Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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Manchester United staff express concerns about growing involvement of Erik ten Hag’s agent Kees Vos in transfers


https://manutdnews.com/manchester-u...of-erik-ten-hags-agent-kees-vos-in-transfers/

Rasmus Hojlund joined SEG before he moved to Man United from Atalanta in the summer, while the agency also acted for the club during the negotiations over the loan signing of Morocco international midfielder Sofyan Amrabat from Fiorentina.

Zidane Iqbal also joined them some weeks before the Red Devils sold him to Utrecht, and the growing influence of Vos’ firm has left other agents unhappy as they reckon it would make them lose out on potential deals due to his strong relationship with Ten Hag.

Isn't this the same thing that happened with Mourinho and Ole?
 
This Kees Vos thing is really grinding my gear. His son works there? Unacceptable.
 
In what way?

edit
Actually, I remember Ole signing loads of players from jim solbakken

Yeah. Under Mourinho a lot of players were in some way connected with Jorge Mendes, and under Ole it was Jim Solbakken if I recall correctly.

Isn't this precisely why we have a DOF? To prevent this type of recruitment?
 
That's an incredibly reductive way of looking at it. We lost this game because both the squad composition and mindset of the players is not right. Both these things are affected by the uncertainty of the ownership. The former because no-one at senior level knowing what the financial situation will be over the next 5 years means that decisions have to be made moment to moment in a piecemeal fashion rather than with a long term view.

And the latter because these players know that half the senior management team might not even be there in 6 months time, making it hard to know what their future will be either. Bear in mind this is an insanely competitive world, which I suspect is unlike your (or my) workplace. For me, I could easily get by just putting in 80% effort for a few months and no-one could really tell. But in football even if you're giving less than maximum effort in training and recovery, it shows up in games.

The takeover is not the only factor, that's for sure. But uncertainty in any organisation is disruptive, and in a field where such fine margins make a tangible difference on the pitch, it certainly is detrimental.

Over the course of a season, sure. Other teams that don't have similar issues will eventually outperform us in the table.

But within any given game? I think you're being too easy on them. When a player has to go close down someone, they're not thinking about senior management. When Rashford is trying to make a decision whether to pass or shoot, he's not thinking about takeover talks. Actually the worry is he's not thinking at all. When ETH saw that his diamond formation was being overrun in the last game and did nothing to fix it, he was not being weighed down by the lack of a sporting director.

Even as a fan, I will be grumbling right until the whistle. Once the whistle goes at Old Trafford and we start to go forward, I'm excited. I forget all this rubbish. I'm sure professional players are capable of a decent amount of compartmentalisation too in those 90-100 minutes. At least they should be. If not, then it's on ETH for selecting them. He could've easily played a full B-team against Brighton and only been slightly worse off. Besides fecking off Ronaldo, I don't see much of this "bringing high standards" back that he's claimed to be doing.
 
I think people are completely overlooking how big of a negative impact the takeover talk is having over the club. Just think of your own job, it’s inevitable that the focus and effort level, as well as the mood in the workplace would fluctuate or even plummet with mooted change of ownership. Despite how much they earn and how professional they are supposed to be, players are human at the end of day and they will be consciously or subconsciously affected by all the chatters and uncertainty surrounding the club, and I dare say that it’s quite impossible for any coach to get 100% of the response he wants in those circumstances.

We’ve been dealt a rotten hand this season by the club’s ownership and all the unfortunate off the field issues. This is a time to weather the storm and be patient. Look at Newcastle in the immediate pre and post takeover, basically the same group of players but they went from relegation fodder to solid mid table in a few months, and while Eddie Howe is a good manager, he wasn’t solely responsible for all that.
I think that's just giving them excuses. The takeover barely makes the news there has been so little happening. It will have no effect on day to day training at the club.
 
In the press conference, Erik always say we played well at certain passage of the game but we lost the game. Keep saying it is a process, keep saying we were unlucky and etc. Whatever you say, it doesn't matter. The fact of the matter is we lost those games. We beat 2 relegation teams with difficulty and lost 3 games against opponents that are same level or lower than us. You are running out of excuses and very soon you will be looking for a job in 2024. Rashford is likely back to his mediocre self with a new contract, Casemiro would likely return back to his childhood club, Eriksen will probably retire, Sancho and Maguire will sit of the bench until his contract is up, Antony is likely your average RW in EPL. United will be at their average best, drifting from outside top 4 in the next 3-4 years. Total mismanagement from top to bottom. Speechless, I think I will stop watching United until New owners are place to shake things up. I hope my Lakers can bring joy to me.
 
