Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24
- Thread starter sewey89
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Sorry, we’ve had that many dud managers recently they all bleed into oneMy bad @Robbie Boy
Very true
ten Hag was by far the most euphoric I’ve been for a managerial appointment post-Fergie, and I don’t say that lightly as my post history around our new helmsmen would attest. He was the only coach we’d acquired who could be seen as hot property and, more importantly, modern and progressive. He was to bring that football to us and revolutionise this squad with new ideas, exceptional coaching and state of the art tactical awareness and approach. We would be dragged out of our Blockbuster Video physical media era and become a hot streaming service to rival any on the market, always flowing, always better than the sum of parts because the systems would become king with only components in it needing refinement.
The first half of the first season ushered in hope; things weren’t silky smooth, but we looked to be headed in the right direction and we also won a trophy. Huge news and progress at the time. Since then, however, the upward trajectory tapered off and then began the descent; grinding out victories through attrition and moments rather than impressive, structured play. OK, it saw out the season, a season that was objectively a success. Right then! Let’s build on that and get the show back on the road with a good transfer window and preseason…. and from that time until now, it’s like the proverbial plane has been hijacked by someone who has done a few landings in a flight sim and got failed grades each time.
The air of emperor’s new clothes has grown and grown until the point that things could no longer be avoided. The murmurs about the lack of a midfield grew beyond the #6, #10, #10; the shape of the midfield in its entirety started to come under scrutiny, then the utilisation of the personnel. How and why he uses substitutes like he does. Why is he so lagged in-game? Then came the questions of how we struggle to hold our own and control a game against anyone, scraping through a run of games via moments rather than cohesive play. The reasons cited for why we are so bad became long and varied: it’s the injuries; it’s the lack of Martinez and Shaw; it’s the Glazer’s; it’s the club structure; it’s the players downing tools; it’s because Casemiro is ready for the scrap heap; it’s because we’re not converting chances and so on and so forth, but it is always something, regardless of whether we’re playing a team with a twentieth of our budget. The whole time questions revolving around why the tactics are so dire or why is the in-game management appalling or why is our manager constantly being outcoached get swerved in favour of citing anything but on the pitch maladies to the point of:
because things will sort themselves out, they just will. We go to Newcastle and receive an evincing mauling by a team decimated by injuries who are playing the same set of players for the 3rd game in a row and the penny drops. As much as there’s a desire to see the man succeed, glossing over what’s happening is absurd. Pointing out players the manager keeps on picking, no matter what, are performing badly exacerbates the point.
Taking this relationship of fans to manager away from football, this whole affair has been an e-romance where both parties liked what they saw and heard about each other enough to give it a real life go. The honeymoon period was on fire for a brief moment before little, annoying, idiosyncratic things started to rear their heads and since the honeymoon haze lifted, there have been a lot of problems to work on, but as that second phase unfolded, there came more cause for concern as ten Hag liked his eggs done a particular way and liked to go to bed at a precise time, which the collective we find egregious.
As time goes by, the redeeming qualities lessen - the one thing we’re supposedly good at comes at such a great cost as to be a redundancy; anyone can collate high final third turnovers if they are as negligent with the rest of midfield as we are. The sheer volume of shots we’ve faced is only worsened by Sheffield United and Luton Town - two teams contesting to be the worst side the PL has ever seen by coming in under Derby County’s nadir. There isn’t a need for any hyperbole: we are this bad, but what’s more concerning is we’re showing no signs of improvement; one part of the team picks up, another part falls apart, and never once are able to display the kind of synergy that suggests things have turned a corner.
