just like the good old days. down the byline. stretching the width.
oh , forgot momentarily, our primary striker doesn't challenge for headers or anticipate crosses and only runs into blind lanes.

either ways, the team is so unbalanced.
 
Liverpool took a little while to get it together. Even Pep had to change a lot of players.
I feel like I’m saying this again and again after every year. Yes Liverpool and City needed some time to acclimatise to Klopp and Guardiola but the improvements, the changes and the demands they made to the team we so visible from the get go. Yes they still needed players I’m not denying that. But where is our improvement ? Why are teams like Liverpool and City look well drilled. Even when they are bad they are good enough. Our lows are relegation level and our highs are not that dominant. When did we last eviscerate a team? Like not even give them time to breathe?
 
We absolutely needed Kane and he bottled it. I'm not saying he needs to go or anything, far from it, he did wonders for us last season. But this is the one thing he's definitively got wrong.

Plenty to be concerned about but what the hell are you talking about, us not getting Kane has absolutely nothing to do with Ten Hag ??
 
Klopp took years to get it right and Pep managed to finish 3rd in his first season.

Aye, I'm starting to have my concerns about ETH, but I doubt Pep and Klopp last long enough to make the difference here if they were signed back then.
 
Good post. Pretty much reflects where I'm at, too.

But...

We've got the Greenwood affair which is probably causing issues with the players. We've got Maguire who is hanging around, plus the uncertainty of the sale. ETH has his plate full all right and so we should cut him a bit of slack.
 
  • Persisting with Rashford through the middle. It doesn't work.
  • Having no idea what to do in the final third, not a single player seems to have a clue.
  • Signing Mount whilst letting Fred go making us even more unbalanced in the midfield.
  • Leaving the door open a crack for Maguire.
  • Persisting with Anthony every game.

  • Persisting with Rashford through the middle. It doesn't work. - Hojlund isn't fit. Martial is a crock. Sancho doesn't work up top.
  • Having no idea what to do in the final third, not a single player seems to have a clue. - We have fit no out and out striker / Goalscorer.
  • Signing Mount whilst letting Fred go making us even more unbalanced in the midfield. - We all wanted Fred to go. Why complain now when he's gone.
  • Leaving the door open a crack for Maguire. -- You literally cannot force a player out the club. What's worse than trying to boot someone out. An unhappy player who stinks up the dressing room and mood around the club. Make him feel part of the team. Terrible man management to say you're not playing ever again. He's a first team player for christ sakes. The CAF's love affair of sticking them in the reserves for a year, literally never happens.
  • Persisting with Anthony every game. - Who else do you suggest we play on the right? An inconsistent Sancho or a not ready Pellistri?

 
"Would" # "should". Maddison would be a bad signing too but no worse than Mount who was benched at Chelsea. The other actually played football.

Could have prime Zidane playing he would do feck all in this setup

The balance and setup of this ’tactic’ is non existent
 
There was maybe a 1 percent chance levy would've sold Kane to united, and even if he would have it would have been the entire budget easily on that.

It doesn't matter. It became evident from last season the number one thing we need by a country mile is a striker of such calibre, and the only one available this summer was Kane. I no longer think signing him alone would make us title challengers (I used to think exactly that) -- but today for starters, if we had signed him he would have slotted one home at least when we were creating decent chances before the break.
 
It doesn’t matter what manager we get nothing will change until we get new owners who will change the culture and mindset of this club.

This is the sad truth. We will struggle without owners with a clear plan and a better way to structure the club. We need the sale to happen and we need time to make it right. At least Erik ten Hag is a good step in the right direction imo.
 
My first doubts are starting to creep in with regard to the transfers and general plan. I just don't see how that midfield can dominate and it's ok being a transition team with an aggressive press-we did in fact press both Wolves and Spurs into some mistakes- but there's not enough control. Teams can just waltz through our centre or get in behind the fullbacks and the attack is blunt and we're relying on a talented but very young new striker to save us.

I want to be positive but i'm worried :(
Sometimes you have to call it what it is mate, you can't keep looking for positives and ignoring the issues because it's nicer to do that. That's what gets us into shocking situations.
 
