Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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At least Ole’s teams had a style of play and we scored lots of goals. Erik is boring the crap out of me and shows zero in game management skills. I am not out yet but he needs to show some progress and quickly, he has wasted a lot of money already and I would take any Ole signing over Antony.

Completely agreed with Ole's style of football being better than Ten Hag's. Ole's style of football was better than all the managers post Sir Alex in my opinion. Hopefully our goal difference won't be a complete joke in comparison to the teams around us like last season.
 
Manchester United have a manager who after 15 months in charge hasn't won any away game against the top half of the league. Never mind winning, we aren't even capable of getting draws.

How on earth can anyone with a straight face say this is the man to take us back to where we want to be? To seriously compete both in the league and Europe you need to be ruthless both home and away. After €430m spent there is absolutely nothing to suggest this manager will ever be capable of that.
 
You play 5 advanced players (Mount/Bruno + the front 3) when you have a system that lets you maintain huge spells of possession and you can pin the opponents back…..something we haven’t been able to do in years.

I have no idea what ETH is trying to do with this current setup because it sure as hell isn’t being coached.
 
Completely agreed with Ole's style of football being better than Ten Hag's. Ole's style of football was better than all the managers post Sir Alex in my opinion. Hopefully our goal difference won't be a complete joke in comparison to the teams around us like last season.
Ole was no different to this apart from his first few months in his caretaker role. It's pretty clear the club just can't find a manager who has decent decision making. Every single one has been an idiot.
 
IMO giving managers a blank check and telling them "sign whoever you want" isn't backing them, it's indulging them.

Backing a manager would be having a structure in place with an idea of what the team's identity should be, identifying and signing the right players for that identity and style of play, and letting the manager focus on coaching.

That sort of structure also ruthlessly manages the head coach as well.

It's not backing the manager. That concept is stupid. It's backing the club to be successful at whatever cost.
 
They all played like strangers again tonight.

Is it possible we still have uncertainty at the club? With all the players potentially coming in or going out, it's not like we have a stable well running squad right now.

Either ETH likes a player and thinks he can get a tune out of them or not. If not the club needs to get rid of them. It should be brinksmanship between the manager and the board every single fecking season.

And I'm sure all the conversations about Voldemort aren't helping. I bet different players have different views on things.

I have sympathy for Richard Arnolds statement last season that we'd spent over a billion in the last X years but he can't go to Carrington and see the value of the players. A hell of a lot of players not good enough or square pegs in round hole...

I have sympathy but ultimately if some of those players are the ones holding us back, you board needs to accept this and help fix it, even if it means writing down the cost.
 
It has noting to do with pressure i agree but also i think it is far deeper than just the manager,

Remember Blockbuster video rental? That is United now, living on a reputation and previous market share with no new ideas or innovations, competing against the Netflix, Prime, Disney's of this world. We are a middle table team way overarching, we try to buy our way out of trouble but the people making those decisions are not qualified or anyway near the level of our competitors. I have heard countless times that United is too big to fall, that is fallacy, there is countless companies that thought the same in the past.

Our only real hope has always been new owners as that is where real change begins no matter who it may be, until that day we will have to endure unfortunately.
Not only are we not too big to fall, we have already fallen. We are on our knees bleeding out. Listen to the Tifo Football Podcast - Inside Finances of Football if you want proof, and to be scared.
The only thing is that we will get up again. Manchester United will be a team to be proud again some day. It just could be a very long time before we see that.
 
Taking chances is absolutely critical. At one point today we had 15 attempts vs their 4 (or something). We had a few decent chances. We have to score some of these if we’re going to win.

Teams often win games with only a few shots, sometimes only one. We often have more attempts than the team that beats us. Liverpool scored seven from (if I recall) about eight attempts when they smashed us.

Clinical striking is essential.

If we scored one or two in the first half this game against spurs would have been completely different. So, imo, you were not too far wrong to suggest that a Kane quality striker in this team would make us challengers. If you score goals you win games.

