Yes in Dutch.
Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24
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Pressure from whom? He had a massive amount of credit in the bank for going through the non-football trials and tribulations, winning a trophy and getting 3rd in the league, with our poor football since March being overlooked and a ln optimistic slant being taken towards where he would go from there, but as soon as the summer window opened, alarm bells rang with his pursuit of Mount, and then that shambles of a preseason.
Then comes: 'it's only a few games;' 'it's only 8 games;' 'it's only the start if the season!;' 'it's the Glazers!;' 'it's the injury decimation.' And on and on.
It seems he set out from the start of the season to play in an ill-advised way that the majority of this forum knew would be disastrous. I don't know whose thumb he thought he was under to abandon his principles and effectively sabotage himself and any progress he'd made in his first season.
He should never have been sanctioned to pick players at those exorbitant prices. It's simply not his job, so not going to apportion blame there, but the squad, the coaching, tactics, team selections and substitutions are all his responsibility and he has been well short of delivering even the deviation he abandoned his own philosophy for.
The man should have gone out on his shield playing the football he believes in, not this mish-mash of unrelated styles he probably doesn't even believe in despite sticking doggedly to what is tanking him, us and our season.
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But, but I thought Ten Hag is implementing his style of play and deserves time to fully reach his view for the team? Or so his cult told me.
The guy confirmed what we all knew except for his fans deceiving themselves.. He isn't implementing shit. He is just trying to save his arse from getting sacked by playing the "United way".
The guy confirmed what we all knew except for his fans deceiving themselves.. He isn't implementing shit. He is just trying to save his arse from getting sacked by playing the "United way".
Mou finished 2nd and Ole finished 3rd in their second seasons so I don't see any syndromes.
Our only syndrome is that our previous managers did feck all after they left us.
Fingers crossed it'll be done by Winter 2030 at the rate it's been going.
I applaud people like Pep and Gary calling it out as it is. They are obviously not the first to do so, but they are respected by a lot of people in football.
I am afraid it will be a lot worse before it gets better though. Glazers seems to ignore everything either way. We really got the worst deal possible with them.
I am afraid it will be a lot worse before it gets better though. Glazers seems to ignore everything either way. We really got the worst deal possible with them.
This is the perfect post on the matter.
Yeah, I think that's mostly fair. And I'm not trying to absolve ETH of blame. I think he is beginning to make some weird decisions that is harming our performances.
It was more to express a skepticism about what would happen if we just hire another manager and hope that it would be a silver bullet.
This is the most I’ve been disappointed with any manager post Ferguson because I thought Ten Hag was going to get us playing attractive football, despite bringing in so many ex players of his we still seem void of any style of play and are playing some of the worst football in the league and his in game management is abysmal. It feels inevitable at this point that he won’t last the season.
Even if we did get in new owners with Ratcliffe taking over the footballing side what on earth has there been to see to suggest he would even keep him?
Even if we did get in new owners with Ratcliffe taking over the footballing side what on earth has there been to see to suggest he would even keep him?
what's the point of Ten Hag then when he's spent £400M on his own players? Ole can and does play this counter-attacking "shite on a stick" football.
making himself more sackable each passing day/quote with his self/preservation
Pep has got City playing lovely football.. even Brighton and Spurs play that way and Spurs didn't have those players and both had a fraction of the budget of Ten Hag. Big Ange signed Madders (Madison) and actually coached the players he inherited to play that way. Part of a managers remit is actually coaching and improving the players he already has, that's the true test of a great manager.. unfortunately Ten Hag is not another Klopp or Pep - he's a dud who isn't taking United back to glory.
Ten Hag has signed Mount, Antony etc to play "Ajax football" and he leaves them on the bench to play Bruno and Rashford who can't play his football.. that's his call and on him if he's signed the wrong players.
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Antony, on the right, as subpar as he has been since being at the club, is still an easily better option than Bruno.
Bruno can be our most creative player when he plays as a 10, why not simply play the best players at their best position ? Why does ETH overcomplicates things over and over again when they clearly don't work ?
Also why hasn't there been a single journalist asking about this during his pressers?
Ole finished with the same points and million miles away from a title challenge. We did not improve and we’re no closer to getting close to a trophy.
what Mourinho did in his second season is the best points tally and performance since fergie.
Mou was sacked 3 months into his third season which he basically did to himself because of how the players were behaving and the club were being managed from the top.
There is enough evidence to say a manager has a short term impact and then that impact wanes quickly afterwards.
Agree with you on most points.
The high priority pursuit of Mount is baffling when we have a Hannibal. It also meant a knock-on effect that we wouldn't have money to spend on other more critical positions eg CB.
Previously summer it was the endles pursuit of what'shisface...
