Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

[Maticmaker]

not much point getting players in that the manager doesn't want... but you then seem to agree with me that his acquisitions haven't been great... feck knows why we went for a spurs reject defender

He's paying us to get a game!!

 

[Andycoleno9]

Time for him to deliver. This year there is no excuses for him. He was 100% backed in transfer market and he is here over a year now.
Just fighting for top 4 is not enough for this year.

 

[crossy1686]

No other manager of a “big seven” Premier League club over the past decade has been allowed to lean so heavily on recruiting from former teams, or his own country, as Ten Hag. By contrast, those clubs cast their net far and wide in search of the best talent. That does not mean Ten Hag’s narrow policy will not reap dividends but it is an unusual approach and has the feel of a club putting all their eggs in one basket.

 

[Irwin99]

It's hard to know what a realistic target for this season is aside from the minimum of Champions League qualification. Said many times this squad is not a title winning one or anywhere near it still, but we should see some progress over last season: more points, a better goal difference after the last two seasons, more goals scored and some good cup competition challenges.

 

[El-Manos]

À dig at Mount ?

 

[Cassidy]

À dig at Mount ?

No hes talking about the forwards lack of pressing and the defence not stepping into midfield when they were supposed to

 

[Cassidy]

Sigh guess we have to hope it goes well

 

[Dannn411]

Agree with every single word. Most of this place won't though. He has been financially backed more than any manager in club history. Zero excuses for him to not deliver. We saw improvement in some areas last season after a terrible start but we also saw some examples of continuation of the same bad tendencies. We need significant imporvement this season too. Ww have spent too much to continue to have such glaring weaknesses. About time we started being taken seriously again.

 

[ItDoesntEvenMata]

Lots of obsessing over the transfer strategy here but what can a manager do when he's trying to implement a new style of play under fairly hefty financial duress from the owners?

We all know that the squad, culture and style needed a massive rehaul post-Ole and Rangnick. We just let go a GOAT striker for free in December and one of the best goal keepers in world football over the past 10 years, they needed replacing and we needed to add depth to a squad that looked out on its legs at the end of last season. 130 million net spend isn't going to do that when arguably replacing a best in class striker with another is 130 million.

I'm just reassuring myself with the hard facts - Ten Hag has a 66% win rate after one season and 3 games. That's world class.

 

[garelo]

He is the most spoiled manager we have so far, i hope we can challenge the title (no im not talking about winning it) this season, merely finish in top 4 is not enough as shown under Mourinho and Ole, it's just another one step forward before 2 steps backward (i mean no progress at all).

and right after we appointed the first ever DoF in the club history, yikess!

 

[crossy1686]

Sigh guess we have to hope it goes well

Yep we really do, but you will still see people posting in here that he needs time and another £400m to beat the top 9 away from home.

 

[sparx99]

Yep we really do, but you will still see people posting in here that he needs time and another £400m to beat the top 9 away from home.

Most people are willing to give him time based on the challenges of last season and how much of a rebuild we’ve needed. Most people understood that challenging for titles would take more than a year and probably more than two frankly.

That’s not the same as being happy with our away form or lack of free flowing football.

Watching Spurs today I couldn’t help but feel frustrated that they ‘seem’ ahead of us already. And yet they blew it midweek and they’ll probably get brought back to earth soon enough.

 

[Crimson King]

Agree with every single word. Most of this place won't though. He has been financially backed more than any manager in club history. Zero excuses for him to not deliver. We saw improvement in some areas last season after a terrible start but we also saw some examples of continuation of the same bad tendencies. We need significant imporvement this season too. Ww have spent too much to continue to have such glaring weaknesses. About time we started being taken seriously again.

Can't take anything Ducker writes seriously. Can't take anything in the Telegraph seriously.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Can't take anything Ducker writes seriously. Can't take anything in the Telegraph seriously.

Article is irelevant. Point is that we invested heavily, backed our manager completely and it is time for him to fully deliver. Especially because he is the one who chose every single target.
Now, i am not talking that he MUST win PL or CL. Of course not. There are teams stronger than us. But being close to City whole season (so some sort of title challenge) and dominant football against most of teams should be something which we must achieve this season. No more excuses.

 

[Malone_Post]

Lots of obsessing over the transfer strategy here but what can a manager do when he's trying to implement a new style of play under fairly hefty financial duress from the owners?

He’s spent close to £400 million in 12 months. This idea that he’s operating on some kind of shoestring budget is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[crossy1686]

Most people are willing to give him time based on the challenges of last season and how much of a rebuild we’ve needed. Most people understood that challenging for titles would take more than a year and probably more than two frankly.

That’s not the same as being happy with our away form or lack of free flowing football.

Watching Spurs today I couldn’t help but feel frustrated that they ‘seem’ ahead of us already. And yet they blew it midweek and they’ll probably get brought back to earth soon enough.

Yep, there’s been challenges for sure, and there will continue to be, and due to that Ten Hag will get at least this season and into next unless the wheels completely fall off.

But he will live and die by some of these signings he’s made, especially the ones that don’t really make a lot of sense.