The whole time ten Hag is here I hold out for him to prove my thoughts wrong and reignite the initial hopes I had for his reign, instead, he further convinces that this job is beyond him, his first season credit long since used up with him being deep in the red by now. His inability to identify and fix problems is alarming; his stubbornness, worse. There are many other niggles, too many, but ultimately the conclusive thought is that it’s just a matter of time until guillotine drops now. There are no redeeming factors to how we play, none, which is why our titanic battles are with fodder whilst we are mostly mauled by anything approaching a good team. By now there doesn't feel like anything to discuss, it's all gone binary and the grey rubbed out - either you can set up a midfield or you can't; either you can play constructive football without a single point failure (Rashford), or you cannot; either you can play out without reliance on a single player or your philosophy is irredeemable for this level. It goes on, but ultimately this all feels like a formality; why would new owners stick with this? What is he giving them for them to get behind him? For all the will in the world, ten Hag has shown so many more cons than pros this season that he matches up unfavourably with anything that has preceded him post-Fergie, which is why he’s breaking negative records that have stood since 1961. I wanted this guy to succeed, still do, but there’s no tangible evidence to back him - there’s nothing that screams elite management is just around the corner.
The first half of the first season ushered in hope; things weren’t silky smooth, but we looked to be headed in the right direction and we also won a trophy. Huge news and progress at the time. Since then, however, the upward trajectory tapered off and then began the descent; grinding out victories through attrition and moments rather than impressive, structured play. OK, it saw out the season, a season that was objectively a success. Right then! Let’s build on that and get the show back on the road with a good transfer window and preseason…. and from that time until now, it’s like the proverbial plane has been hijacked by someone who has done a few landings in a flight sim and got failed grades each time.
The air of emperor’s new clothes has grown and grown until the point that things could no longer be avoided. The murmurs about the lack of a midfield grew beyond the #6, #10, #10; the shape of the midfield in its entirety started to come under scrutiny, then the utilisation of the personnel. How and why he uses substitutes like he does. Why is he so lagged in-game? Then came the questions of how we struggle to hold our own and control a game against anyone, scraping through a run of games via moments rather than cohesive play. The reasons cited for why we are so bad became long and varied: it’s the injuries; it’s the lack of Martinez and Shaw; it’s the Glazer’s; it’s the club structure; it’s the players downing tools; it’s because Casemiro is ready for the scrap heap; it’s because we’re not converting chances and so on and so forth, but it is always something, regardless of whether we’re playing a team with a twentieth of our budget. The whole time questions revolving around why the tactics are so dire or why is the in-game management appalling or why is our manager constantly being outcoached get swerved in favour of citing anything but on the pitch maladies to the point of:
Taking this relationship of fans to manager away from football, this whole affair has been an e-romance where both parties liked what they saw and heard about each other enough to give it a real life go. The honeymoon period was on fire for a brief moment before little, annoying, idiosyncratic things started to rear their heads and since the honeymoon haze lifted, there have been a lot of problems to work on, but as that second phase unfolded, there came more cause for concern as ten Hag liked his eggs done a particular way and liked to go to bed at a precise time, which the collective we find egregious.
As time goes by, the redeeming qualities lessen - the one thing we’re supposedly good at comes at such a great cost as to be a redundancy; anyone can collate high final third turnovers if they are as negligent with the rest of midfield as we are. The sheer volume of shots we’ve faced is only worsened by Sheffield United and Luton Town - two teams contesting to be the worst side the PL has ever seen by coming in under Derby County’s nadir. There isn’t a need for any hyperbole: we are this bad, but what’s more concerning is we’re showing no signs of improvement; one part of the team picks up, another part falls apart, and never once are able to display the kind of synergy that suggests things have turned a corner.
The whole time ten Hag is here I hold out for him to prove my thoughts wrong and reignite the initial hopes I had for his reign, instead, he further convinces that this job is beyond him, his first season credit long since used up with him being deep in the red by now. His inability to identify and fix problems is alarming; his stubbornness, worse. There are many other niggles, too many, but ultimately the conclusive thought is that it’s just a matter of time until guillotine drops now. There are no redeeming factors to how we play, none, which is why our titanic battles are with fodder whilst we are mostly mauled by anything approaching a good team. By now there doesn't feel like anything to discuss, it's all gone binary and the grey rubbed out - either you can set up a midfield or you can't; either you can play constructive football without a single point failure (Rashford), or you cannot; either you can play out without reliance on a single player or your philosophy is irredeemable for this level. It goes on, but ultimately this all feels like a formality; why would new owners stick with this? What is he giving them for them to get behind him? For all the will in the world, ten Hag has shown so many more cons than pros this season that he matches up unfavourably with anything that has preceded him post-Fergie, which is why he’s breaking negative records that have stood since 1961. I wanted this guy to succeed, still do, but there’s no tangible evidence to back him - there’s nothing that screams elite management is just around the corner.
