Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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One thing i've heard some revisionism of when talkingg about giving ten hag the same time as arteta is the myth that by the same stage arteta had a well honed style of play. By artetas second full season, he also had the benefit of taking over mid season 18 months before which allowed him plenty of time with his team in circumstances where little was expected - they took heavy beatings from better teams, managed only 61 goals, conceding 48, and got dumped out of cup by a championship side in the first round.

I think he needs time. He's signed 6 players and had plenty of loans. There's a solid core of youth coming through that he can mould - mainoo, hannibal, garnacho, diallo, with the right mix of experience is a promising prospect. I truly do not believe hiring the next flash in the pan will solve anything. Another couple of windows is needed for sure. The squad remains far too poor.

Sure, but this isn't getting better any time soon. There are some fundemental issues he has failed to resolve surrounding tactical organisation and defensive structure. Without that it will be very hard to get anywhere. Do we just ride it out through embarrassing loss upon embarrassing loss and hope for a massive January window?
 
One thing i've heard some revisionism of when talkingg about giving ten hag the same time as arteta is the myth that by the same stage arteta had a well honed style of play.
Agree that's simply not true.

I still remember the caf including me laughing our arse off over them looking so clueless and shit last year trying to be Pep's clone. It's only by the last season that things started looking right for them with the (almost) title challenge. Which was a huge surprise for everyone.
 
This is why Manchester United has been knocked off our own perch, fueled by fans mobs who can't see the forest for the trees and instead let the Glazers sit cozy destroying this club one sterling pound at a time.
As far as the players are concerned, you've already had a go at the United job, so not sure why you're so upset
 
I disagree with this sentement. I don't think any manager reputation has been destroyed after United and if it happens to ETH, he will be the first.

Moyes was making a step up, failed and now has returned to his level.

It's fair to say LVG was appointed many many years after his peak. His record in recent years prior to being United manager wasn't all that impressive.

Jose showed signs of decline before managing United and has had big jobs at Spurs and Roma and not exactly pulled up any significant trees

Ole's reputation was boosted, I would argue.

Rangnick had a bigger reputation as a Sporting director than manager.

ETH would be the first up and coming manager that many though had big potential to have failed at the club, if he is sacked.
Everyone entitled to their opinion.
Moyes was horrible at United. Went to Real Sociedad and was sacked. Has made an ok comeback at West Ham, but won't be managing a top club anytime soon. So ok, ZOmbie Manager.
LVG retired after his terrible spell at United. Ok he managed the dutch team but never managed another top side.
Jose was sacked and now manages Roma, not a bad team at all but not top tier. Won't be managing a top side anytime soon.
And Ole. Ok he didn't exactly come with a big resume, but he's now managing nobody. He probably got some decent experience from us, but if his reputation increased how is he without a job?
 
"Non, non, non! Le floopee floopee floo zee bol jambon a la carte!"

U wot mate?

"Espanol? Theh theh paella gazpacho Garnacho galactico Barca levero numero uno!"

Don't speak foreign, mate.
:lol:

Imagine having a coach who literally has to dumb down or reduce what he’s teaching because the students, with all the will in the world, cannot emulate what he’s doing.

I have Zidane down as some kind of Black Bolt figure, just dead silent until he can no longer hold back: “………………………………………………………………………non” rupturing the fabric of the club and time space itself.
 
I think it’s referring to the way Ten Hag treated him and other players behind the scenes. There’s a suggestion Maguire never got any help to improve and was just labelled shit and must be sold instead of the manager actually doing his job.
You can't polish a turd
 
I know I'll get slated for this but maybe it's a good thing we went out? Less games, less chance of injuries more time on the training pitch.
 
With the noises coming from the media I think he's got three or four games to save his job, it's not looking good. He'll need to win every game up until the Galatasaray fixture at least.
 
EtH deserves to work under a proper structure as well. Hopefully it will be so.
If not, we will continue this circle.
I was hopeful of this but if he's lost the dressing room there's nothing to be done, a manager can't come back from that.
 
Man I admire your optimism but I honestly think it’s reached the point where, yet again, the players don’t want him. A point of no return at Utd basically. They aren’t playing for him, They don’t give a shit, they’ve started the leaks to the press already. It’s done. I don’t want him gone but such is the way things are at Utd that it’s inevitable.
And so what if they don’t like it?

