Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

[mav_9me]

Mount, Onana, Rojlund and Amrabat are Ten hag’s signings. Varane’s fitness record shows United can't rely on him. In his two seasons at United, Varane has missed 32 games (17 games in 21/22 and 15 games in 22/23). Despite that, Ten hag let the one player that would have strengthened our challenge, go to Bayern Munich for a reasonable €50m. To see Lindelof, Maguire, Evans, Eriksen and Martial after spending £400m+ is completely perplexing. Maguire and Evans had the combined speed of a tractor. WTF was ten Hag thinking (or not thinking)? A sad touch from Ten hag to bring them together like this. We are no better than last season, with regards to the strength of our squad at the moment. The stakes are higher for Ten hag this season and if his signings don't come good then he will start to feel the pressure.

Sigh. Wtf are you talking about? So KMJ wanted to come to United but ETH said no? What made up nonsense is that to bash ETH?

What do you want ETH to do when Martinez and Lindelof both go off injured/sick? What nonsense are you talking abt ETH not thinking and having Maguire and Evans? What options does he have?

 

[Gordon Godot]

I think we are all welcome to judge the progress in implementing a more cohesive game plan (or lack thereof) which is the maximum extent of what I hope for (and hopefully a top 4 finish and a good showing in all other competitions) but I do think some of the negativity at this point is a little hysterical. Until the club is sold (?) the best thing to do is let the team do its thing and hopefully steady itself top table come November and December.

I want him to do well. But really where is this progress, we look as bad as last season despite spending lots more money. Its fair to ask questions about training and lack of rotation when we have so many injuries, recruitment where is scouting list seems obsessed with Dutch league, insistence on playing Antony who it seems is undroppable etc.

 

[Oscar Bonavena]

What are you talking about?

I'm talking about Shaw, Varane and Martinez being regularly injured.

 

[GMoore23]

Cracks starting to show. He's complaining more now.

Should've had penalty, Goal was onside, Evans was fouled.

 

[Revan]

I think we are all welcome to judge the progress in implementing a more cohesive game plan (or lack thereof) which is the maximum extent of what I hope for (and hopefully a top 4 finish and a good showing in all other competitions) but I do think some of the negativity at this point is a little hysterical. Until the club is sold (?) the best thing to do is let the team do its thing and hopefully steady itself top table come November and December.

Oh, I agree. I think sacking EtH at this stage is pointless. I have 0 trust in the club to build a structure above him, or to replace him, or to sign the right players. The hope is that the club gets sold, the new owners build a good footballing structure, and that hopefully we get top 5 (5th place sends to UCL too).

I do not have much trust in EtH, in fact under the right circumstances (the club being run well), I think his days should be numbered. But I have even less trust in the club. We essentially have spent more than any club except PSG since SAF retired and couldn't do a single challenge for the title or reach semis of UCL a single time. Replacing the manager with the next flower of the month won't change much until we fundamentally change the way how the club works.

 

[Oranges038]

I don’t understand if there is an investigation ongoing how a newspaper is allowed to publish witness testimony and a picture that I’d imagine would be used as evidence. I think there was a live television interview too. You’d think that would prejudice a jury.

Because it apparently took place and is being investigated in Brazil?

 

[mav_9me]

We got top 3 last season in part due to collapse of others. Liverpool looking good, as are Spurs, top 4 competition will be much harder. Our away record agaisnt top clubs is attrocious. Yesterday Arsenal were happy to give us ball in our own half as they knew we couldnt harm them. Maguire and Evans in defence is the mos shambolic thing we have seen post Fergie. Its not good.

Great first season, wins a tropy, qualifies for Europe. Looks the answer to our managerial search. Quesntionable second window and poor start, earl signs of problems with certain players.......sound familiar as this is pretty much the same story with both Mourinho and Ole and we know how those two second seasons ended.

See a turning of tide and a few already starting to roundo Ten Hag. Have to confess I knew very little about him before he arrived but all the internet tactical and stat quoting modern football analysis experts on here seemed to rave about him and he goa lauded and super hyped after a first season that was good but not really different to the former twos first seasons.....also both finished higher and both also in a season where big clubs like CHelsea and Liverpool had stinkers of seasons.