The fact he interviewed for Spurs, and they rejected him for Nuno just entered my head. Not that it means much, but Nuno was fired after two months, yet here we are.
People forget this, absolutely mental to think about. What on earth went on in that process for Levy to prefer Nuno who is so bad.
He probably wanted a huge say in transfers and Levy told him to feck off.
It's always baffling that we cannot seem to work on multiple transfers at once. We paid over the odds because of chasing FDJ, why couldn't we do both at once?!
You just answered your own question, AWB played in his own position while Dalot was shifted to his less favourable position and my point was we have just had our best LB return from injury and he decides to stick him CB while 2 CBs remain on the bench.
I went on to criticise Rashford and he was above all others for his uselessness.
If I was to criticise everything I'd need to get my laptop out because there is quite a lot wrong wouldn't you say?
Can’t put it any better than that mate. Exactly my thoughtsten Hag was by far the most euphoric I’ve been for a managerial appointment post-Fergie, and I don’t say that lightly as my post history around our new helmsmen would attest. He was the only coach we’d acquired who could be seen as hot property and, more importantly, modern and progressive. He was to bring that football to us and revolutionise this squad with new ideas, exceptional coaching and state of the art tactical awareness and approach. We would be dragged out of our Blockbuster Video physical media era and become a hot streaming service to rival any on the market, always flowing, always better than the sum of parts because the systems would become king with only components in it needing refinement.
The first half of the first season ushered in hope; things weren’t silky smooth, but we looked to be headed in the right direction and we also won a trophy. Huge news and progress at the time. Since then, however, the upward trajectory tapered off and then began the descent; grinding out victories through attrition and moments rather than impressive, structured play. OK, it saw out the season, a season that was objectively a success. Right then! Let’s build on that and get the show back on the road with a good transfer window and preseason…. and from that time until now, it’s like the proverbial plane has been hijacked by someone who has done a few landings in a flight sim and got failed grades each time.
The air of emperor’s new clothes has grown and grown until the point that things could no longer be avoided. The murmurs about the lack of a midfield grew beyond the #6, #10, #10; the shape of the midfield in its entirety started to come under scrutiny, then the utilisation of the personnel. How and why he uses substitutes like he does. Why is he so lagged in-game? Then came the questions of how we struggle to hold our own and control a game against anyone, scraping through a run of games via moments rather than cohesive play. The reasons cited for why we are so bad became long and varied: it’s the injuries; it’s the lack of Martinez and Shaw; it’s the Glazer’s; it’s the club structure; it’s the players downing tools; it’s because Casemiro is ready for the scrap heap; it’s because we’re not converting chances and so on and so forth, but it is always something, regardless of whether we’re playing a team with a twentieth of our budget. The whole time questions revolving around why the tactics are so dire or why is the in-game management appalling or why is our manager constantly being outcoached get swerved in favour of citing anything but on the pitch maladies to the point of:because things will sort themselves out, they just will. We go to Newcastle and receive an evincing mauling by a team decimated by injuries who are playing the same set of players for the 3rd game in a row and the penny drops. As much as there’s a desire to see the man succeed, glossing over what’s happening is absurd. Pointing out players the manager keeps on picking, no matter what, are performing badly exacerbates the point.
Taking this relationship of fans to manager away from football, this whole affair has been an e-romance where both parties liked what they saw and heard about each other enough to give it a real life go. The honeymoon period was on fire for a brief moment before little, annoying, idiosyncratic things started to rear their heads and since the honeymoon haze lifted, there have been a lot of problems to work on, but as that second phase unfolded, there came more cause for concern as ten Hag liked his eggs done a particular way and liked to go to bed at a precise time, which the collective we find egregious.