What happens if we decide yeah you know what this isn’t ideal for you players but you’ve got a job to do here and have a bit of professional pride in doing it to the best of your ability.

I posted this in another thread but I think never has it rung truer than now.

Sir Alex Ferguson: "The minute a Manchester United player thinks he's bigger than the manager, he has to go”

We need to back Ten Hag through thick and thin I genuinely think he could be one of the next crop of winning PL managers and we’d be stupid to let him go.

If players think they can just down tools and wait for the next manager (which I don’t believe they are doing) then what’s stopping that from happening indefinitely?

At some point you need to take a stand and say feck you im here and I’m going to be successful with or without you so get in line and let’s make some magic happen. And I think now is that moment.
You see that’s what’s wrong with our fan base. Being called stupid for backing our manager? Are you serious?
Give him a chance to respond with a coherent response to my question first.

I’m sure he’ll want to engage constructively in conversation otherwise I’ll have to report him for not arguing in good faith and start to clean these forums up.
 
And so what if they don’t like it?

What happens if we decide yeah you know what this isn’t ideal for you players but you’ve got a job to do here and have a bit of professional pride in doing it to the best of your ability.

I posted this in another thread but I think never has it rung truer than now.

Sir Alex Ferguson: "The minute a Manchester United player thinks he's bigger than the manager, he has to go”

We need to back Ten Hag through thick and thin I genuinely think he could be one of the next crop of winning PL managers and we’d be stupid to let him go.

If players think they can just down tools and wait for the next manager (which I don’t believe they are doing) then what’s stopping that from happening indefinitely?

At some point you need to take a stand and say feck you im here and I’m going to be successful with or without you so get in line and let’s make some magic happen. And I think now is that moment.

Give him a chance to respond with a coherent response to my question first.

I’m sure he’ll want to engage constructively in conversation otherwise I’ll have to report him for not arguing in good faith and start to clean these forums up.
It might be this moment but that doesn’t mean it’ll happen. All prior evidence says it won’t. The club care more about their expensive asset players than they do about managers.
 
Everyone entitled to their opinion.
Moyes was horrible at United. Went to Real Sociedad and was sacked. Has made an ok comeback at West Ham, but won't be managing a top club anytime soon. So ok, ZOmbie Manager.
LVG retired after his terrible spell at United. Ok he managed the dutch team but never managed another top side.
Jose was sacked and now manages Roma, not a bad team at all but not top tier. Won't be managing a top side anytime soon.
And Ole. Ok he didn't exactly come with a big resume, but he's now managing nobody. He probably got some decent experience from us, but if his reputation increased how is he without a job?

Yes, and then Rangnick came, the high press guru. ""exit after 8 months and the message:"need MASSIVE clear out".

Enter high press specialist Ten Hag. Within 3 games forced to revert to some OGS variant. Somehow made it to top 4. Cleared out one of THE biggest problems against high press ie CR7.

Then got rewarded with Wout Weghorst as replacement. ""These are all Ten Hag players'. come on.

Ten Hag, like the managers above save perhaps LVG and to some extend, Jose, keep their mouth shut what really happened in the board rooms vis a vis big top transfers.

Ten Hag needs to deliver, and be responsible to some extend but overall Man Utd, at the moment, resembles a lot like Everton: way overpaid transfers and manager after manager.
 
I’ll bite on this one because someone has to.

Why @el3mel and @Skills do you think we should not be backing Ten Hag?

I am not them, but in our last 37 games, our GD is -1.

You really think a manager with that kind of run will ever become a title winning manager?

Then consider our awful start this season(we have a -5 GD in the league), his terrible talent ID(the green light for Antony is damning), no progression in our performances but a regression, etc.

What exactly has he shown that makes you think one day we can lift the Prem with him at the helm? He has shown nothing and there's been plenty of time.
 
It might be this moment but that doesn’t mean it’ll happen. All prior evidence says it won’t. The club care more about their expensive asset players than they do about managers.
And this may well be the case. An ownership model that considers players unsellable due to how they are on an accounting balance sheet is never going to enable us to be successful so you know what I’d rather we give someone time to at least set up what they feel a successful club needs over a prolonged period of time.