Persoanlly I am still hopeful of Ten Hag, but also not fully convinced. I think he has done well so far but got far too much credit this early on. I havent yet seen tactical genius and personally also not impressed by the recruitment which I think will see a fair few players added to the out list with a season or two, think there are only two top top signings he has made so far.

He has definately made mistakes and I dont like the public criticising of Sancho.

What I have been impressed with is the clear vision, belief in what he is doing and single minded approach and control of the side....not the tactical side. But we have seen that can all come crashing down quite quickly, a fair few toxic players have moved on but there are still a few who have let down previous managers here.

It is a huge season for Ten Hag and I feel the recruitment has been far from ideal to enable him progression this season and part of that for me is down to the choices he has made within it, a season finishing in the top four is definately success this season, not sure its one of progression though and not at all confident we achieve it, really think he could be in trouble by the end of it

I think I must have posted about 10 times about this already in this thread. Liverpool and Chelsea's shite seasons don't have anything to do with our 75 points. That 75 points gets you top 4 every year for at least last 15 yrs or so.

Criticise ETH all you want. Criticise the performances all you want, rightly so. But credit where it's due, otherwise you are just another poster with agenda.

 

[mav_9me]

Exactly this progress is not linear, you don't just go from 6th to 1st in a year or 2, look at how much squad transition there has been we have sold or released so many players in the last 12 months and you could argue for that number to be bigger as well for players either refusing to leave or no one interested them

I don't get how people don't see this most obvious thing. I just don't.

 

[AaronRedDevil]

Cracks starting to show. He's complaining more now.

Should've had penalty, Goal was onside, Evans was fouled.

I mean hes not wrong. Though that evans one is 50/50

 

[Clanrickard]

And yet we did hurt you, twice (albeit one disallowed for a micro offside). Plus we had Rashford nearly making it 2-1 early in the second half from the rebound, Hojlund arguably fouled in the box, Rashford skilling past your defence at the byeline and making a mess of the cutback, the 3 on 2 break again with bad decision making. We had chances and we threatened you despite this 'you don't hurt teams playing like that' thing.

I counted Arsenal with the Havertz scuff, and the goal in the first half. Then the very good Saka chance. A fortunate deflected second goal and a late 3rd that happens only because we had to go gung-ho in the last seconds of the match. it was hardly backs to the wall stuff for us like it was at yours last season.

Arsenal are a good side. I don't think they are good enough to win the league - but then again, nobody but City are these days.

True but you don't hurt teams on a consistent basis. There seems to be no consistent press and an over reliance on breakaways. That said I'd be sore if I was a United fan watching that. A step up in performance from Wolves which was the last game I saw.

 

[mav_9me]

I'm talking about Shaw, Varane and Martinez being regularly injured.

Facepalm. Shaw played regularly last season. Martinez has had one injury, broken metstarsal, that's not on anyone. Varane history of injuries predate ETH.

 

[fallengt]

Cracks starting to show. He's complaining more now.

Should've had penalty, Goal was onside, Evans was fouled.

Mourinho's special

 

[Skills]

Honestly, every argument I have heard about EtH to me looks like a deja vu for the previous managers. That they are geniuses, that it will take time but ultimately they would win us big titles, that no one else would do better with this group of players, that they just need to get rid of the deadwood and continue signing good players, that the style is progressive. And then ultimately they got sacked for being shit, their style of football suddenly became ‘shit on a stick’, and that their transfers suddenly become deadwood. I do not see much difference this time around, I think in 18 months Antony, Malacia, Eriksen and Mount will be firmly in the deadwood category, and probably Martinez too if the new manager decides that he doesn’t want a bottom 10 percentile player when it comes to aerial duels in his team. Add to it Casemiro will be 32-33 and need replacing and the ‘400m well-spent money’ will essentially be Onana and probably Hojlund. Figuratively speaking, I think it is a cult where people defend the manager at all costs, and mistake supporting the club with supporting the manager. We should support the club, and keep accountable the employees of the club, be them high managers like Murtough or mid-level managers like ETH.

But with the main point I agree and have been screaming about it since the Mourinho days. We need a football structure in place, a DoF who is the manager’s boss, not manager’s bitch. We need people knowledgeable around him. The manager should be a head coach, a mid-level manager whose job is training the players, selecting them to play and doing the tactics. The recruiting should be not related to the manager, or at most he should have a minimal input to that. Essentially, we need to build a machine where the manager is an important, but small part of it. An easily replaceable part.