As time goes by, the redeeming qualities lessen - the one thing we’re supposedly good at comes at such a great cost as to be a redundancy; anyone can collate high final third turnovers if they are as negligent with the rest of midfield as we are. The sheer volume of shots we’ve faced is only worsened by Sheffield United and Luton Town - two teams contesting to be the worst side the PL has ever seen by coming in under Derby County’s nadir. There isn’t a need for any hyperbole: we are this bad, but what’s more concerning is we’re showing no signs of improvement; one part of the team picks up, another part falls apart, and never once are able to display the kind of synergy that suggests things have turned a corner.
The whole time ten Hag is here I hold out for him to prove my thoughts wrong and reignite the initial hopes I had for his reign, instead, he further convinces that this job is beyond him, his first season credit long since used up with him being deep in the red by now. His inability to identify and fix problems is alarming; his stubbornness, worse. There are many other niggles, too many, but ultimately the conclusive thought is that it’s just a matter of time until guillotine drops now. There are no redeeming factors to how we play, none, which is why our titanic battles are with fodder whilst we are mostly mauled by anything approaching a good team. By now there doesn't feel like anything to discuss, it's all gone binary and the grey rubbed out - either you can set up a midfield or you can't; either you can play constructive football without a single point failure (Rashford), or you cannot; either you can play out without reliance on a single player or your philosophy is irredeemable for this level. It goes on, but ultimately this all feels like a formality; why would new owners stick with this? What is he giving them for them to get behind him? For all the will in the world, ten Hag has shown so many more cons than pros this season that he matches up unfavourably with anything that has preceded him post-Fergie, which is why he’s breaking negative records that have stood since 1961. I wanted this guy to succeed, still do, but there’s no tangible evidence to back him - there’s nothing that screams elite management is just around the corner.
Zero charisma and no experience in the PL, both of which have held him back, but no more than his refusal to adapt.
I do think people are over the top in the transfer criticism. Hear me out. He has had 2 summer windows (january are strange windows) and signed the following players as starters/potential starters. The fair question for fans is, is he the right man to keep going. do his signings have a common thread, are they improving anything on who they replace.
Onana- Disastrous, inexplicable CL campaign aside, Onana has actually been decent. He was good again last night to be honest, with him and the centre backs coming out with credit. My bet is that he has even more impact when Martinez is fit with Shaw next to him, and ideally two similarly talented ball playing defendrs on the right. Attitude wise- he's a confident player that doesnt hide.
Martinez- Nobody can dispute this one. A quality player, brilliant on the ball and written off by plenty because of height. Ten Hag knew what he wanted and Martinez has delivered. A fighter and a great attitude too.
Casemiro- We overpaid and its poor squad planning, but without the signing, we wouldnt have got the CL and we wouldnt have won a cup. He was excellent last season, though we should have anticipated a decline and bought a better midfielder this summer. Attitude wise- he's a serial winner and a third signing that cant be questioned in this regard. Ten Hags signings largely have this in common.
Mount- this is a hard one to call and may be where ten hag is judged by seasons end. If Mount hasnt shown a clear purpose then I would hugely criticise ten hag. If however, he emerges in second half of season to play a solid role, like an upgraded eriksen, then he's a good signing. He's only 24, and I would urge people to wait until the end of season to make a call on this one. He may well flop, but he may just as well emerge as a high energy and important player here.
Antony- perhaps the most divisive player, but we can all agree the fee was absurd. That aside, he shares traits with ten hags other signings, and this is whats important i think in terms of actually rebuilding a team. He works hard, he's very clever on the ball and while of course he needs to show much more, I am among the minority it seems who sees some real talent here. We are a better team with him on the right and thats just true.
Hojlund- Another overpay and the burden of goals is too high on a raw striker. But again, we have a physical, confident player, who is very good on the ball and I wouldnt be surprised to see him come very good.