We just have no goal threat. Our best striker is Rashford and he’s had two chances in two games. Antony and Garnacho just shoot stupidly and Bruno is a wildcard.

I had thought the idea of Mount might be for him to arrive late into the box to supplement the striker there. We need more players attacking the box because they aren’t natural at doing it.

It blows my mind that Rashford wasn’t being drilled to lay the ball off and attack the box all summer. Even if our wingers were looking for the striker he’s rarely in the box.
 
Even Newcastle who have just started their project last year are playing better football than whatever shit Ten Hag is doing.

Depressing to be a United fan nowadays.
 
Manchester United have a manager who after 15 months in charge hasn't won any away game against the top half of the league. Never mind winning, we aren't even capable of getting draws.

How on earth can anyone with a straight face say this is the man to take us back to where we want to be? To seriously compete both in the league and Europe you need to be ruthless both home and away. After €430m spent there is absolutely nothing to suggest this manager will ever be capable of that.
Nothing has actually improved and whatever we seemingly play is no different to our older managers.
 
Seriously needs to sign 3 or 4 more difference makers for the team before the window closes, or else he could lose his job before Christmas. Players like Maguire need to smell what they are shoveling and feck off.
 
ETH is a good coach but let’s be honest - his footy isn’t exciting in the slightest and his signings this window were really, really odd.

He did really well last season but the above, coupled with the negative effects of what the Glazers have done means it will be a long season for him imo.

I think Utd will really struggle for Top 5 this season.

I just don’t see the momentum there, and I think his signings are highly suspect.
 
Too many „attacking“ players on the pitch starting games (Bruno, Mount, front three). This gives us less control. Similar to our starting line up in the Europa final 2021.
 
Seriously needs to sign 3 or 4 more difference makers for the team before the window closes, or else he could lose his job before Christmas. Players like Maguire need to smell what they are shoveling and feck off.
How the feck is he gonna do that when he's wasted the entire budget?
 
Manchester United have a manager who after 15 months in charge hasn't won any away game against the top half of the league. Never mind winning, we aren't even capable of getting draws.

How on earth can anyone with a straight face say this is the man to take us back to where we want to be? To seriously compete both in the league and Europe you need to be ruthless both home and away. After €430m spent there is absolutely nothing to suggest this manager will ever be capable of that.

The away form is a dreadful stat but I still say you have to let him get a striker on the pitch before fully judging.

He needs to make some quick decisions though on a few players. Antony for example, don't mess about for too long with him. Bite the bullet.
 
What happened to that young, black kid that played against arsenal?

Play him instead of mount and get a Bruno replacement that can actually keep the ball under pressure.

provided the kid is available of course
Jesus Christ. First of all, his name is Mainoo, second of all, he got injured against Madrid and there’s a massive thread on him and how long he’s out for.
 
What is your theory then? Because so far, ETH has largely gotten the players he's pointed at, no questions asked, for an outlay of about 400 million. He could now, if he wanted to, field a starting 11 with eight players he bought. He's also handpicked his coaching staff. Do we think Arnold or Murtaugh is there sabotaging the training sessions? What else does a manager need to get the team playing something that just vaguely resembles a style?
This isn’t FIFA. Players aren’t robots. Player performances are shaped by far more than just having a system and having certain qualities and coaching staff. Elite sport is as much, if not more, about the mental state of players as the actual talent. There is something foul about the culture at the club. I don’t know what the issue is nor how to fix it. But I am damn sure that it’s having an impact on performance and whilst I can’t put my finger on it, the last decade tells me it’s there.
 
How can Brighton and Newcastle play proper football and we can't even do it with all the resources at our deposal?
How do you have 100m to spend and you end up with an Antony?
I always say something about united is the fact you can be absolute pants and the club will still keep you around. Imagine Maguire is still here, Martial, Sancho still here, Mctominay still here. Antony is another one but he'll still be here two years from now when we'll be hoping he plays at a level that's just beyond him.
 