Preach.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

Cracks starting to show. He's complaining more now.

Should've had penalty, Goal was onside, Evans was fouled.

I can't think of a single manager who wouldn't be angry at the decisions that went against us yesterday. He has every right to be upset.

 

[mav_9me]

My criticism is we seem to stumble upon chances. I don't see for example what is the plan to get the ball to attackers, something top teams do very effectively. Arsenal did that all game yesterday, Martinelli alone must've won 10 corners (and he was against one of the best 1on1 fullbacks around). Saka had a quiet game and that's what let Arsenal down. They still managed to get 3 goals (not undeserved too).
Lumping the ball forward is not a strategy that Manchester United should be applying.
Onana is the single player that makes the difference in how teams approach/press us compared to last season.

Arsenal are way ahead of us in team and squad building, credit to them, but you have to remember Arteta has had 3.5 yrs with their team vs ETH has had 1 year. There will be a difference, no?

In any case Martinelli winning the corners just shows AWB doing his job and preventing crosses no?

 

[GaryLifo]

What's the achievement in this ? How did this help the team in any significant way ? We kept passing the ball between the keeper and defenders in our own half, congratulations I guess ?

Apart from suck them in and create the counter from which we scored do you mean?

I swear people think football is just all about going mental and running around like ants in the sun.

 

[Grande]

What's that style ? Point us to it, as we're way too blind to recognize it, sorry.

All I'm seeing is the same godawful football we have been watching for years, and by the way, LVG's United to have a lot of possession at the back too. Why are we acting like this is a completely new thing at United ? And we were crap under LVG.

I think you have to posess a certain konwledge of football tactics to be able to recognize a style. I’m not sure you could describe the football of any coach, so it’s of little use for you to look after footballing styles. You didn’t like Van Gaal and you didn’t like Solskjær, fair enough, you’re a fan, you want to win.

Van Gaal wanted almost the exact opposite of Moyes, Mourinho couldn’t be more different to Van Gaal, Solskjær tried to build on what Mourinho left, and then tried to change styles but couldn’t with the players he had. Rangnick a very different style, but some (superficial) similarities with Solskjær in terms of directness of attack, and Ten Hag in terms of wanting to press collectively high. Ten Hag has had fairly clear playing principles in Ajax, but he came to a team either suited to or well versed in those principles.

What you are going to see under such conditions, is that change takes time .Last year we played like this at home to Arsenal, and won 3-1. This is how Ten Hag wants a team to play when they are not able to dominate the opponent into playing in their half. Now we did it away, and could have won again. Almost no team dominates the field of play away to current Arsenal, so that is reasonable. However, away to Spurs, even while being rusty and not executing very well, we pinned Spurs in their own half for much of the first half, creating several good chances. That is more like Ten Hag wants to play. But the players must do their job. Precise passing, good choices, precise finishing. We’d have beaten Spurs away if the performance matched the tactics.

But if you can’t see how the team tries to play, and the differences between last year, now, vs Spurs and vs Arse, and the differences between Ten Hag, Van Gaal and Solskjær etc, it’s not enough to read posts on the internet. You should see some video analysis, school yourself. There is a playing style even if you can’t recognize it.

 

[dubplate warrior]

We're gradually improving game by game, whilst in the middle of an injury crisis and our new signings not on the pitch yet.

Let's see what we're like in Christmas. I think we'll improve quite a bit as a unit though for the following reasons:

1. An actual striker. I saw enough in 30 minutes to see that Hojlund will improve us a lot up front. We'll hold the ball higher up the pitch better, he'll run channels and already you can see he will move in the box.

2. Rashford will play in his best position on the left.

3. Injuries will subside.

4. Amrabat may not be a spectacular signing, but alongside Casemiro we'll have a lot of tenacity and balance in the middle. No way we'll be run through like how we were for Arsenals first goal any more. Also think Mainoo has a big part to play in the second half of the season.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Oh, I agree. I think sacking EtH at this stage is pointless. I have 0 trust in the club to build a structure above him, or to replace him, or to sign the right players. The hope is that the club gets sold, the new owners build a good footballing structure, and that hopefully we get top 5 (5th place sends to UCL too).