So in summary, the question and concern for fans is Should Ten Hag be trusted to continue his version of the rebuild? My position at the moment is that yes, he should. Im going to include the previous players who he clearly trusts and sees as the type of player he wants, so would a starting XI with the following players fail in terms of the things i want to see from United- workrate, techincal ability, pace.
Onana, Shaw, Martinez, Casemiro, Mount, Fernandes, Antony, Hojlund.
Now add in players that ten hag has worked with and I would say improved- AWB, Garnacho, (Mainoo, is coming through)
Two more windows where he signs a right back, centre back, midfielder and wide player of similar profile, then yeah, I think our squad would be far better off than when he inherited it and that we would have more players that fans can actually care for.
Has he managed exits well? Very simply, who has he shown the door to that he shouldnt have? Look at some of these names and remember just how much a mess this squad was and remains.
Sancho, Rashford, Martial all evoke the same laziness and irritation for fans. McTominay is just not good enough to be anything but a squad player. Likewise Dalot. Who has left that we should regret? De Gea, who still has no club? Ronaldo in Saudi? Fred in Turkey? Elanga, Telles, Bailly? Tuanzebe, Jones?
Im not all in on ten hag. He has many areas to criticise and not making changes at half time last night was inexplicable. But overall, I still think the profile of players leaving, and those coming in, remains a net positive and I would be inclined to judge at the end of this season again and take stock. Certainly with a fit squad we should be looking for a much better second half and a return to the style of play we seemed to be implementing last season. People are being dishonest if they say there wasnt one - we were good to watch again.
Onana- Disastrous, inexplicable CL campaign aside, Onana has actually been decent. He was good again last night to be honest, with him and the centre backs coming out with credit. My bet is that he has even more impact when Martinez is fit with Shaw next to him, and ideally two similarly talented ball playing defendrs on the right. Attitude wise- he's a confident player that doesnt hide.
Martinez- Nobody can dispute this one. A quality player, brilliant on the ball and written off by plenty because of height. Ten Hag knew what he wanted and Martinez has delivered. A fighter and a great attitude too.
Casemiro- We overpaid and its poor squad planning, but without the signing, we wouldnt have got the CL and we wouldnt have won a cup. He was excellent last season, though we should have anticipated a decline and bought a better midfielder this summer. Attitude wise- he's a serial winner and a third signing that cant be questioned in this regard. Ten Hags signings largely have this in common.
Mount- this is a hard one to call and may be where ten hag is judged by seasons end. If Mount hasnt shown a clear purpose then I would hugely criticise ten hag. If however, he emerges in second half of season to play a solid role, like an upgraded eriksen, then he's a good signing. He's only 24, and I would urge people to wait until the end of season to make a call on this one. He may well flop, but he may just as well emerge as a high energy and important player here.
Antony- perhaps the most divisive player, but we can all agree the fee was absurd. That aside, he shares traits with ten hags other signings, and this is whats important i think in terms of actually rebuilding a team. He works hard, he's very clever on the ball and while of course he needs to show much more, I am among the minority it seems who sees some real talent here. We are a better team with him on the right and thats just true.
Hojlund- Another overpay and the burden of goals is too high on a raw striker. But again, we have a physical, confident player, who is very good on the ball and I wouldnt be surprised to see him come very good.
So in summary, the question and concern for fans is Should Ten Hag be trusted to continue his version of the rebuild? My position at the moment is that yes, he should. Im going to include the previous players who he clearly trusts and sees as the type of player he wants, so would a starting XI with the following players fail in terms of the things i want to see from United- workrate, techincal ability, pace.
Onana, Shaw, Martinez, Casemiro, Mount, Fernandes, Antony, Hojlund.
Now add in players that ten hag has worked with and I would say improved- AWB, Garnacho, (Mainoo, is coming through)
Two more windows where he signs a right back, centre back, midfielder and wide player of similar profile, then yeah, I think our squad would be far better off than when he inherited it and that we would have more players that fans can actually care for.