I feel like ETH looked at the strengths/weaknesses of our supposed best players (e.g. Bruno, Rashford, Casemiro) and decided that this can't be a possession based team, and instead decided to be a "transition" team in play that's reliant on counters after high press. Maybe it works in theory but the problem is that our front 3 have been absolutely dreadful and our chance conversion remains appalling. The truth is that we do have a bunch of players who are very ill-suited to possession heavy style of play, but whatever this is, it isn't working either because we can't score goals from the chances we create.
 
This isn’t FIFA. Players aren’t robots. Player performances are shaped by far more than just having a system and having certain qualities and coaching staff. Elite sport is as much, if not more, about the mental state of players as the actual talent. There is something foul about the culture at the club. I don’t know what the issue is nor how to fix it. But I am damn sure that it’s having an impact on performance and whilst I can’t put my finger on it, the last decade tells me it’s there.
Clearly it's ETH failing to sort their heads out...
 
ETH is a good coach but let’s be honest - his footy isn’t exciting in the slightest and his signings this window were really, really odd.

He did really well last season but the above, coupled with the negative effects of what the Glazers have done means it will be a long season for him imo.

I think Utd will really struggle for Top 5 this season.

I just don’t see the momentum there, and I think his signings are highly suspect.

Last season was promising because the results were good despite several mitigating factors. It’s almost like because of the lack of striker, the busy schedule etc ETH had to be pragmatic and we were largely accepting of that.

This year it almost seems like teething problems of trying to play a different way. It’s clearly not working as intended yet but I don’t think he’ll give up on it as quickly this year.
 
Not sure if posted but from Ten Hag. I am not smiling broadly.

MIDFIELD WAS FINE

"I think our midfield played well. Of course we can always do better, but when you go for goal, you leave some spaces. But I think in the rest of it, in the defensive transition, we were better."

MOUNT IN A DEEPER ROLE

"He did well. I think we dominated Spurs totally the first half, especially in the midfield area, and that was in and out of possession. Mason played an important part in that."

ONE GOAL IN TWO GAMES

"I'm not [worried] by the attacking play but by scoring. That is the same issue. We know that. That's why we signed a striker."

For me..Eric in his time here as very much been one to show a united front with the press even when issues are obvious so I will just hope that is what he is doing.
 
Regardless of our recent performances, spending £85 on a player like Antony is an absolutely terrible decision. He literally does nothing well offensively. I'd rather have 2012 Ashley Young under Moyes than whatever this is
 
Yeah but we didn't.

I don’t get what you mean?

Scoring late against Wolves when the pattern of the game was well established didn’t change the mood. We just had to try and hang on to the result.

If we had scored in the first half today when we played reasonably well then that may have given us the confidence and space to take charge of the game properly.

Ever heard the saying ‘you need to score when you are on too’? That is especially true for our team because we don’t score enough generally.
 
Not sure if posted but from Ten Hag. I am not smiling broadly.

MIDFIELD WAS FINE

"I think our midfield played well. Of course we can always do better, but when you go for goal, you leave some spaces. But I think in the rest of it, in the defensive transition, we were better."

MOUNT IN A DEEPER ROLE

"He did well. I think we dominated Spurs totally the first half, especially in the midfield area, and that was in and out of possession. Mason played an important part in that."

ONE GOAL IN TWO GAMES

"I'm not [worried] by the attacking play but by scoring. That is the same issue. We know that. That's why we signed a striker."

Eric in his time here as very much been one to show a united front with the press even when issues are obvious so I will just hope that is what he is doing.
All I see is him saying "this is fine" as the room burns around him.
 
Jesus Christ. First of all, his name is Mainoo, second of all, he got injured against Madrid and there’s a massive thread on him and how long he’s out for.
How the feck would I check his thread when I forgot his name?
Also maybe stop overreacting to words on a screen
 
All this gloom is very hasty. We need to give the system and the new players a dozen games at least. It’s annoying but sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards.
 
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