I do not have much trust in EtH, in fact under the right circumstances (the club being run well), I think his days should be numbered. But I have even less trust in the club. We essentially have spent more than any club except PSG since SAF retired and couldn't do a single challenge for the title or reach semis of UCL a single time. Replacing the manager with the next flower of the month won't change much until we fundamentally change the way how the club works.

This is pretty much how I feel as well

 

[RvNPas]

Home to Brighton on 16 Sept will be crucial for ETH's future. Hope he can deliver a convincing victory before going to UCL nite.

 

[philippexyz]

First wanted to say that there were obvious injury problems in the squad which created a headache for ETH and that's not his fault. Having Maguire and Evans finish the match as CB partnership against Arsenal at Emirates has killed us and we had no experienced midfielders as subs(only Hannibal and Gore). Also, playing Martial is basically playing with 10 men today, he's done as a professional footballer - maybe Saudi Arabia remains as an option after this year and that's it for him.

Regarding ETH's tactics and style(or lack there of) which many are complaining about, I wanted to make a post about something I've observed:

At times yesterday(especially the first half), I think we looked a bit like De Zerbi's Brighton stylistically. We actually had more possession than Arsenal in the first half, at the Emirates, which was pretty surprising to me. The concept of "artificial transition", you can look it up. I'm not a football expert, but I've learned that from Tifo(JJ Bull, John Mackenzie...) - they explained De Zerbi's tactics in more detail.

We tried to be very patient and slow in the build up, bait Arsenal to press heavily, and then open up the space to counter by beating the press - that's the artificial transition. That's what De Zerbi's Brighton does, and does it very effectively. I think Guardiola even praised De Zerbi for it and said he loves how Brighton plays and that they're very tricky to play against, but I don't think he explained it in detail what he meant by that.

One thing I wanted to add and almost forgot. I don't know how Ten Hag wants us to be the best transition team in the world and have Antony in the team at the same time. That is a heavy contradiction. Antony kills counter attacking opportunities like no other, he's very slow with the ball at his feet, indecisive and not nearly direct enough.

We also lack a player(midfielder) who can carry the ball and is an excellent dribbler(actually comfortable with the ball at his feet and can evade pressure/tackles - Frenkie de Jong archetype), but I'm going to complain about that until I eventually get banned from this forum because of spamming it, (hope mods tolerate me ), or until my death.

 

[dubplate warrior]

First wanted to say that there were obvious injury problems in the squad which created a headache for ETH and that's not his fault. Having Maguire and Evans finish the match as CB partnership against Arsenal at Emirates has killed us and we had no experienced midfielders as subs(only Hannibal and Gore). Also, playing Martial is basically playing with 10 men today, he's done as a professional footballer - maybe Saudi Arabia remains as an option after this year and that's it for him.

Regarding ETH's tactics and style(or lack there of) which many are complaining about, I wanted to make a post about something I've observed:

At times yesterday(especially the first half), I think we looked a bit like De Zerbi's Brighton stylistically. We actually had more possession than Arsenal in the first half, at the Emirates, which was pretty surprising to me. The concept of "artificial transition", you can look it up. I'm not a football expert, but I've learned that from Tifo(JJ Bull, John Mackenzie...) - they explained De Zerbi's tactics in detail.

We tried to be very patient and slow in the build up, bait Arsenal to press heavily, and then open up the space to counter by beating the press - that's the artificial transition. That's what De Zerbi's Brighton does, and does it very effectively. I think Guardiola even praised De Zerbi for it and said he loves how Brighton plays and that they're very tricky to play against, but I don't think he explained it in detail what he meant by that.

One thing I wanted to add and almost forgot. I don't know how Ten Hag wants us to be the best transition team in the world and have Antony in the team at the same time. That is a heavy contradiction. Antony kills counter attacking opportunities like no other, he's very slow with the ball at his feet, indecisive and not nearly direct enough.

We also lack a player(midfielder) who can carry the ball and is an excellent dribbler(actually comfortable with the ball at his feet and can evade pressure/tackles - Frenkie de Jong archetype), but I'm going to complain about that until I eventually get banned from this forum because of spamming it, (hope mods tolerate me ), or until my death.

I think this has to be one of our priorities next year alongside a new right flank.

