Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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A lot of talk about ETH brought this and that in, his team and he spent money

Same as people wrote when LVG, Mourinho and Ole was here

And yes money has been spent but clearly not on the targets the managers want, every past manager has said so and it's clear ETH did not rock up to the biggest job and biggest club in the world with a plan involving Amrabat, Reguilon, Evans, Weghorst, Sabitzer, Højlund (although he is very promising)

He got Onana who has been great since the first FCK game, he got Casemiro but clearly wanted FDJ. Antony did well last season but has been horrid this time but also had police investigation and maybe second season syndrom shot of confidence? Also not ETH fault the club waited and ended up paying way more for him.

I'm not saying ETH is the man for long term future at club, I'm not sure if he is but owners and setup is the first thing that needs to change and we still need rid of players like Martial, Sancho for example who contribute next to nothing and spread bad vibes.

He is in some ways making due with what he has been given and some of that ain't good enough for Man Utd.

The club is a mess, leaky roof with concrete falling on people's heads and constant off field distractions, some of the players are idiots and some just need to look inwards like Rashford for example. And then there is the farce of the sale which also clearly impacts staff and players

There is a lot more to it than the man can't coach. No one is set up to succeed at Utd eight now and that change comes with new structure, owners and setup
 
stefan92 said:
Are you sure about this? It can happen but it is not guaranteed.
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Many people take it as a given, but it's anything but. In fact, these couple of days are crucial. If Newcastle lose in Paris and Milan get all three points at home against BvB, that's the Magpies out of Europe. Plus, if we lose in Turkey tomorrow, we would basically need a gift from Bayern Munich just to stay in Europe. It's two teams eliminated very early, with the points for every win in the knockouts still being divided by eight. On the other hand, there's a possibility of United, Liverpool, Newcastle, Brighton and WHU all battling for the extra CL spot in the Europa League.
 
sepulturite said:
To be fair even if things were going really really well this season I wouldn't expect us to win all those games, especially the Pool and Bayern games.
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I think its less about winning all the games but instead having good performances. What we can't do is lose whilst performing terribly.
 
Borys said:
Well I don't think I agree with the bolded part, who is doing the dogfight in midfield? Casemiro OR Amrabat OR Mainoo (pick one), the rest is just pushed forward. Liverpool very often played with DM/pivot and two hard working all-round #8s, while we have a DM but then play two #10s and very high up the pitch. This doesn't seem much like Liverpool setup apart from being very direct. But West Ham and Stoke were also "very direct".
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At this point, we're just clutching at straws trying to dream up a "style" or "patterns of play" under ETH.
 
DJ Jeff said:
I hope the people in this thread saying he's steadied it now and we're going to be OK after some scrappy results over shit teams are ready for the arse to absolutely fall out of this team over the next month as we start actually having some hard games.
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And if that doesn't happen?

People are acting like it's a sure things we'll lose every game between now and new year. That's far from a foregone conclusion
 
erikcred said:
At this point, we're just clutching at straws trying to dream up a "style" or "patterns of play" under ETH.
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Sadly, I agree with this. Making McTominay a key player, and sacrificing playing actual football just to get in some scrappy goals just by overloading the opponent box (ignoring the consequences it has in terms how open we are defensively) is just not something I would expect from a manager that is also considered a "good coach". That said, CURRENTLY I don't see any other option. I have seen multiple alternatives to our setup in previous weeks, but now it's just survival mode.
 
DJ Jeff said:
I hope the people in this thread saying he's steadied it now and we're going to be OK after some scrappy results over shit teams are ready for the arse to absolutely fall out of this team over the next month as we start actually having some hard games.
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What a strange view to take.
 
DJ Jeff said:
If it doesn't happen great I just see no way it won't on the performances we've had this season. We're lucky to have the points tally we have, extremely lucky.
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People should be taking encouragement from that; things can only get better, especially as players return from injury.