I worry that we’ll never be able to have this with the Glazers around but I’ll be damned if the words Ten Hag out are written or uttered by me until such time has been given.

We’re all angry and frustrated but I think it’s severely misdirected.
 
I was hopeful of this but if he's lost the dressing room there's nothing to be done, a manager can't come back from that.

It would be interesting to know who he's lost. Maguire, Lindelof, Rashford and Bruno? Has he lost Varane and Casemiro? Surely he hasn't lost his own recruitments already? Hannibal, Antony, Garnacho and Amrabat looks plenty motivated, they are just not good enough. Martinez is probably still on his side, as is probably Onana.

All three goals against Newcastle were down to awful pressing and defending by Maguire, Dalot and Lindelof. Do we care if the Manager has lost those three? Should we care?
 
I’ll bite on this one because someone has to.

Why @el3mel and @Skills do you think we should not be backing Ten Hag?

Because the default stance shouldn't be to have blind faith. You need a reason to back someone - and those reasons aren't there anymore. Any good will he might have had, he's used it all up.

Over the last 8 months, he's overseen the clubs more embarrassing defeat in its storied history, played some of the worst football of the last 10 years and completely sucked all morale or energy out of the club. We're getting embarrassed week-in, week-out and you're asking why we shouldn't be backing him? Thats absurd.
 
And so what if they don’t like it?

What happens if we decide yeah you know what this isn’t ideal for you players but you’ve got a job to do here and have a bit of professional pride in doing it to the best of your ability.

I posted this in another thread but I think never has it rung truer than now.

Sir Alex Ferguson: "The minute a Manchester United player thinks he's bigger than the manager, he has to go”

We need to back Ten Hag through thick and thin I genuinely think he could be one of the next crop of winning PL managers and we’d be stupid to let him go.

If players think they can just down tools and wait for the next manager (which I don’t believe they are doing) then what’s stopping that from happening indefinitely?

At some point you need to take a stand and say feck you im here and I’m going to be successful with or without you so get in line and let’s make some magic happen. And I think now is that moment.

Give him a chance to respond with a coherent response to my question first.

I’m sure he’ll want to engage constructively in conversation otherwise I’ll have to report him for not arguing in good faith and start to clean these forums up.
I agree with you that I don’t think the players have downed tools. They came out second half last night like they’d had a rocket up their arse at half time and were Atleast trying, but it was still futile and looked hopeless. Then we just conceded another goal so easily.

so if we both agree that the players have not downed tools, then what is the reason for such horrendous form, no matter what players are selected. We can go on about injuries all we like but at the moment it’s only Martinez and shaw out as far as I know. And I’ll add, this bad form isn’t a very recent thing, we haven’t really looked much good since last March. It’s pretty shit how long we’ve been struggling for
 
Sure, but this isn't getting better any time soon. There are some fundemental issues he has failed to resolve surrounding tactical organisation and defensive structure. Without that it will be very hard to get anywhere. Do we just ride it out through embarrassing loss upon embarrassing loss and hope for a massive January window?

Whats strange for me is that we did seem to be improving with tactical organisation last season. I enjoyed watching us play for the first time in years, we were more aggressive and committed. We kept the most clean sheets in the league. I do not understand how things have spiralled so fast.
 
B: won a trophy and top 4. Generally improved the mood around the club, man managed his way through difficult situations well. Seems a good guy and a capable coach. Improved the players at the club - got Rashford back up and firing, and the fullbacks have improved massively. I'd say Bruno's a more rounded footballer too thanks to him.

My issues stem in the fact that I think he's maybe put the club in a massive pickle going forward with some of his transfer business. I can't see any of his signings bar Lisandro playing a starting role when we are ready to win a title on the current trajectory. Antony's just never going to be good enough, and Casemiro and Eriksen are too old if we are to believe everyone's current project timescales. Malacias also not good enough, but who cares at £12m. So inevitably once we plug the gaps we have now (that too because of a reduced transfer budget because of last season's overspend), we'll have to go back and fix the same positions again. Making it a never end cycle.

Secondly, though ultimately we met our target this season for top 4 and a trophy - the way we did it has lot a left to be desired. We haven't fixed our ability to score goals - our goal total is pathetic. Teams with far less up front manage to score more so I don't buy this whole issue being blamed solely down to the lack of a striker. How many did city score last season without one?