 

[Stacks]

Some people can see the bigger picture the players are comfortable passing it around at the back now and soon it will become more automatic and get faster and we'll be able to build better and work our way through the 3rds quicker, it's a loss and a bad one just some people don't shit the bed at the start of the season and see what it is Rome wasn't built in a day

What is the bigger picture with this personnel? How will we do this with midfielders and forwards who cannot pass, move, play possession football or control games. When we completed our summer signings I was confused at the mish mash of players we acquired as I saw a defence built for controlled, possession with a number of players comfortable on the ball (Onana, Shaw, Martinez, Verane and even AWB looks more comfortable although we also have Dalot.) then our midfielders are Bruno (loves to spam through balls) Casemiro (can only make direct passes) Mount (makes 14 passes per game), Rashford (looks to carve out shots and not pass), Antony (runs forward then passes backwards with no attacking passing IQ) Sancho (scared to do anything) so I don't see what the vision is unless you care to explain?

 

[Stacks]

Do you not think it's worthy of praise that one of our big weaknesses from last season has been addressed? We went out of the Europa League last season because we couldn't pass the ball around the back, and more generally added huge amounts of pressure every match we were hanging on because we'd have to constantly lump the ball to the opposition.

Partly cos Martinez was injured and Harry Maguire came into the team who is very slow train of thought

 

[Yakuza_devils]

Give him time. I feel ETH is still the right manager. At the very least we should be patient until end of the season. No point sacking a manager now.

We need to look at Glazers and Murtough too. They waited until the last day of window to sign Amrabat and Regulion. We were also restricted by FFP. The worst part is that we don't have a proper DOF or football structure to support the manager.

 

[el3mel]

Apart from suck them in and create the counter from which we scored do you mean?

I swear people think football is just all about going mental and running around like ants in the sun.

So basically a moments team. What United have been doing for years now.

 

[UDontMessWith24]

First wanted to say that there were obvious injury problems in the squad which created a headache for ETH and that's not his fault. Having Maguire and Evans finish the match as CB partnership against Arsenal at Emirates has killed us and we had no experienced midfielders as subs(only Hannibal and Gore). Also, playing Martial is basically playing with 10 men today, he's done as a professional footballer - maybe Saudi Arabia remains as an option after this year and that's it for him.

Regarding ETH's tactics and style(or lack there of) which many are complaining about, I wanted to make a post about something I've observed:

At times yesterday(especially the first half), I think we looked a bit like De Zerbi's Brighton stylistically. We actually had more possession than Arsenal in the first half, at the Emirates, which was pretty surprising to me. The concept of "artificial transition", you can look it up. I'm not a football expert, but I've learned that from Tifo(JJ Bull, John Mackenzie...) - they explained De Zerbi's tactics in more detail.

We tried to be very patient and slow in the build up, bait Arsenal to press heavily, and then open up the space to counter by beating the press - that's the artificial transition. That's what De Zerbi's Brighton does, and does it very effectively. I think Guardiola even praised De Zerbi for it and said he loves how Brighton plays and that they're very tricky to play against, but I don't think he explained it in detail what he meant by that.

One thing I wanted to add and almost forgot. I don't know how Ten Hag wants us to be the best transition team in the world and have Antony in the team at the same time. That is a heavy contradiction. Antony kills counter attacking opportunities like no other, he's very slow with the ball at his feet, indecisive and not nearly direct enough.

We also lack a player(midfielder) who can carry the ball and is an excellent dribbler(actually comfortable with the ball at his feet and can evade pressure/tackles - Frenkie de Jong archetype), but I'm going to complain about that until I eventually get banned from this forum because of spamming it, (hope mods tolerate me ), or until my death.

Thank you. We did not have the bite or legs in midfield to match Arsenal in a fast pace chaotic type of match. Our only option was to slow the game down. Counter pressing with Eriksen and Bruno is suicide so keeping the ball was essentially a way to defend. We could have done better on a few occasions when we did win the ball in midfield, but overall it’s a very tough fixture to navigate.

 

[el3mel]

There were tons of posts explaining it already, should people repeat it thousand times more, at this rate, it should be stickied somewhere for people to see.

