Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

[Revan]

Or else the great honourable manager may just re-sign and not leech us for a massive pay off. Remember that?

Indeed. In any case, I am convinced that he will turn us good once Martinez returns.

And in any case, he is blameless. The fault is to this bunch of players who cost many previous managers their jobs (despite that half of them were signed by EtH).

 

[Superunknown]

I have not seen another United manager be given so much leeway whilst being this bad at their job.

Unfortunately, this is where I'm at, too. We're letting too many things slide.

Players and owners aren't helping, of course. But, he is the manager of Manchester United and the expectations need to be higher than what we are currently seeing.

 

[siw2007]

That’s the kind of game that gets you the sack. I don’t think the club will though and he is lucky in that there isn’t an obvious replacement.

 

[The Mitcher]

We fluked a win at Fulham and Everton, both of whom could have easily beaten us with the chances they had, and sneaked past Luton at home, giving a false sense of good performances.

I suppose so

 

[Dr Foo]

His change in midfield set up this season is the biggest culprit. If he doesn't revert to a double pivot for the next few matches, it could be the end. He needs to realise the team isn't able to implement the ideal vision of his (or that of other clubs) yet and focus on regaining control and discipline.

Having essentially only one proper striker (who is supposed to be one for the future and not used all the time) is also a transfer disaster.

I want to support him, and acknowledge the positives he has brought but he needs to show to the board he can adapt now, otherwise the club needs to step up and act like it has a plan

 

[The Mitcher]

City would literally immediately fire Pep if ETH became available.

don't forget the white text

 

[Todd]

It'll be a miracle if ETH makes it to the new year now.

 

[bosnian_red]

That’s the kind of game that gets you the sack. I don’t think the club will though and he is lucky in that there isn’t an obvious replacement.

Anybody would do better than him right now at least as a short term boost.

 

[golden_blunder]

Nobody has the players for it. Nobody in the history of football could play as a one man midfield like we're expecting Amrabat to and make it work consistently.

Casemiro looked every part the best DM in world football for most of last year, and was an absolute turnstile trying to play in this system.

Careful now you’ll have the tactic heads telling you how Arsenal, city and Liverpool do it

 

[Ceteris]

What is he aiming for us to do on the pitch? I can't see it

 

[grahamo]

I really am sick of hearing that it's the first time (insert team name here) have won at old Trafford. Embarrassing. Poor tactics poor coaching. It's down to the manager.

 

[bosnian_red]

It'll be a miracle if ETH makes it to the new year now.

The ONLY thing keeping him in a job is the takeover delay

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

That’s the kind of game that gets you the sack. I don’t think the club will though and he is lucky in that there isn’t an obvious replacement.

He’s lucky that the CEO is a lame duck and the director of football is out on his backside along with him.

 

[Robbie Boy]

Yup, I've been banned from making threads.

Justice for Skills.

 

[Lentwood]

I could forgive the kamikaze tactics if it resulted in us creating more opportunities but the fact is, they don't.

All it takes to beat us is to sit in deep with men behind the ball, wait for us to give the ball away (even the best teams do this, we do it regularly) and then counter.

How many times on a game-to-game basis do we see four opposition players behind our midfield line, running at the back four? Everything is chaotic, everything is last-ditch, when we're in possession, we're only ever one average pass away from letting the opposition counter us with an overload.

We talk about this individual or that individual not being good enough...at this point, its all moot because tactically we're a shambles. The players will get a tonne of flak again, personally I see them doing what the manager has asked...its what the manager is asking that's the problem

 

[Revan]

My apologies, sarcasm is hard to read. Yep, and the cult like mentality has been here since Rangnick. Both these managers have weaponised the fans against the team (who are no saints) to save their arses.

Cult has been here all the time. Ironically, I think that Rangnick was the only one he didn't have a cult. And I actually thin that he was right in what he said. An awful manager, but a quite good DoF, and I am convinced that if we kept him and put him in charge of signings, we would be in a better position.

But no, again we gave total power to the manager, and our useless DoF was essentially manager's cheerleader.