Here we go fellas. The leaks start to come out in the media. I think this is the beginning of the end for ETH. Murtough need to find a scapegoat soon to save his job if the results deteriorate.

What's the point of sacking the manager when Murtough is still there? The cycle will just continue with the new manager comes in after spending 0.5 billions and be sacked after 2 years.
 
Manchester United staff express concerns about growing involvement of Erik ten Hag’s agent Kees Vos in transfers


https://manutdnews.com/manchester-u...of-erik-ten-hags-agent-kees-vos-in-transfers/

Rasmus Hojlund joined SEG before he moved to Man United from Atalanta in the summer, while the agency also acted for the club during the negotiations over the loan signing of Morocco international midfielder Sofyan Amrabat from Fiorentina.

Zidane Iqbal also joined them some weeks before the Red Devils sold him to Utrecht, and the growing influence of Vos’ firm has left other agents unhappy as they reckon it would make them lose out on potential deals due to his strong relationship with Ten Hag.

Manchester United staff (DoF and other titles for the sake of it) are expressing concerns about not doing their job :lol:
 
I think people are completely overlooking how big of a negative impact the takeover talk is having over the club. Just think of your own job, it’s inevitable that the focus and effort level, as well as the mood in the workplace would fluctuate or even plummet with mooted change of ownership. Despite how much they earn and how professional they are supposed to be, players are human at the end of day and they will be consciously or subconsciously affected by all the chatters and uncertainty surrounding the club, and I dare say that it’s quite impossible for any coach to get 100% of the response he wants in those circumstances.

We’ve been dealt a rotten hand this season by the club’s ownership and all the unfortunate off the field issues. This is a time to weather the storm and be patient. Look at Newcastle in the immediate pre and post takeover, basically the same group of players but they went from relegation fodder to solid mid table in a few months, and while Eddie Howe is a good manager, he wasn’t solely responsible for all that.
The most sensible post I've seen on this forum in recent weeks.
 
Sack ETH, hire the german with the skateboard, watch him grind out a couple of wins, maybe win a cup or make a good CL run.
By the same time next year you'll be calling for his head.

The problems in United start from the top.
This leads to the facts that Ronaldo pointed out.
Outdated facilities, methods, shit fitness coaches, shit dietitians, shit recovery.
No sporting director.
Throw crazy money at transfers because the shit scouting has zero backup plan if target A doesn't work at desired price.

We are set to fail.

Surely every fan should have a clue what's going on after the same pattern happens to 5th manager in a row?
 
Manchester United staff (DoF and other titles for the sake of it) are expressing concerns about not doing their job :lol:
I think it's totally obvious that everyone except the manager is doing absolutely nothing within their role that might cause them any accountability and ultimately cost them their job. The DOF is now allowing managers to find, scout and sign his own players while he joins in for the negotiation phase. Just mental really.
 
Over the course of a season, sure. Other teams that don't have similar issues will eventually outperform us in the table.

But within any given game? I think you're being too easy on them. When a player has to go close down someone, they're not thinking about senior management. When Rashford is trying to make a decision whether to pass or shoot, he's not thinking about takeover talks. Actually the worry is he's not thinking at all. When ETH saw that his diamond formation was being overrun in the last game and did nothing to fix it, he was not being weighed down by the lack of a sporting director.

Even as a fan, I will be grumbling right until the whistle. Once the whistle goes at Old Trafford and we start to go forward, I'm excited. I forget all this rubbish. I'm sure professional players are capable of a decent amount of compartmentalisation too in those 90-100 minutes. At least they should be. If not, then it's on ETH for selecting them. He could've easily played a full B-team against Brighton and only been slightly worse off. Besides fecking off Ronaldo, I don't see much of this "bringing high standards" back that he's claimed to be doing.

This is the same reductive argument again. What happens on match day is a direct consequence of everything that goes before it. This isn't about just willing it to happen. If you aren't at your physical and mental peak, you underperform. I don't even think this is debatable. Like, what do people think the purpose of training actually is if it makes no difference to your performance? They're not just running laps to stay fit.
 
Sack ETH, hire the german with the skateboard, watch him grind out a couple of wins, maybe win a cup or make a good CL run.
Nagelsmann signs for the DFB now, he will be available again after the Euro next summer.
 
I think it's totally obvious that everyone except the manager is doing absolutely nothing within their role that might cause them any accountability and ultimately cost them their job. The DOF is now allowing managers to find, scout and sign his own players while he joins in for the negotiation phase. Just mental really.