We've gone over this before, so it's a pointless discussion. We're clearly trying to play a different style, it hasn't all come together yet, and acting like we're the same as under LVG, Mou, or Ole is just willful ignorance

I think you have to posess a certain konwledge of football tactics to be able to recognize a style. I’m not sure you could describe the football of any coach, so it’s of little use for you to look after footballing styles. You didn’t like Van Gaal and you didn’t like Solskjær, fair enough, you’re a fan, you want to win.

Van Gaal wanted almost the exact opposite of Moyes, Mourinho couldn’t be more different to Van Gaal, Solskjær tried to build on what Mourinho left, and then tried to change styles but couldn’t with the players he had. Rangnick a very different style, but some (superficial) similarities with Solskjær in terms of directness of attack, and Ten Hag in terms of wanting to press collectively high. Ten Hag has had fairly clear playing principles in Ajax, but he came to a team either suited to or well versed in those principles.

What you are going to see under such conditions, is that change takes time .Last year we played like this at home to Arsenal, and won 3-1. This is how Ten Hag wants a team to play when they are not able to dominate the opponent into playing in their half. Now we did it away, and could have won again. Almost no team dominates the field of play away to current Arsenal, so that is reasonable. However, away to Spurs, even while being rusty and not executing very well, we pinned Spurs in their own half for much of the first half, creating several good chances. That is more like Ten Hag wants to play. But the players must do their job. Precise passing, good choices, precise finishing. We’d have beaten Spurs away if the performance matched the tactics.

But if you can’t see how the team tries to play, and the differences between last year, now, vs Spurs and vs Arse, and the differences between Ten Hag, Van Gaal and Solskjær etc, it’s not enough to read posts on the internet. You should see some video analysis, school yourself. There is a playing style even if you can’t recognize it.

3 replies and none of them even managed to say what is that style of play people are claiming we are so "clearly" trying to implement.

A perfect representation for the Ten Hag era so far. We play the same crap football we have been playing for years while people keep convincing themselves this is better than what we used to, even if they can't point it out but they already convinced themselves to feel better about the whole thing.

 

[UDontMessWith24]

What is the bigger picture with this personnel? How will we do this with midfielders and forwards who cannot pass, move, play possession football or control games. When we completed our summer signings I was confused at the mish mash of players we acquired as I saw a defence built for controlled, possession with a number of players comfortable on the ball (Onana, Shaw, Martinez, Verane and even AWB looks more comfortable although we also have Dalot.) then our midfielders are Bruno (loves to spam through balls) Casemiro (can only make direct passes) Mount (makes 14 passes per game), Rashford (looks to carve out shots and not pass), Antony (runs forward then passes backwards with no attacking passing IQ) Sancho (scared to do anything) so I don't see what the vision is unless you care to explain?

Amrabat has yet to play and Mount only has 3 games under his belt. This “mish mash” of players is the squad overhaul everybody with half a brain was rightfully clamoring for. We needed players everywhere so I’m not sure what you were expecting.

 

[evil_geko]

3 replies and none of them even managed to say what is that style of play people are claiming we are so "clearly" trying to implement.

A perfect representation for the Ten Hag era so far. We play the same crap football we have been playing for years while people keep convincing themselves this is better than what we used to, even if they can't point it out but they already convinced themselves to feel better about the whole thing.

Because people are fecking tired of writing a huge post just so later on someone like you can ask the same fecking question. But yeah, keep thinking there is no style and we are just running around and having fun our there. It is your choice to stay ignorant.

 

[crossy1686]

Why did he say he thought Martial was very good? He was awful. Why’s he keep defending him.

Probably because Martial is doing literally all he can right now because his body has given up on him. Saying he's doing shit would be like blaming a cripple for not being able to walk.

 

[RedRover]

We are seeing it being attempted. The build up phases out from the back, the recycling of possesion the 2341 or 3241 setup in attacking phases and AWB pushing inside in during attacks. These are just the most noticeable aspects. Once Hojlund is the focal point and the midfield is fully up to speed I am sure these things will be more apparent.

On the whole. He's basically working with a new team and getting them to gel, now half of them are injured, so it's going to take a bit longer than before. Because they're coming into a developing setup, it's not like City or Liverpool where the structure is already in place and half the team are already up to speed, so it's easier for new players to slot in. If there's still the same shit come Dec/Jan then I might start asking questions. But we need to be patient and let his players gel into his way of playing.