 

[Yanited__]

I don't see him getting sacked because I don't think our board are ready/prepared to sack him. So even if we lose to Bayern/Liverpool, I don't see it happen. Obviously, the situation will change the worse it gets.

I have maintained it's gonna be an up and down season, didn't expect this though. That being said, we're still not out of the top 4 race. The board will be looking at it like that, even though we don't look like finishing top 4.

The one complaint I have of ETH: there's about 12-14 teams, home and away, who sit back against us like Bournemouth did today. So you would think United would be preparing for it with patterns of play against low blocks. I just don't see it from United. Is it a time thing? OK. Nearly 18 months into Ten Hag's tenure and we're not seeing it consistently! Is it a player/personnel issue? OK, you've had 2 summer windows to fix it. Then again, haven't exactly seen a better style against these teams with previous managers.

 

[marktan]

1) Needs to learn to rotate so players have energy and fresnhess, especially in midfield

2) Terrible signings have hampered us

3) Good football but the other two points will be his downfall

 

[Delano]

His change in midfield set up this season is the biggest culprit. If he doesn't revert to a double pivot for the next few matches, it could be the end. He needs to realise the team isn't able to implement the ideal vision of his (or that of other clubs) yet and focus on regaining control and discipline.

Having essentially only one proper striker (who is supposed to be one for the future and not used all the time) is also a transfer disaster.

I want to support him, and acknowledge the positives he has brought but he needs to show to the board he can adapt now, otherwise the club needs to step up and act like it has a plan

His vision is dated. Every elite team builds up using a box midfield.

He is the only one who has one pure sitter and the full backs not inverting, or not having two midfielders.

It's kamikaze football and it'll cost him his job.

 

[city-puma]

A team of amputees could run through this midfield, it’s an insane tactic for us in the PL, we don’t have the players for it. Either he adapts very quickly or he’ll be sacked soon. If he’s not already gone after today

I disagree we don’t have players to play his system. ETH made the mistake to use Reguilon as LB. Our left side is completely unsettled. Putting Shaw or Dalot there would make huge difference. Bruno’s loose pass which resulted in the first goal was due to it. They continued to target our left side and compromised our play.

 

[CasaStreets]

You mean to tell me that you haven't noticed how open we are because of his system? I am sure you have noticed even in the matches we win that we leave so much space. The difference between this and Chelsea is that Bournemouth were clinical.

Of course we’re open but our players have demonstrated for years that they don’t have the creativity or quality in the final third to create chances without taking outsize risk. Pushing the line forward is the reason we created 20+ shots the last two matches.

and again, the goals we conceded this match were not a direct consequence of the strategy. Set piece + two obvious individual errors.

If you adjust the tactics to say, switch back to 2 holding midfielders in a true double pivot (a la Ole’s Fred/McT double pivot), we aren’t going to create enough. I do think we could see what Mainoo+Amrabat look like together, but do we really believe that our front 4 have the quality to create chances with that structure and 2 midfielders sitting deep? Let’s not kid ourselves…

 

[The Mitcher]

Cult has been here all the time. Ironically, I think that Rangnick was the only one he didn't have a cult. And I actually thin that he was right in what he said. An awful manager, but a quite good DoF, and I am convinced that if we kept him and put him in charge of signings, we would be in a better position.

But no, again we gave total power to the manager, and our useless DoF was essentially manager's cheerleader.

Rangnick had a massive cult on here, when he was rumoured to be coming we had people creaming themselves over him, and when the wheels came off after that 45 minutes against Palace, his supporters would not accept any criticism.

I don't believe he was mostly right, and he said most of that to placate angry fans. He should have been sacked.

 

[Licha-Vidic]

we've conceded 3 or more 15 times under him now...

ETH refused to change the midfield setup.
Everything has gone how some of us predicted last season. He will be sacked because of not changing the midfield and having game control.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Shaw at cb experiment needs to stop, we're choosing Reguilon over Varane it's ridiculous.

It's hardly an experiment. He's put in fantastic displays at centre back, and it's not as if we looked any better when Varane was starting anyway. It's not a back four problem as such, it's a structural problem, and we need to be harder to play against.

 

[Buster15]

Ten Hag made the decision solely to start Martial today - a player who has consistently let down this club for 5+ seasons.