Weekend was our best performance in the league so our confidence will be higher off the back of that. Beat Gala tomorrow and the squad will be buzzing. Newcastle have injury issues of their own now and equally have played poorer teams in the league. I don't buy the narrative that they're suddenly a top club and the table confirms that.

The relentless negativity and choosing to follow the most depressing narrative is just tiresome. It goes hand in hand with the new phenomenon of people being desperate to be first to be right about something.

Ten Hag and the team have got so little credit for not free falling down the table, but instead it's constant "he'll be sacked by Xmas" posts.
 
I hope we win tomorow. It would take some presure of his/team back and I want more CL games.
At least let's go in the last game with some chance.
 
b82REZ said:
People should be taking encouragement from that; things can only get better, especially as players return from injury.

Weekend was our best performance in the league so our confidence will be higher off the back of that. Beat Gala tomorrow and the squad will be buzzing. Newcastle have injury issues of their own now and equally have played poorer teams in the league. I don't buy the narrative that they're suddenly a top club and the table confirms that.

The relentless negativity and choosing to follow the most depressing narrative is just tiresome. It goes hand in hand with the new phenomenon of people being desperate to be first to be right about something.

Ten Hag and the team have got so little credit for not free falling down the table, but instead it's constant "he'll be sacked by Xmas" posts.
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That is never guaranteed. Not every players would return from injuries mid season and guaranteed to hit top form especially some coming back from the more serious injuries. Also it's not like injury is a vaccine that coming back means immune to injuries in the future.

Luton game was still our best performance. Everton game was the most comfortable scoreline so far, but performance wise it's not very good where the chances Everton created, a better teams would be able to convert some, and made it a narrow scoreline even if we still win by scoring 3.

Newcastle have played against more teams from current top 10 (7 vs our 4). Outside of Brighton game, they did well even in games they lost/failed to win. They shot themselves in the foot d lost to Liverpool where over 90 minutes they should be the better team. Lost 1-0 to Man City in the league (beat them in League Cup. Beat us too with a weakened team). Newcastle beat Arsenal and Chelsea (their record against top teams are not something to ignore in recent time when they already had to deal with injuries). In another word, even stronger teams find it very difficult when playing against them. 13 games is yet to reach the half way line where everyone about to play everyone in the league, so the table is still deceptive. There is a reason that when he's still active, SAF implied that only after new year the table would shape up and give a better read of which team belong to what battle/race.

There is a reason the "honest" form table would read 2 losses 3 win in last 5 games, or 4 losses 6 win in 10 games for us. We got to get all these mostly hard fought win against teams from lower half of the table currently and improve our point tally, but we only have Bournemouth left from bottom half to play against. So we have 5 top half teams to play for the first 19 games. We're currently bottom of our CL group with the danger of CL elimination lurking for a reason from supposed easier group in comparison to Newcastle group of death.

Currently our record against teams from top half of the table is poorer than Newcastle's that likely show it's true color in a longer run if it continues. Point gap is only 1 point with huge GD and Goal For gap. They even have slightly conceded less too.
 
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He seems to have regained control of things again. We are slowly turning things around and getting players back. When everyone is fit we almost have too many options, this is still a top 4 team and I think we will show that in the second half of the season. Hopefully we don’t combust again over the next run of games. If Rashford sorted himself out I’d be more confident but we are playing game affer game with 10 men and the opposition with 12
 
DJ Jeff said:
I hope the people in this thread saying he's steadied it now and we're going to be OK after some scrappy results over shit teams are ready for the arse to absolutely fall out of this team over the next month as we start actually having some hard games.
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Get any bet app and bet all your savings that we will lose to Galatasaray and Newcastle. You will be very rich by Saturday night.
 
This type of shit makes me hope he can turn it around:



So much for the unbiased media. Everyone and their dog are against us and the manager.
 
Think we'll know alot more in 3 weeks. EtH has been almost literally the worst manager since he joined against the big teams, and a couple more hammerings from Newcastle and Pool and it'll be like a month ago.