Seems like ETH ball only works under ideal conditions
It's entirely possible we just hired the wrong coaches. Their careers post-United kind of prove that.
The end is nigh for ETH.
Shame as I thought he was above expectations last year and had good hopes for this season.
This year buys Mount who is a 10, in the exact same position as Bruno, who he made captain and never drops. Mount sits on the bench. Bruno then plays on the right wing, to accommodate McTominay as 10.
Plays Lindelof as a left back, whilst another of his signings (who has done very well when he's played) sits on the bench.
As a team, we have no defined pattern of play and can't progress the ball through midfield at all. Its all very confused. The Haaland header in the second half, we'd never score a goal like that and they nearly scored an identical one in the first half.
ETH refuses to drop Rashford or Bruno, both of whom are having appalling seasons and are one of the major reasons we are performing so poorly. If he had some balls he'd drop the pair of them and either start Mount or put Mejbri in there and put Garnacho on the left wing.
He's a goner, its just a matter of time now.
Shame as I thought he was above expectations last year and had good hopes for this season.
This year buys Mount who is a 10, in the exact same position as Bruno, who he made captain and never drops. Mount sits on the bench. Bruno then plays on the right wing, to accommodate McTominay as 10.
Plays Lindelof as a left back, whilst another of his signings (who has done very well when he's played) sits on the bench.
As a team, we have no defined pattern of play and can't progress the ball through midfield at all. Its all very confused. The Haaland header in the second half, we'd never score a goal like that and they nearly scored an identical one in the first half.
ETH refuses to drop Rashford or Bruno, both of whom are having appalling seasons and are one of the major reasons we are performing so poorly. If he had some balls he'd drop the pair of them and either start Mount or put Mejbri in there and put Garnacho on the left wing.
He's a goner, its just a matter of time now.
We were literally a penalty away from winning Europa League in Ole's second full season, having beaten some good teams on our way to the final. Semifinals against Roma were properly exciting.
Only reason we won that amazing treasured League Cup trophy last year is because we did not have to beat anyone decent until the final.
He's basically just another fraud. He talks the talk but when it mattered he threw everything out of the windows to save himself. He's no different than Ralf.
It’s also entirely possible that the club is just set up for failure. Neither of the two seem to be ‘absurd’ claims unless one thinks these managers have been great or the club is excellently run.
I've lost all hope after reading them comments he made in that Dutch interview. We already knew he's trying something else when he mentioned that best transition team bullshit. That's not what got you the job! Now he's basically saying our players can't play a possession based game. Well you've been here over a year. Guess what? by now you could be well into the process of teaching our players how to actually play that way. We might have seen some progress in that direction by now. But no, he's literally wasted every fecking minute he's been here trying other shit that didn't get him to the race in first place. I'm done after this. It's so fecking bizzare.
Pretty much
Honestly he's a fecking fraud of a manager. Excuses, excuses, excuses. He's signed half the player we have and he wants to blame the players. He's a genius being held back by everything and everyone else blah, blah, blah. Honestly if I was a player I'd have said something to him by now because his shit tactics hang half of them out to dry, and still he wants to blame them. feck off you fecking idiot.
Pretty much
Very disappointed if what he has said there is true. We’ve hired him to play the brand of sexy football Ajax is showing, back him up with all the money he needs, but he is never going to give us that? What the feck?
And to think we all laughed when Tottenham sent him on his way.
Most of the key players he wanted the club didn’t get.
Almost every manager has a short term impact, especially when the club is struggling.
The quality of a manager can be seen after 1-2 years when he implemented what he wants.
That interview in Dutch is baffling. We want you to play like that ETH, it’s all we wanted and hoped for when you joined the club. Surely, he has to change his approach because we are fire to watch and don’t create chances.
Ole’s last few months were bad but largely the football was front foot and attacking in nature. ETH hasn’t had a go at a team for a long time really. Something needs to change.
Ole’s last few months were bad but largely the football was front foot and attacking in nature. ETH hasn’t had a go at a team for a long time really. Something needs to change.
The club is not run very well but all managers that have come here post Fergie have received a lot of financial support, plenty of freedom to hire their own staff, the product on the pitch is strictly up to them and they have all failed miserably delivering that.
When will people learn.
I see a lot of people trying to absolve him of the recruitment blame. However, it's worth pointing out that he apparently insisted on being given a a lead on recruitment in order for him to take the job. So the likes of Murtough may actually have their hands tied somewhat. We're idiots for allowing it though, we should have fecked ETH off when he asked for that.
Wasn't this guy hired because he supposedly had a great interview in which he chastised the direction of the club and highlighted how he'd move us forward and how he wanted us to play? If that's not the case, then what's the point of him?