They do a bit of PR and that's about it.

I mean, this is the same club who not only gave Ole all the power, but also left stunned when he finally cracked. Got Rangnick to asses the players only to move him after players who were shit and he was there to asses how much shit they are played like they did.

We are now operating in a way where managers will say feck that would rather go to a club where I will be... erm just a feckin coach.
 
I said the other day we could start seeing leaks from big Utd sources, looks like Custis is the first of those today. Until I see this team show that desire to turn games around then fear Erik doesn't have a dressing room united in fighting for him.
 
This is the same reductive argument again. What happens on match day is a direct consequence of everything that goes before it. This isn't about just willing it to happen. If you aren't at your physical and mental peak, you underperform. I don't even think this is debatable. Like, what do people think the purpose of training actually is if it makes no difference to your performance? They're not just running laps to stay fit.

Then ETH should say that none of them are training to their max potential because of these reasons, yet he chose to play them, and that too in a suboptimal formation. He should also front up about why he didn't want to work with Rangnick.

Instead, here he is, talking about VAR camera angles, or saying that Brighton also spend money, as if it's comparable in any way to us.

Is there any expectation for ETH you have that can't be dismissed by pointing at the club hierarchy and these issues? Would you say that regardless of the crap above the team, ETH should be finishing at least top-5? Top-8? Top-17? What is the bar for you below which these excuses about senior management just won't wash? I'm curious because it seems you can use it to excuse any outcome for however long you want.
 
Then ETH should say that none of them are training to their max potential because of these reasons, yet he chose to play them, and that too in a suboptimal formation. He should also front up about why he didn't want to work with Rangnick.

Instead, here he is, talking about VAR camera angles, or saying that Brighton also spend money, as if it's comparable in any way to us.

Is there any expectation for ETH you have that can't be dismissed by pointing at the club hierarchy and these issues? Would you say that regardless of the crap above the team, ETH should be finishing at least top-5? Top-8? Top-17? What is the bar for you below which these excuses about senior management just won't wash? I'm curious because it seems you can use it to excuse any outcome for however long you want.

Sadly we will never get to find out why he didn't want to work with Rangnick. Especially frustrating when you look at the quality of players he suggested to us as well.

Does also feel like too many players were overplayed last season and has led to unnecessary injury issues piling up already
 
Then ETH should say that none of them are training to their max potential because of these reasons, yet he chose to play them, and that too in a suboptimal formation.

I hardly think that stoking the fires of hate against the powers that be would help ETH get the job done, no matter what he may think privately.

He should also front up about why he didn't want to work with Rangnick.

What has this got to do with anything we're talking about?

Is there any expectation for ETH you have that can't be dismissed by pointing at the club hierarchy and these issues? Would you say that regardless of the crap above the team, ETH should be finishing at least top-5? Top-8? Top-17? What is the bar for you below which these excuses about senior management just won't wash? I'm curious because it seems you can use it to excuse any outcome for however long you want.

I said right in my first post its not the only factor, so I don't know what you're going on about here.
 
I don't think he's anywhere close to being sacked and maybe rightly so. All of our failures started with recruitment, starting from last summer when they (Directors included) misdiagnosed the team. If they did a little bit of homework they'd find out ETH didn't build the Ajax team and wasn't ready to be chief transfer strategist without someone giving substantial help. In fact deferring transfer strategy was probably just a convenient way to hide not having a first clue how to build a team either. Even factoring questionable targets ETH is probably still the best teambuilder in the club hierarchy, which is sad.
 
Get rid now before he does more damage.

There's plenty of very good people available, Zidane, Conte, Lampard or even have a player manager, there's not.been one of those for a while. Sancho would be an interesting pick.
 
Get rid now before he does more damage.

There's plenty of very good people available, Zidane, Conte, Lampard or even have a player manager, there's not.been one of those for a while. Sancho would be an interesting pick.

I tried explaining the idea of a player-manager to my 11yo, he looked at me like I was making it all up.
 
No - correct. That account has been dining out on a piece of information they got about a sleeve sponsorship deal five years ago. Every other bit of info they've received has not come to fruition unless they've jumped on the bandwagon of another journalist.

Why would a guy who lives in America who does youtube videos in his bedroom have inside info on United. It doesn't add up.
That is simply not true. He has some good sources that provide really good information.
 
That's an incredibly reductive way of looking at it. We lost this game because both the squad composition and mindset of the players is not right. Both these things are affected by the uncertainty of the ownership. The former because no-one at senior level knowing what the financial situation will be over the next 5 years means that decisions have to be made moment to moment in a piecemeal fashion rather than with a long term view.