Has he managed exits well? Very simply, who has he shown the door to that he shouldnt have? Look at some of these names and remember just how much a mess this squad was and remains.
Sancho, Rashford, Martial all evoke the same laziness and irritation for fans. McTominay is just not good enough to be anything but a squad player. Likewise Dalot. Who has left that we should regret? De Gea, who still has no club? Ronaldo in Saudi? Fred in Turkey? Elanga, Telles, Bailly? Tuanzebe, Jones?
Im not all in on ten hag. He has many areas to criticise and not making changes at half time last night was inexplicable. But overall, I still think the profile of players leaving, and those coming in, remains a net positive and I would be inclined to judge at the end of this season again and take stock. Certainly with a fit squad we should be looking for a much better second half and a return to the style of play we seemed to be implementing last season. People are being dishonest if they say there wasnt one - we were good to watch again.
His English wasn't very good and Levy thought he lacked charisma.
Good post.
I’m frustrated with some things Ten Hag is doing but I also feel there’s some good stuff there too and it is really early days.
And if he was to go to the Bundesliga and do well, he can then come back to haunt us. Didn't have to be in the PL for that. I don't think he would manage in the PL again, but could see him making a good team elsewhere while our next manager struggles along with terrible club ownership setting the tone, and lazy cowards on the pitch remain here on fat wages.
Guy was happy to sell him in the summer. Mctominay bailed him out with two late goals against Brentford - and he's tried to recreate that same experiment on a 90 minute scale ever since - and this is the guy with the plan and philosophy we're supposed to put our faith in
Trust the process guys.
It's very reminiscent of Ole when he was stumbling upon a tactical change which worked during one game and he kept using it
The craziest thing is the team hasn’t looked right all the way since preseason. Sure we didn’t end last season well but coming into this season he attempted to play a slightly different style and added more of his players.
This is the first team since us under Moyes that has no strengths. Generally all teams have weaknesses, some less than others but to win games they hone in on their strengths to be able to win games. With Ole and Jose it was our counterattack, under LVG we could keep possession and defend pretty well. It wasn’t pretty but that was the basis for us picking up points.
With EtH’s team, I feel like we pick up points by just having better players than most teams we face in the league. It explains why we are so dreadful vs the better teams because that advantage is neutralised and we have nothing else to fall back on.
The team can’t defend, play out from the back, keep possession under pressure, be consistently aggressive, score goals or create chances well. We do nothing at a high level. This is a mediocre football team with some very good players and that’s it.
Sure we can have one off games or mini runs where we do one of these things pretty well but to have an identity as a team these qualities will need to be displayed consistently and that’s something we have yet to see in five months of football including preseason.
This is the first team since us under Moyes that has no strengths. Generally all teams have weaknesses, some less than others but to win games they hone in on their strengths to be able to win games. With Ole and Jose it was our counterattack, under LVG we could keep possession and defend pretty well. It wasn’t pretty but that was the basis for us picking up points.
With EtH’s team, I feel like we pick up points by just having better players than most teams we face in the league. It explains why we are so dreadful vs the better teams because that advantage is neutralised and we have nothing else to fall back on.
The team can’t defend, play out from the back, keep possession under pressure, be consistently aggressive, score goals or create chances well. We do nothing at a high level. This is a mediocre football team with some very good players and that’s it.
Sure we can have one off games or mini runs where we do one of these things pretty well but to have an identity as a team these qualities will need to be displayed consistently and that’s something we have yet to see in five months of football including preseason.
There is something to what you are saying, but Ten Hag seems charming enough in press conferences and has his arm around players a fair bit.
It is hard to know what really is going on. What we see on the pitch: Rashford and Martial playing poorly and not putting in enough effort. I‘ll always choose the manager‘s side when that is the case.
Let's hope if we do sack him, it's when we have a proper structure in place. Otherwise, it'll be more of the same and in 3 years we'll field a team with a defence of AWB, Maguire, Lindelof and Shaw and McT, Martial and Rashford will also still be starting.