His next match is at home against Forest. The very least we should be expecting is a win. He should be looking to win that game 3 or 4-nil. It really should be a win + big performance. We won 3-0 in that fixture last year.

Its not just the lack of chances and goals, the worst part imo is the lack of control. We push up high, but once we lose the ball it seems half the players are headless chicken making tactical fouls and the other half are spriting home for dear life
 
It doesn't matter. It became evident from last season the number one thing we need by a country mile is a striker of such calibre, and the only one available this summer was Kane. I no longer think signing him alone would make us title challengers (I used to think exactly that) -- but today for starters, if we had signed him he would have slotted one home at least when we were creating decent chances before the break.

This is such a dogshit excuse. How many goals do you think Spurs would've thrashed past us if they still had Kane?
 
Aye, I'm starting to have my concerns about ETH, but I doubt Pep and Klopp last long enough to make the difference here if they were signed back then.

I do too but I think we still need to address some glaring liabilities in the team. Mount is squarely on ETH but its not his fault our right backs break down our back line organisation and we don't have even a half decent striker to hold the ball up high and stretch opposition defences. We have three weak points whose failings add up to more than the sum of their parts.
 
It doesn't matter. It became evident from last season the number one thing we need by a country mile is a striker of such calibre, and the only one available this summer was Kane. I no longer think signing him alone would make us title challengers (I used to think exactly that) -- but today for starters, if we had signed him he would have slotted one home at least when we were creating decent chances before the break.
How does that not matter? You can't be like oh eth is a dumbass for not buying someone, oh wait we didn't have a realistic chance to buy that player? Nah doesn't matter.
Makes no sense.

We bought a cf just got injured at an unfortunate time. If eth tries rash again at Cf instead of just putting martial there or something I'll have a slight issue with that but we bought one of the best Cf options out there.
 
Thing is, it's OK having a go at ETH but this was different from the Wolves game. We were excellent for 35mins and should have been 2-0. ETH can't do much if players make basic mistakes, can't take basic chances and crumble under the slightest pressure.

If Bruno scores one of the easiest chances I've ever seen missed then I'm confident we win that game and nobody is talking about tactics
I knew people are going to post something similar. If he had finished those 2 clear cut chances in the entire 90 mins. They created so many chances and pressured us so many times, why can’t we ever create many chances instead of hoping to finish one or two clear cut chances all game?
 
He needs more players but can't be trusted to buy them. Maybe he's just not good enough.

We're miles of drawing to that conclusion.

Part of me thinks he is sacrificing these first few games to send a message of just how much he needs another midfielder. I mean the logical thing is to put Mctominay in, but he already knows he's not good enough and doesn't want him to paper over the cracks before the window shuts.

I clutching at straws a bit maybe, but there is no way I'm on board with thinking Ten Hag is the problem here.
 
Thing is, it's OK having a go at ETH but this was different from the Wolves game. We were excellent for 35mins and should have been 2-0. ETH can't do much if players make basic mistakes, can't take basic chances and crumble under the slightest pressure.

If Bruno scores one of the easiest chances I've ever seen missed then I'm confident we win that game and nobody is talking about tactics

Being excellent for 35 mins is not good enough, this is a repeat of last season and we hoped to have progressed from that.
 
But...

We've got the Greenwood affair which is probably causing issues with the players. We've got Maguire who is hanging around, plus the uncertainty of the sale. ETH has his plate full all right and so we should cut him a bit of slack.

Oh I am. I've been a huge backer of his. But, I'm starting to have doubts. Those two performances so far this season have been shambolic. I fail to see what he's trying to implement.
 
To his credit he showed last season that he can be pragmatic when needed. He's going to need to now.

If he still believes in this midfield then that can be worked on gradually. What can't be is points on the board.
 
I people are overreacting quite a bit. It's two games into the season and we've started poorly. But we've been worse off before. It'll get better.
 
Outwitted and outfought by a newly arrived manager who has just lost his best player and has called upon youngsters and loan returnees to make up his squad.

400 million, time and energy, and this is the final product?

It sounds harsh, but his days are numbered, whether people think it’s knee-jerk or not. There have been far too many games exactly like that one.

The club needs to stop wasting time with incompetent mates in key roles and get the very best recruitment team possible and install a coach to prepare their players.