I hear you, Tottenham do not look like they’ve only had a new manager for 8 weeks while we absolutely do. It’s frustrating but I do think spurs will have a hard time of it when the new manager bounce comes to an end, and hopefully we turn it around starting this weekend with some strong performances.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

Because our club scouting team are shite.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

He’s spent close to £400 million in 12 months. This idea that he’s operating on some kind of shoestring budget is absolutely ridiculous.

Look what he inherited. An absolute shit show of rejects and under performers.

He's having to fix the mess our recruitment under Woodward created.

 

[Plastic Evra]

He’s spent close to £400 million in 12 months. This idea that he’s operating on some kind of shoestring budget is absolutely ridiculous.

If it's any consolation that number will not grow until January and should be pretty stable by at least June 2024 !

 

[Telsim]

Naturally. This club just doesn't have the necessary structure, personel and desire to operate any other way. We just have to hope Ten Hag can manage, if given enough time.

 

[crossy1686]

Because our club scouting team are shite.

How can a club the size of United have shit scouts? The lad that just signed for PSG, the forward we were interested in from Frankfurt was suggested by our scouts but Ten Hag wanted Hojlund instead.

Our scouts routinely throw out names but they’re marginalised by whoever the manager wants.

 

[bosnian_red]

He’s spent close to £400 million in 12 months. This idea that he’s operating on some kind of shoestring budget is absolutely ridiculous.

Roughly the same as City and Arsenal and much less than Chelsea, bit more than Liverpool.

Of course it's not a shoe string budget, but there's a lot he had to do and of more importantly it's about coaching that it just takes time, no matter the spend.

 

[Redfrog]

Agree with every single word. Most of this place won't though. He has been financially backed more than any manager in club history. Zero excuses for him to not deliver. We saw improvement in some areas last season after a terrible start but we also saw some examples of continuation of the same bad tendencies. We need significant imporvement this season too. Ww have spent too much to continue to have such glaring weaknesses. About time we started being taken seriously again.

Well, I hate this kind of statements because it doesn’t take inflation into account.
Inflation in football is crazy. So, to say he spend the most of all our managers is only half true. I don’t think he spend more then Mourinho when you look at the inflation.

Ferguson spent 30 millions on Rooney and ne Rio. That was crazy money at the time. How do you think it will be today ?

I am not saying ETH has not been backed by the way. But the team was such in dire state with overpaid past their sale date players. And is still is relatively. It’s not the manager’s fault.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

How can a club the size of United have shit scouts? The lad that just signed for PSG, the forward we were interested in from Frankfurt was suggested by our scouts but Ten Hag wanted Hojlund instead.

Our scouts routinely throw out names but they’re marginalised by whoever the manager wants.

This. We have scouts all over the world. By all accounts their reports just get ignored.

 

[DJ_21]

Look what he inherited. An absolute shit show of rejects and under performers.

He's having to fix the mess our recruitment under Woodward created.

Aswell as not making that mess even bigger… his signings have to work. If Mourinho or someone like that would have signed Antony for the money that he cost then they’d be getting a lot of stick for it. We’ve still got underperformers now… it’s ETH job to make us consistently good and he needs to learn to make in game changes earlier when it needs to happen.

 

[Cathy Ferguson]

Aswell as not making that mess even bigger… his signings have to work. If Mourinho or someone like that would have signed Antony for the money that he cost then they’d be getting a lot of stick for it. We’ve still got underperformers now… it’s ETH job to make us consistently good and he needs to learn to make in game changes earlier when it needs to happen.

Mount and Antony must deliver this season, Höjlund might get a pass due to his age but the pressure on such a young player will be huge.

 

[dubplate warrior]

not much point getting players in that the manager doesn't want... but you then seem to agree with me that his acquisitions haven't been great... feck knows why we went for a spurs reject defender

It's an emergency signing because we have no left backs who are fit, hence the negotiation for a break clause in January.

 

[Plastic Evra]

I think the problem for assessing the scouting is that United is not exactly known for recruiting semi-obscure players. You probably didn't need scouts to "find about" Casemiro, Onana or even Højlund. Doesn't mean they don't perform a job, still good to assess every target in person for in depth reporting.

Though we did have Zion Suzuki this year. Urawa Red Diamonds is not a small team but that was definitely a fresh name thrown into the mix and not linked to 12 other PL sides.

They probably have a lot more input for very young players being brought to United to finish the Academy course, I imagine.

 

[DJ_21]

Mount and Antony must deliver this season, Höjlund might get a pass due to his age but the pressure on such a young player will be huge.

I think Hojlund will actually shine for us. Mount shouldn’t have any excuse as he’s use to the premier league and Antony shouldn’t because this is his 2nd season so he needs to deliver.

 

[Blood Mage]

Massive pressure on him this season, top 4 should be realistic with the squad we have. Anything less and he'll be in trouble.

 

[RuudTom83]

He’s spent close to £400 million in 12 months. This idea that he’s operating on some kind of shoestring budget is absolutely ridiculous.