But if he can finally get these players to actually play well in such tough tests, could also be the making of a big comeback. Get to new years in decent shape w all these injuries, get back Case, Martinez and make a few new signings under Ratcliffe amd suddenly its all rosy.
 
You can see how this job is ageing him. I'm sure he was prepared for some degree of stress and media intrusion, but to this degree and such brazen, in your face disrespect, no. I don't think so.
 
Beachryan said:
Think we'll know alot more in 3 weeks. EtH has been almost literally the worst manager since he joined against the big teams, and a couple more hammerings from Newcastle and Pool and it'll be like a month ago.

But if he can finally get these players to actually play well in such tough tests, could also be the making of a big comeback. Get to new years in decent shape w all these injuries, get back Case, Martinez and make a few new signings under Ratcliffe amd suddenly its all rosy.
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He has one less win than the likes of Arsenal. His comeback has been underway, and it might stutter but so will some other teams over the course of December.
 
Just had a drink with my football friends yesterday. They think ETH has done a very good job this season given he has basically no LB, his best CB injured and Casemiro injured & Rashford turned crap. And imo that's a fair and unbiased assessment since they support other teams not United.
 
As if the media admitted to ETH they like to see us fail. Embarrassing! They never say stuff like that to Klopp and Guardiola. The agenda against us is real! Us against the world!! ETH telling him we don’t care about that!
 
Fortitude said:
You can see how this job is ageing him. I'm sure he was prepared for some degree of stress and media intrusion, but to this degree and such brazen, in your face disrespect, no. I don't think so.
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He’s been manager of Ajax. I’m sure he’s used to this level scrutiny and presssure.
 
Honestly i didn’t think he’d make it to December a few weeks ago. Hopefully tonight can go well, and then we can battle hard and get something on Saturday. Two horrible away fixtures on the bounce.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
He’s been manager of Ajax. I’m sure he’s used to this level scrutiny and presssure.
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You simply cannot compare the pressure of managing Ajax to Manchester United.

Not even remotely in the same realm in terms of media scrutiny that a manager of our club gets.
 
KD6-3.7 said:
You simply cannot compare the pressure of managing Ajax to Manchester United.

Not even remotely in the same realm in terms of media scrutiny that a manager of our club gets.
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It’s still shitloads of pressure given Ajax is one of the great clubs of European football and there’s a special to win with style. He isn’t ex manager of Girona suddenly facing real media scrutiny for the first time ffs.
 
KD6-3.7 said:
You simply cannot compare the pressure of managing Ajax to Manchester United.

Not even remotely in the same realm in terms of media scrutiny that a manager of our club gets.
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Agree that the pressure is much bigger and the British media clearly hate us. But imo the media in Netherlands is probably even worse. Here at least most of them would pretend to be neutral and don't often ask batshit crazy questions.

For example people are quite outraged over the last interview but based on my limited knowledge it's kinda a normal thing over there. I can be wrong though hope some of the fans there would confirm/correct me.
 
the_cliff said:
This type of shit makes me hope he can turn it around:



So much for the unbiased media. Everyone and their dog are against us and the manager.
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I thought that was one of those deep fake things.

Now wonder so many pundits defend the glazers, totally trolling us, alongside the few United fans with Stockholm syndrome.

Be great if ETH can use this to rile up the team tonight.
 
Borys said:
Well I don't think I agree with the bolded part, who is doing the dogfight in midfield? Casemiro OR Amrabat OR Mainoo (pick one), the rest is just pushed forward. Liverpool very often played with DM/pivot and two hard working all-round #8s, while we have a DM but then play two #10s and very high up the pitch. This doesn't seem much like Liverpool setup apart from being very direct. But West Ham and Stoke were also "very direct".
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I believe Mount being bought for that #8 (But he injuried after few games) and Burno shall be tuned to that (He dropped his position a lot) , but the characteristic of Burno is so obvious and untouchable at the moment, so it become two very high up #10...
 