Ten Hag can be as angry as he wants, but he has had time, money and ample preparation. It is so far short of where we should be.
 
Our wingers can't beat a man or cross the ball. They just want to score solo goals once every 8 games.
I dunno why Anthony and Garnacho do this. It often appears a simple pass inside or down the wing for the overlap is on and they just hang on to it and inevitably the move breaks down. Are they instructed to do this or do they not have the ability of a simple pass?
 
I would not give him a single player anymore.
He picked these players. He spent midfielder budget on Mount. He decided to give green light for injured Hojlund. He was pushing for 100 mil anti-winger Antony. He insisted on Onana and Martinez because they are ideal for his football style.

Enough is enough. He has enough to show good and dominant football.
 
We're miles of drawing to that conclusion.

Part of me thinks he is sacrificing these first few games to send a message of just how much he needs another midfielder. I mean the logical thing is to put Mctominay in, but he already knows he's not good enough and doesn't want him to paper over the cracks before the window shuts.

I clutching at straws a bit maybe, but there is no way I'm on board with thinking Ten Hag is the problem here.

Should be a stackable offense.

The fact that you think that's even acceptable just shows how deranged the managerial cult in our fanbase is.
 
Its not just the lack of chances and goals, the worst part imo is the lack of control. We push up high, but once we lose the ball it seems half the players are headless chicken making tactical fouls and the other half are spriting home for dear life

That's one part of many issues that we have. I did think we were better without the ball today, but just as rubbish with it. The only real reason Wolves didn't punish us last week is because they didn't have an awful lot of attacking flair. A Kane-less Spurs team with a manager new to the league beat us today. I wouldn't even say they were particularly great, but we made it very easy for them. The second goal was gift-wrapped.
 
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Sure he did.

Not like FFP consticts us from doing anything like a €30M purchase of Amrabat. But yes, a £125M Kane would have been an "Easy" purchase.

The Knee Jerk reactions are incredible to witness.

Going all out for a player of Kane's calibre would have been more prudent, given the sheer shortcomings we had in front of goal last season, than spending a similar amount on Mount and an unproven centre forward in Hojlund (this doesn't mean I'm ruling them out already, obviously).
 
We're miles of drawing to that conclusion.

Part of me thinks he is sacrificing these first few games to send a message of just how much he needs another midfielder. I mean the logical thing is to put Mctominay in, but he already knows he's not good enough and doesn't want him to paper over the cracks before the window shuts.

I clutching at straws a bit maybe, but there is no way I'm on board with thinking Ten Hag is the problem here.
This is a pretty wild rationalisation. There’s no way he’s deliberately throwing matches to get another midfielder, we just got him one for 60 odd million. Even if we sign Amrabat or Onana his plan appears to be two 8’s sat near the striker to press and transition. Ten Hag isn’t the problem because United don’t have one problem, but he needs to prove himself before we start offering blind faith off the back of a decent season.
 
  • Persisting with Rashford through the middle. It doesn't work. - Hojlund isn't fit. Martial is a crock. Sancho doesn't work up top.
  • Having no idea what to do in the final third, not a single player seems to have a clue. - We have fit no out and out striker / Goalscorer.
  • Signing Mount whilst letting Fred go making us even more unbalanced in the midfield. - We all wanted Fred to go. Why complain now when he's gone.
  • Leaving the door open a crack for Maguire. -- You literally cannot force a player out the club. What's worse than trying to boot someone out. An unhappy player who stinks up the dressing room and mood around the club. Make him feel part of the team. Terrible man management to say you're not playing ever again. He's a first team player for christ sakes. The CAF's love affair of sticking them in the reserves for a year, literally never happens.
  • Persisting with Anthony every game. - Who else do you suggest we play on the right? An inconsistent Sancho or a not ready Pellistri?

you can counter all your points

the only thing that is factual is that Ten Hag got it wrong
 
hope he can handle the pressure, got a free pass last year but this is his team now.

Could you explain the "free pass" he was given last year? He finished 3rd. IIRC the expectations from most here were 4th-6th going into the season.
 
Why is there no system or style of play? there’s no game plan the players barely look coached and he’s trying to play with 5 attacking players….I mean it’s comical
 
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