The other part of this is some of the capitulations have been jarring. You can forgive one, but getting thrashed by 6 and 7 goals at the Etihad and Anfield in the same fecking season is shocking and displays a lot of tactical naivety. I'd say part of his remit this season should've been to restore a bit of pride in the club, after last season's batterings but somehow we ended up on the end of two that were even worse than that. And the fact that even the return games at OT that we won were just smash and grabs, where we played like minnows at our own home ground (we ended up with less than 30% possession in both games) makes it harder to write them off as freak results.

Overall - I'd say, he's earned to stay on as our manager. There isn't a better option on the market and there's enough promising signs there. But if you're not a little concerned, you're delusional and might be in for the same sort of shock the Solskjaer/Mourinho fan clubs were in for when the results could no longer hide the systemic underlying issues that were always there. Then I'm guessing we'll just go back to blaming it on the players being bad eggs and throwing managers under the bus, rather than recognising there were some signs of this all along.

Our fanbase is just so predictable. Bury your head in the sand and drown out any criticism last season. And then go back to the usual line up of excuses when the chickens come home to roost - players downing tools etc.

The way we were performing for large parts of last season, should've had alarm bells ringing for everyone. But no, he was the best thing since sliced bread then so you aren't allowed to voice any criticism.
 
Whats strange for me is that we did seem to be improving with tactical organisation last season. I enjoyed watching us play for the first time in years, we were more aggressive and committed. We kept the most clean sheets in the league. I do not understand how things have spiralled so fast.
Remember before Christmas when dalot/varane/ Martinez were hyped and fist bumping just from defending and the ball going out for a corner, seems a long time ago. I think the players are still trying but they’ve lost that drive
 
I am not them, but in our last 37 games, our GD is -1.

You really think a manager with that kind of run will ever become a title winning manager?

Then consider our awful start this season(we have a -5 GD in the league), his terrible talent ID(the green light for Antony is damning), no progression in our performances but a regression, etc.

What exactly has he shown that makes you think one day we can lift the Prem with him at the helm? He has shown nothing and there's been plenty of time.
Yes I do. I think that substantial cultural change takes time especially if that culture isn’t adequately supported at the most senior level in our case the Glazer view of football.

Ten Hag is trying to perform the open heart surgery to the squad needed for success whilst also trying to create a culture of accountability and excellence.

That will always piss a few off and when you don’t have your best people available due to injury or you have most congested fixture list in world football (due to your success in all competitions) or you have a pre season that maybe is a bit too commercially focussed your squad suffers.

I think we are seeing the results of these issues compounding into the worst possible mix right now but I also look at the period where we went unbeaten for 20+ games was it? The trophy win and the top finish and see there is something here to build on.

Now I’m too old for this to naïvity or the folly of youth this i believe is different.

When you consider the entire context of our run post Carabao final to now I have absolutely no surprise our squad is suffering and results too but while I can lay some blame at Ten Hag I can’t condemn him.

I always come back to with Antony who was available and wanting to join United that would have suited Ten Hag more than him at the time? And I’ve never once had a satisfactory response.

Why do I feel hopeful because Ten Hag has a history of making sides better and has shown he is willing to make big decisions see Rashford, Sancho and Ronaldo for starters. He has the best win% of any United manager post Ferguson, we’ve won a trophy with him and I think what we’re seeing now is because we don’t have our best XI and haven’t played them once all season due to injury.

We’ve had our first choice back 4 for 2 games all season. Two of which (Shaw and Martinez) are fundamental to our build up and play on our left side (hence why Rashford has also struggled) and we’ve had our best high line defenders (for duels/recoveries) injured in Varane and AWB meaning we can’t cover the space we want covered and we can’t get the ball forward quickly and consistently to play good attacking football.

I firmly believe with a better squad of similar profiles to the aforementioned we would be performing to a high standard but injuries are killing us right now.

Come January I hope we still have Ten Hag with a fit first XI to be able to prove my point.
 
Agree that's simply not true.

I still remember the caf including me laughing our arse off over them looking so clueless and shit last year trying to be Pep's clone. It's only by the last season that things started looking right for them with the (almost) title challenge. Which was a huge surprise for everyone.