I just came across this video, there are some interesting parts:
- "a change in style" how we're not allowed to play so much counter attacking football this season (probably teams adjusting to Onana and not pressing us that high up the pitch),
- "buildup" section about how we stopped using Onana as 3rd CB (which is weird but probably another pragmatic temporary approach), and how basically the whole burden of buildup relies on fullbacks and CBs as our midfielders are not helping
- "defensive weakness" about how opposition are able to break through our first line of pressing and how it exposes single DM as everyone else it too far forward


There are some obvious points like we're shite attacking as an unit, and lose a lot of defensive headers, but the tactical issues I think are well explained.

MinGin said:
I believe Mount being bought for that #8 (But he injuried after few games) and Burno shall be tuned to that (He dropped his position a lot) , but the characteristic of Burno is so obvious and untouchable at the moment, so it become two very high up #10...
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I don't get the "role" that Mount/and now McTominay are supposed to play in this system. I just don't understand it. They seem "by design" excluded from the buildup game, they make runs in areas that don't hurt the opposition, they stay too high up the pitch to be any kind of defensive cover. In fact, I think the most suited player for that role is van de Beek in this squad, he seems to play that role sort of by default (?).

Bruno should be an attacker and I see this as huge mistake to move him away from the area close to the box, he isn't a midfielder, he is weak on the ball, his passing is erratic and his "pressing" equals to running at players at full speed. We're getting ourselves into Pogba situation again. Bruno has an eye for the final pass and has a knack to create something out of nowhere, but Mount is the guy who should be playing the midfielder role in that setup. IMO this is completely flawed at the moment.
 
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amolbhatia50k said:
He’s been manager of Ajax. I’m sure he’s used to this level scrutiny and presssure.
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KD6-3.7 said:
You simply cannot compare the pressure of managing Ajax to Manchester United.

Not even remotely in the same realm in terms of media scrutiny that a manager of our club gets.
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amolbhatia50k said:
It’s still shitloads of pressure given Ajax is one of the great clubs of European football and there’s a special to win with style. He isn’t ex manager of Girona suddenly facing real media scrutiny for the first time ffs.
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Strelok said:
Agree that the pressure is much bigger and the British media clearly hate us. But imo the media in Netherlands is probably even worse. Here at least most of them would pretend to be neutral and don't often ask batshit crazy questions.

For example people are quite outraged over the last interview but based on my limited knowledge it's kinda a normal thing over there. I can be wrong though hope some of the fans there would confirm/correct me.
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I would've thought there's a magnitude of order difference in the level of scrutiny and pressure ten Hag is under here compared to at Ajax. Granted, I've never seen a Dutch - Dutch, manager to media interaction and would need clarification on that matter from our Dutch contigent on here: @KirkDuyt @Cheimoon @AjaxCunian @AjaxNL and forgive me other Dutchies for not having instant recall on you (I'm also being presumptive in thinking @Strelok isn't Dutch?) :angel:

ten Hag's just been told to his face that the media are literally gunning for him/us to be in turmoil - a literal, face-to-face show of disrespect. No subtefuge, no conspiracy; things can't be like that with the Dutch press, surely?
 
Fortitude said:
ten Hag's just been told to his face that the media are literally gunning for him/us to be in turmoil - a literal, face-to-face show of disrespect. No subtefuge, no conspiracy; things can't be like that with the Dutch press, surely?
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Should that journalist have said that? No? Is crisis and drama always more interesting to report on than a team just cruising? Yes.

That's a universal truth for journalism everywhere and in no way special to United. United of course is more interesting than most other clubs as more people care about them so a crisis at United is much better than a crisis at Luton
 
I’m sure he faces greater pressures internally handling a huge club like United as compared to some no mark journalist blurting out a liking to see us get bad results.
 
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