As for that second bolded bit, some managers do. Most are short term managers who can do this for a period of 12-18 months, some achieve short term success and then the players quickly tire of it and they leave a mess behind until the next fire fighter is found. Look at Conte, Tuchel, Jose etc etc etc.

Hopefully you're right and having a focal point upfront changes things, but at this stage, highly experienced and supposedly top end midfield players still getting up to speed over a year after the manager has been working with them is a an issue, in my opinion. Something isn't working. As I said in another post, when will it "click"? Will it ever?

This isn't a new team. So far this season it's been last years team with a couple of additions - mainly only Onana given the injuries to Mount and Hojlund. The players actually playing should be well drilled and understand what it is he wants them to so. The new outfield players have hardly kicked a ball.

 

[The Hilton]

3 replies and none of them even managed to say what is that style of play people are claiming we are so "clearly" trying to implement.

A perfect representation for the Ten Hag era so far. We play the same crap football we have been playing for years while people keep convincing themselves this is better than what we used to, even if they can't point it out but they already convinced themselves to feel better about the whole thing.

Because people are fecking tired of writing a huge post just so later on someone like you can ask the same fecking question. But yeah, keep thinking there is no style and we are just running around and having fun our there. It is your choice to stay ignorant.

This is exactly it, that poster has had multiple people answer that question anyway (me included), he just chooses to ignore it and then repeatedly ask the same question in his nonsense rants.

 

[The Hilton]

Partly cos Martinez was injured and Harry Maguire came into the team who is very slow train of thought

Yes, but also because DDG wasn't at all good on the ball.

 

[fezzerUTD]

Sancho is capable of more moments than him. Antony is a nothing player who is decent in recycling posession. Sancho is much bigger goal threat at least.

Do you even watch football?

 

[jesperjaap]

I think I must have posted about 10 times about this already in this thread. Liverpool and Chelsea's shite seasons don't have anything to do with our 75 points. That 75 points gets you top 4 every year for at least last 15 yrs or so.

Criticise ETH all you want. Criticise the performances all you want, rightly so. But credit where it's due, otherwise you are just another poster with agenda.

Sorry, I dont get your poit. I state he did well in his first season but so did Ole and Mourinho, so people have possibly lauded him as the right manager too early. Didnt say he didnt do well and Chelsea and Lverpool having bad seasons is factual. He got one more poin thtan Ole and 6 less than Mourinho.

There is no agenda from me, I said the same things in January when he was ridin gthe crest of a wave

 

[Oranges038]

Hopefully you're right and having a focal point upfront changes things, but at this stage, highly experienced and supposedly top end midfield players still getting up to speed over a year after the manager has been working with them is a an issue, in my opinion. Something isn't working. As I said in another post, when will it "click"? Will it ever?

This isn't a new team. So far this season it's been last years team with a couple of additions - mainly only Onana given the injuries to Mount and Hojlund. The players actually playing should be well drilled and understand what it is he wants them to so. The new outfield players have hardly kicked a ball.

I hope I'm right too. I see what I see, I may be wrong.

The other thing is he's also totally changed how the setup and distribution from goalkicks etc is working. I think all that takes time to implement in games, especially when a number of players just aren't used to it, they have to learn all the triggers, the runs, understanding with players around them etc. It takes more than 3 or 4 games to get it working.

 

[mav_9me]

Sorry, I dont get your poit. I state he did well in his first season but so did Ole and Mourinho, so people have possibly lauded him as the right manager too early. Didnt say he didnt do well and Chelsea and Lverpool having bad seasons is factual. He got one more poin thtan Ole and 6 less than Mourinho.

There is no agenda from me, I said the same things in January when he was ridin gthe crest of a wave

Fair enough. My apologies. I misread your post.

For what its worth, for the record I think he is a brilliant coach. But you are right about similar good/ great first seasons.

 

[BluesJr]

We were unlucky yesterday but constantly being beaten away is getting really fecking draining.

 

[Stacks]

Amrabat has yet to play and Mount only has 3 games under his belt. This “mish mash” of players is the squad overhaul everybody with half a brain was rightfully clamoring for. We needed players everywhere so I’m not sure what you were expecting.

nobody was clamoring for Mount and Amrabat, nobody was clamouring for him, especially before the world cup. I am referring to the contrasting players in each department. how does it align?