And the latter because these players know that half the senior management team might not even be there in 6 months time, making it hard to know what their future will be either. Bear in mind this is an insanely competitive world, which I suspect is unlike your (or my) workplace. For me, I could easily get by just putting in 80% effort for a few months and no-one could really tell. But in football even if you're giving less than maximum effort in training and recovery, it shows up in games.

The takeover is not the only factor, that's for sure. But uncertainty in any organisation is disruptive, and in a field where such fine margins make a tangible difference on the pitch, it certainly is detrimental.
I believe that is the most acute problem at the club right now. It is why our squad has not improved since last summer.
 
Manchester United staff express concerns about growing involvement of Erik ten Hag’s agent Kees Vos in transfers


https://manutdnews.com/manchester-u...of-erik-ten-hags-agent-kees-vos-in-transfers/

Rasmus Hojlund joined SEG before he moved to Man United from Atalanta in the summer, while the agency also acted for the club during the negotiations over the loan signing of Morocco international midfielder Sofyan Amrabat from Fiorentina.

Zidane Iqbal also joined them some weeks before the Red Devils sold him to Utrecht, and the growing influence of Vos’ firm has left other agents unhappy as they reckon it would make them lose out on potential deals due to his strong relationship with Ten Hag.

The glazers have started their media machine in order to prepare the ground for ETH sacking.

Until we get rid of them nothing will change.
 
This club and the people who work for it care more about their public image than our success. It's been like that since Woodward and it seems Arnold and Murtough are exactly the same and just as incompetent.

Spot on. All coming from the Glazers.
 
Get rid now before he does more damage.

There's plenty of very good people available, Zidane, Conte, Lampard or even have a player manager, there's not.been one of those for a while. Sancho would be an interesting pick.
:lol:
 
Get rid now before he does more damage.

There's plenty of very good people available, Zidane, Conte, Lampard or even have a player manager, there's not.been one of those for a while. Sancho would be an interesting pick.

Not a bad shout...but how about we save a few million and just promote Phil Jones to first team coach with Eni Aluko as the new dof.
 
I believe that is the most acute problem at the club right now. It is why our squad has not improved since last summer.
Too early to tell since Mount, Höjlund and Amrabat have mostly been injured so far, but Höjlund aside I would be surprised if they improve our XI massively.
 
God I’m sick of this shit.

The management structure is to blame.

- Sell the players he doesn’t want. It’s not like he’s asking for players to be sold that the next manager would want. This is made 100% true by the fact that nobody is trying to buy them at knockdown prices. Just get rid of them. Even if we receive £50m for 5 players. Get them gone. They’re not of the required standard, and are mostly damaging to the club.

- Get a system in place that is able to identify cheap and talented players. Just like Liverpool, City, Brighton, Brentford do. Yes it’s hard to win a title like that from the position we’re in. But it’s sure as not hard to secure players that would see us fight for European spots.

We won’t win anything meaningful, we won’t challenge for the league. We are a bad club that forever sits 3 years away from a position to start building from. Signing old players on expensive contracts is nothing like forward looking enough.

With all that said, our injuries have decimated us to a point that we look far worse than we are. We’re a top 4-6 team with a Top 8-10 squad.

It’s the owners and management that need to fix this shit. They won’t.
 
That's an incredibly reductive way of looking at it. We lost this game because both the squad composition and mindset of the players is not right. Both these things are affected by the uncertainty of the ownership. The former because no-one at senior level knowing what the financial situation will be over the next 5 years means that decisions have to be made moment to moment in a piecemeal fashion rather than with a long term view.

And the latter because these players know that half the senior management team might not even be there in 6 months time, making it hard to know what their future will be either. Bear in mind this is an insanely competitive world, which I suspect is unlike your (or my) workplace. For me, I could easily get by just putting in 80% effort for a few months and no-one could really tell. But in football even if you're giving less than maximum effort in training and recovery, it shows up in games.

The takeover is not the only factor, that's for sure. But uncertainty in any organisation is disruptive, and in a field where such fine margins make a tangible difference on the pitch, it certainly is detrimental.