Shaw is a top player
We could have recruited better than every single one. I dispute Martinez, I’m not convinced the next manager will fancy him at CB in the PL.
I love Shaw. I'm not even slagging him off. More pointing out that it's late 2023 and we literally lined up with that defence recently. Shaw is literally the only one of that 4 who I thought would still be here and starting.
I disagree with a lot here.
Fees aside. If Mount & Antony are viewed as key players in any way for a future rebuild alarm bells should ring. If you continue down that path it’s a fools errand.
Martinez was brilliant last year. If he finds that form again, he'll absolutely start. Question is; will he find that form again.
Yes fair point I agree on it.
Rangnick was correct when he said we needed surgery and basically popped to the walk in centre and picked up some Night Nurse.
Only Luton and Sheff Utd have faced more shots than us this season. Yikes
This./
I really like Martinez but the CB you partner him with has to be very specific.
He was good on the ball and had a good attitude. Defensively there is question marks for me. The lack of pace is an issue for a high line, and his height leaves us lacking in both boxes.
Maybe he could be used at LB as Arsenal intended.
The squad is a mess. I thought after Ole left, we would never again lineup with that defence, let alone 18 months into a new managers tenure. Only 1 ETH signing started last night. The rest were youth products or players bought by 3 previous managers stretching back to LvG.
Agree with most of this. The squad is still full of players that were part of the previous dysfunction. New players that Ten Hag brought in have excellent workrate and fire, except maybe for Mount who has been a bit lethargic.
He was still class last season. Pre-injury this season, he didn't look so good. Just depends what level he's at when he comes back.
Good points.
He’s been present for some of the most humiliating of defeats & been one of our worst performers in multiple.
The cult of Shaw is part of the reason we are where we are. If United are ever to be successful again for a sustained period, Shaw along with others will not be central to it.
Shaw is mentally as fragile as the rest, a great front runner but he’s as culpable as others.
I’ll get flack because he’s ’a top player’ but I honestly don’t see Him, Bruno or Rashford being in our next successful side.
Interesting. . .
And who has put us in that position? 150mil spent on these two.
He best sort something out quickly before the game at Anfield or we’ll lose 8-0! That could be the end of his time here.
I‘d switch him and Shaw. A Zinchenko type role.
There is no doubt that Eddie Howe got his tactics spot on.
And Ten Hag did not.
Either that or the United players can not execute his requirements.
But I am losing confidence in his abilities because something is clearly not working.
And Ten Hag did not.
Either that or the United players can not execute his requirements.
But I am losing confidence in his abilities because something is clearly not working.
I personally find the hate our best players get bizarre.
Rashford is the most understandable because when he is not scoring goals he is a liability. But even when he was scoring 30 last year he was getting hammered.
People begging for Bruno to be dropped when he is one of the most productive players in the world, because he doesn't fit in with some style that they perceive we should be playing, which is likely totally different to what ten hag is trying to build. On top of that Bruno works hard without the ball.
And Shaw... The most baffling to me. He is one of the best left backs in the world with the ball. He is such a good defender that he looks very natural at centre back. He brings massive experience to the squad. In a different era, Luke Shaw would be one of the most decorated and celebrated united players of all time I think, certainly along defenders.
As I said, I understand rashford issue when he is off the boil. But he is a squad player, Eth has proven that by taking him in and out of the team. Eth fears for his job, he has not been able to coach anything approaching creative football from the squad, and knows his main chance to still have a job is for rashford to hit form and win games with moment of individual brilliance as we saw last season. So I understand that Eth keeps trying him, especially as the other options are antony and pellistri who has shown nothing at all
Rashford is not a squad player.
And the hate being shown is largely down to his lack of effort.
Ancelotti is a vastly more accomplished manager than ten Hag.
Even if I was prepared to attribute most of the blame to the players yesterday, which I'm not, EtH must surely have seen the issues we could all have seen and had plenty of time to make changes or adjustments to improve. Instead he waited until after the team had gone behind to make any changes. That falls solely on his shoulders.
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