He was the one supposed to get us playing modern football
It's just more excuses from him. He's in severe self preservation mode right now because he knows the walls are closing in. From tactics to team selections and his interviews. He needs putting out of our misery - if this is allowed to go on then we're going to do more damage than good.
If ETH can't or won't get us to play like his old Ajax team, then the point of him actually being here is zero. Our past managers are better than him at doing maverick style counterattacking football. From what I observe, he doesn't seem to have a natural feel for the game. Everything he does (tactics, subs, lineups) is by the textbook and careful prep, and not really through intuition.
And also, why did he buy so many ex-Ajax players if he had no plans to play that way? Boggling.
And also, why did he buy so many ex-Ajax players if he had no plans to play that way? Boggling.
No we didn'tIt’s all good and well saying sack him but who are we going to bring in? When we sacked Ole and brought in Ragnick we looked x10 worse
He's honestly talking shit mate. These are the words of a manager protecting his reputation because he knows he's about to get potted. He wants other clubs to think we are holding him back.
And if he thinks this resembles anything like classic United then he's an even bigger fraud than I thought. Bruno at RW? McTominay at no10? He's talking absolute shite and he's lying to protect his own back.
It's really weird. The camera kept showing Antony on the bench shaking his head. Then when he comes on he just tried to get sent off. And that's Ten Hag's own guy!!
You mean FDJ and Kane? Those players he will never get at Ajax either. (FDJ won’t rejoin them).
"Fraud, tactically inept", gold fish memory strikes again for some of you, "Tactically inept fraud" that destroyed Real Madrid and many other big clubs in Champions League with Ajax, right...
Don't embarrass yourselves with comments like that. Problem is what he said in that interview comment, where instead of implementing his original style, he went with something different he imagined for United. Big mistake there. I think he tried to play his style in first season at start, got smashed in several first games where he saw this group of players can't do it and went full pragmatic to whole different idea. Big mistake.
But calling him fraud and all that shit is pretty childish and stupid, people going to extremes, looking only in black and white etc, it is much more nuanced than that, but sometimes I think average year of age on this forum is 12yo or something.
Don't embarrass yourselves with comments like that. Problem is what he said in that interview comment, where instead of implementing his original style, he went with something different he imagined for United. Big mistake there. I think he tried to play his style in first season at start, got smashed in several first games where he saw this group of players can't do it and went full pragmatic to whole different idea. Big mistake.
But calling him fraud and all that shit is pretty childish and stupid, people going to extremes, looking only in black and white etc, it is much more nuanced than that, but sometimes I think average year of age on this forum is 12yo or something.
Yep. If we were aiming to play counter-attacking football then we should have kept Ole. Ridiculous as it now sounds, it was Ole's attempt to play possession football (plus the toxic signing of Ronaldo) that caused his downfall in the first place.
Signs half of Eredivisie then has the audacity to suggest we're not capable of playing like his Ajax team.
feck off you twat. Get rid of him.
feck off you twat. Get rid of him.
Because he's lying. United under Fergie wouldn't play somebody like Bruno on the right. We wouldn't pass the ball around aimlessly at the back. I could go on and pick his bullshit apart with ease.
He is just saying 'listen all other big clubs, I am better than this but I'm being held back because I thought I was supposed to play some sort of way. If you give me a chance then I can still produce Ajax football - I wasn't even trying here...'
I am frustrated with him. Seems like he lacks the character to take chances and change things in view of very clear evidence that things aren't working.
ETH thrived in a club where the setup was ideal. Excellent football structure, clear long-term vision. His job at Ajax was to get the right football out of the crop of players at his disposal.
The above is clearly not what he's encountered at Utd. He's seemingly leading on transfer targets, and the ask of him and his team go far deeper than what was asked at Ajax. That's a huge issue because ETH having a say in areas he's not previously had experience is causing issues.
I think ETH is still the right manager (although his recent comments on performances are somewhat baffling, not sure what else he should be saying mind), but we need a better football structure behind the manager, who is effectively the head coach.
All progressive football clubs are structured this way now, and it will be impossible to bring in a modern manager and expect anything different from what we're currently seeing due to the scope of demands we force upon our managers.
The above is clearly not what he's encountered at Utd. He's seemingly leading on transfer targets, and the ask of him and his team go far deeper than what was asked at Ajax. That's a huge issue because ETH having a say in areas he's not previously had experience is causing issues.
I think ETH is still the right manager (although his recent comments on performances are somewhat baffling, not sure what else he should be saying mind), but we need a better football structure behind the manager, who is effectively the head coach.
All progressive football clubs are structured this way now, and it will be impossible to bring in a modern manager and expect anything different from what we're currently seeing due to the scope of demands we force upon our managers.
We need to start giving managers more competence than financial support and freedom. The product on the pitch is influenced by that and didn’t exist in a vaccum.
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