I think too much is made of Glazers ownership issues. Our failures are mostly at the recruitment level. It was clear from last season, that we needed 5 areas to be improved:
1. De Gea - Success (Andre Onana)
2. Striker - Success (Hojlund, from whatever little we have seen of him, he looks very good)
3. Creativity from Full backs - Meh (Reguillon hasn't been convincing)
4. Replace the Fred-McT arc - Failed (until Amrabat is available, also Casemiro looks like he partied back hard last summer.)
5. Shore up the defense - Failed (Johny Evans as back ups to Varane and Martinez)

I think Mason mount was an opportunistic signing. English International Mid, with proven creative record who works hard off the ball. I think we should temper our expectations this season and wait for the team to settle and then see if the performances are on the right track. ETH tactically is the best fit for our club since SAF. With all the off-field crap and with most of the new players yet to bed in properly, I just hope he gets the time to set his team on track. Another thrashing like Brighton wont bode well for him. I don't think the take over issues had any effects on our current state of affairs in the field. (If any its negligible).
 
If anyone actually bothered to read the article, it's clear it comes from agents:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...ency-Rasmus-Hojlund-Sofyan-Amrabat-moves.html
SEG's growing influence has been noted by other agents unhappy at what they perceive as losing out on potential deals due to the link with Ten Hag.

This obviously could have been written straight after the transfer window closed, but it's conveniently timed with the pile on to generate more clicks.

It's an absolute nothing story and don't understand why people are putting any stock in it.
 
This isn't directly related to McTominay in terms of performance, but did anybody find his position strange against Brighton? Since signing Amrabat we've been expecting him to become a double pivot option with Casemiro. And at the weekend we all thought that's how McTominay would be deployed to try to provide a more solid shape to build from.



Instead he's in no man's land, too high up the pitch to defend but not high enough to press. He was literally useless due mainly to his position. I've no idea why he felt this diamond would work and what McTominay would offer in those spaces.



Where this concerns me is it makes me question how we'll use Amrabat. Or perhaps more importantly, Casemiro. We thought ETH would back down from his one 6 and two 8s idea, but he said that Amrabat can play behind Casemiro! Given everything we've seen so far, I think he's being genuine and that he'll push Casemiro further up the pitch. I don't know if this got discussed at the time but it seems bonkers to me. You'll have a natural DM playing as more of an 8, and an 8ish type player with limited defensive ability, playing as a 6. Throw the Mount conundrum in there and I can only see further tactical headaches.
 
If anyone actually bothered to read the article, it's clear it comes from agents:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...ency-Rasmus-Hojlund-Sofyan-Amrabat-moves.html


This obviously could have been written straight after the transfer window closed, but it's conveniently timed with the pile on to generate more clicks.

It's an absolute nothing story and don't understand why people are putting any stock in it.
It generates clicks. People base their personality around United's failure.

This is Parlour's dog at this point.
See United's bad news > Brain releases dopamine
 
This isn't directly related to McTominay in terms of performance, but did anybody find his position strange against Brighton? Since signing Amrabat we've been expecting him to become a double pivot option with Casemiro. And at the weekend we all thought that's how McTominay would be deployed to try to provide a more solid shape to build from.



Instead he's in no man's land, too high up the pitch to defend but not high enough to press. He was literally useless due mainly to his position. I've no idea why he felt this diamond would work and what McTominay would offer in those spaces.



Where this concerns me is it makes me question how we'll use Amrabat. Or perhaps more importantly, Casemiro. We thought ETH would back down from his one 6 and two 8s idea, but he said that Amrabat can play behind Casemiro! Given everything we've seen so far, I think he's being genuine and that he'll push Casemiro further up the pitch. I don't know if this got discussed at the time but it seems bonkers to me. You'll have a natural DM playing as more of an 8, and an 8ish type player with limited defensive ability, playing as a 6. Throw the Mount conundrum in there and I can only see further tactical headaches.
I said at the time when Amrabaat was linked, when we were interested in Mount, someone put together how Ten Hag will look to play. Casemiro was playing as an 8 pushing up against the defence with examples of Sabitzer and Eriksen as the deepest midfielder. Most people thought that would mean Casemiro would naturally would move to that "6" role and Mount would come in as the 8.

Casemiro was actually our biggest attacking threat at times from midfield and he showed over the season he wasn't very secure in possession playing in the traditional "6" role. I think people mischaracterise Casemiro, or don't really understand where he's actually performed best for us - because it's not being the 6.
 
If anyone actually bothered to read the article, it's clear it comes from agents:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...ency-Rasmus-Hojlund-Sofyan-Amrabat-moves.html


This obviously could have been written straight after the transfer window closed, but it's conveniently timed with the pile on to generate more clicks.

It's an absolute nothing story and don't understand why people are putting any stock in it.
Even if it did hold any weight; why the feck are we being manipulated by an agency? Or is Ten Hag now head of recruitment as well as head coach and manager.
 
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