Absolutely. and last season was his 3rd full season, after also having a half season. Most of his starting xi by this point was entirely his own or youth players that emerged under him. We have seen that changing is no guarantee, and for me, we showed enough last season to earn him time.
 
It was a patchwork league cup team built from a patchwork squad and 2 of their goals were excellent outside of the box strikes. The xG was .7 to 1 or something like that. It was a load of shite, but hardly the lowest of the low.
To me, it was the worst performance and result of the season. I’m not alone, there’s a full-scale inquest in every strand of the sports media.
 
Remember before Christmas when dalot/varane/ Martinez were hyped and fist bumping just from defending and the ball going out for a corner, seems a long time ago. I think the players are still trying but they’ve lost that drive

Exactly. It was such fantastic energy, but look at this season - the starting back 4 has been almost completely absent. To think that doesnt have an enormous knock on on everything else is insane. We are so vulnerable. Tell me liverpools second string back 4 for example, or arsenals. Make them play a third of a season with it. the form of everything will suffer. It doesnt account for a lack of effort though, so isnt the whole problem
 
Remember before Christmas when dalot/varane/ Martinez were hyped and fist bumping just from defending and the ball going out for a corner, seems a long time ago. I think the players are still trying but they’ve lost that drive

It is truly baffling how quickly we went from that to what we see now. It's like a totally different timeline.
 
I think it’s referring to the way Ten Hag treated him and other players behind the scenes. There’s a suggestion Maguire never got any help to improve and was just labelled shit and must be sold instead of the manager actually doing his job.

So what. How much improvement could he possibly help Maguire with? He's a seasoned pro ffs. He should know his own game at this stage. Could he help him be faster? Quicker with the ball? Less prone to making stupid mistakes?

SAF apparently told Kevin Moran he was too short and too old to play CB for him, he then went and signed Mal Donaghy, who was shorter and only a year younger. Sometimes you just have to accept the coach doesn't like the way you play and wants you to leave.
 
I think I will only keep Hojlund and Martinez. The rest are replaceable.
I know what you mean but they are mostly the right end of their careers and if you were a new manager coming into this club and had the usual constraints to work within, there’s a lot of other players to get rid of first.
 
Almost have to admire how in denial and delusional some people can be in order to preserve their sanity. We've been here with other managers, except this time we're even worse. We all know how it ends. We can see Ten Hag isn't "the one". We can see he's out of his depth. The recruitment, the tactics, the football served up; it's all utterly hopeless. But still some will ignore it all and continue to tell us he should be backed, based on basically nothing.

The club will of course sit on their hands and do nothing for the next couple months, because that's how we do things. Eventually the trigger will be pulled and we'll end the season in a race to see if we can finish 7th and qualify for the conference league, thus our humiliation will be complete
 

:lol: So he's saying he basically doesn't trust Ten Hag with transfers and rebuild but let's change everything except the coach to "give him a chance". Of course it's a rival fan who wants that.

Almost have to admire how in denial and delusional some people can be in order to preserve their sanity. We've been here with other managers, except this time we're even worse. We all know how it ends. We can see Ten Hag isn't "the one". We can see he's out of his depth. The recruitment, the tactics, the football served up; it's all utterly hopeless. But still some will ignore it all and continue to tell us he should be backed, based on basically nothing.

The club will of course sit on their hands and do nothing for the next couple months, because that's how we do things. Eventually the trigger will be pulled and we'll end the season in a race to see if we can finish 7th and qualify for the conference league, thus our humiliation will be complete
It's similar with players too. I know fans can be fickle but how obvious was it that Antony was going to be a dud? Lots of people last season being in denial that we paid so much for a useless player.
 
It is truly baffling how quickly we went from that to what we see now. It's like a totally different timeline.

Because that sort of intensity usually isn't sustainable, or too much of it translates into impulsive decision making.
 
:lol: So he's saying he basically doesn't trust Ten Hag with transfers and rebuild but let's change everything except the coach to "give him a chance". Of course it's a rival fan who wants that.

Who do you believe Winter supports? Because if you'd ask plenty of rivals they'd say it was us (he doesn't), so it's interesting to see who you think.
 
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