But transfer fees never stop going up and up...so whoever is the current manager at any club will always spend more compared to the manager from 3-5 years ago. Just quoting a number doesn't really prove any point.

Also EtH hasn't broken any United transfer records...SAF did many times, Mourinho did with Pogba, Ole broke the record for a CB...so every United manager has been backed.

Then compare EtH to his current peers like Klopp (the king of a shoestring budget) in recent windows he's spent Nunez 80m, Gakpo 42m, Szoboszlai 70m, Mac Allister 42m Gravenberch 40m, Diaz 47m, Konate 40m (figures from transfermarkt)

So I would never say EtH is working on scraps, but at the same time he hasn't spend a ridiculous amount more than any of his closest rival.

 

[izec]

Article is irelevant. Point is that we invested heavily, backed our manager completely and it is time for him to fully deliver. Especially because he is the one who chose every single target.
Now, i am not talking that he MUST win PL or CL. Of course not. There are teams stronger than us. But being close to City whole season (so some sort of title challenge) and dominant football against most of teams should be something which we must achieve this season. No more excuses.

Then we can just as well sack him on the spot. We wont be anywhere near the top of the table. I think top 4 is the best we can hope for under ETH.

When people say coaching takes time, yes, some time, not 3 or 4 years. Pep and Klopp showed in their second season success. I doubt we will see a similar impact.

 

[Eli Zee]

Then we can just as well sack him on the spot. We wont be anywhere near the top of the table. I think top 4 is the best we can hope for under ETH.

When people say coaching takes time, yes, some time, not 3 or 4 years. Pep and Klopp showed in their second season success. I doubt we will see a similar impact.

Manchester city is miles better than us. Neither of them would stand a chance in their first 4 years against the current city team

 

[Andersonson]

We have never signed so many in one window has we have this summer. He has to get top 4 or he will be gone. I think he can do it​

 

[Parma Dewol]

Somebody earlier in the thread said something along the lines of “ETH should pack his bags.” Got a lot of flack for the comment but I wonder if it was misconstrued.

Could have meant ETH should leg it before the inevitable United shitstorm.

I think he’s a top manager, but it’s been clear for a while now that United as a club is a rudderless entity. The proposed sale gave a lot of fans hope, but the way that process has been drawn out only reiterates what a circus we’ve become.

We are still the huge draw and top entertainment, but sadly no l for footballing reasons.

I fear it’s only a matter of time before Erik realises. And when he does, it’ll be his head on the chopping block.

Gosh this post felt depressing. 10 years of exile will do this to you.

 

[ItDoesntEvenMata]

He’s spent close to £400 million in 12 months. This idea that he’s operating on some kind of shoestring budget is absolutely ridiculous.

On par with other clubs (Chelsea aside) after inheriting a total shit show.

Then you have to consider that we have lost Pogba, De Gea and Ronaldo across those windows. Whether stylistically they're the ones for us, replacing marquee/ world class players of that ilk is going to cost you pushing close to well 60 million for Casemiro, 50 million for Onana and probably 120 million for a Ronaldo level striker but we've gone for Hojlund at 70.

So basically we've spent nearly half of that 400 million on replacing players that would have been considered world class and then the other 200 on boosting a squad which everyone acknowledged was in the pits both quality and mentality wise.

For where the club is at and the size and scale of the job, it is not ideal. The fact is we needed several players in and done this window and could not afford some options. Our net spend is roughly the same as Bournemouth

 

[Tom Van Persie]

Because our club scouting team are shite.

Scouts don't decide which players we go after.

 

[sparx99]

On par with other clubs (Chelsea aside) after inheriting a total shit show.

Then you have to consider that we have lost Pogba, De Gea and Ronaldo across those windows. Whether stylistically they're the ones for us, replacing marquee/ world class players of that ilk is going to cost you pushing close to well 60 million for Casemiro, 50 million for Onana and probably 120 million for a Ronaldo level striker but we've gone for Hojlund at 70.

So basically we've spent nearly half of that 400 million on replacing players that would have been considered world class and then the other 200 on boosting a squad which everyone acknowledged was in the pits both quality and mentality wise.

For where the club is at and the size and scale of the job, it is not ideal. The fact is we needed several players in and done this window and could not afford some options. Our net spend is roughly the same as Bournemouth

Replacing the free transfers is a massive factor. It’s not just De Gea, Pogba and Ronaldo either. There’s also Cavani and Mata amongst others.

You can replace some form the academy and some might have not been needed anymore but either way it’s costs to replace at least some of them and that’s just to stand still for the most part.

 

[r0663664]

I really hope we are able to attract 14-16 yo talented youngsters since we had sold and let go so many youth players. Hopefully we see 1-2 breaking into XI and needing to buy only 2-3 players for XI. That's the only way that we can be successful.

 

[AR87]

Yes, it's ETH's fault he has to decide on transfer targets because the structure of our recruitment forces the manager to be the most prominent voice in the room.

Some people refuse to understand the obvious issues which aren't about individual managers, but rather the reliance the club pts in them to determine our short and long-term recruitment strategy.