Ten Hag has frozen out our World Cup winning CB for absolutely no apparent reason to the extent where we are playing a world class LB at cb (whose main weakness is positional sense, which got exploited for the Billing goal) and a Spurs reject at LB, rather than playing Varane. Clueless

I supported Erik with his decision to freeze out Ronaldo and to some extent Sancho, although I can see how Sancho must feel aggrieved at watching Martial, Antony, Rashford etc start time and time again whilst offering similar outputs...but now these decisions have gone too far.

The recruitment and quality does come from the structure above yes, but Ten Hag's decisions and management of players/ games shows me that he's probably not going to get it right even in a great system now. I think he could have done if he'd have stayed as resolute as he was last year but he let it all slip and the passengers take control again

How do you know that there is no reason for not playing Varane ?

 

[Skills]

Justice for Skills.

Don't care about justice, I thought those topics were worth talking about, generally got good engagement and they only wound up posters who couldn't (and still can't) see the wood for the trees anyway.

 

[kps88]

Only thing saving him is us waiting for the behind the scenes stuff to get sorted.

 

[Robbie Boy]

Cult has been here all the time. Ironically, I think that Rangnick was the only one he didn't have a cult. And I actually thin that he was right in what he said. An awful manager, but a quite good DoF, and I am convinced that if we kept him and put him in charge of signings, we would be in a better position.

But no, again we gave total power to the manager, and our useless DoF was essentially manager's cheerleader.

The cult started with Jose and got far fecking worse under Ole.

 

[Ole's screen]

This is not a players issue. These players what what has kept him in the job despite his insane tactics. We have 0 patterns for building up play, 0 patterns when we attack. Even simple passes to keep possession end up having to be super accurate and threaded through a needle.
This is absolutely a coaching issue.

 

[OrcaFat]

Again, EtH is doing some good work on the “big picture” stuff but his game to game and in-game decisions have me baffled.

I believe we are entering the territory of Ole’s final days here.

There comes a time when it’s impossible to ignore the results. That 4-1 loss to Watford was simply unsurvivable. I think 0-3 at home to Bournemouth is similar. We will lose our next two games and I think then you start to get global awareness of the direness of the situation. Sponsors get annoyed. The stock price is probably under pressure (for all I know).

I don’t think EtH survives beyond the Liverpool game.

 

[NinjaZombie]

He's not going to survive to see his plan come to fruition at this rate. The 2 number 8s being high up i think can only have a chance of working if he gets certain players back from injury. But I think he's being stubborn and sticking to it despite not having the players for it for whatever reason. It's looking increasingly likely that'll be his undoing.

 

[The Mitcher]

Indeed. In any case, I am convinced that he will turn us good once Martinez returns.

And in any case, he is blameless. The fault is to this bunch of players who cost many previous managers their jobs (despite that half of them were signed by EtH).

We were crap when martinez played at the start of the season. One defender is not going to fix the glaring hole in our midfield. This argument lost when injured players touted as saviour's of the system after coming back, failed to save it.

 

[DON’T PANIC ™]

If he had left out Mctom, few would have crticized him because we are all aware of the problems Mctominay's presence in the team creates when we lose the ball. He just did what all spineless managers do when under pressure. They stumble on a team that wins one lucky game and refuse to change that team ever again thinking they can ride out the pressure. Ten Hag stopped using any form of football brain when Mctom bailed us out against Brentford. Have you noticed that the team has barely changed since then? Barring injuries.

The Ten Hag you see now is anything but a top level footballing coach. He's just a spineless man trying to look out for himself because he's all out of ideas.

Plenty criticised me on Wednesday when I said ETH should be sacked for picking McTominay week in and week out.
I don’t know what the answer is, but sacking the manager won’t help.

 

[Superunknown]

we've conceded 3 or more 15 times under him now...

ETH refused to change the midfield setup.
Everything has gone how some of us predicted last season. He will be sacked because of not changing the midfield and having game control.

That's atrocious and shows complete naivety. At the very, very least, we should not be losing games like today's. Maybe we struggle to score, but a 0-0 is far easier to stomach than a 0-3. If you can't win games, then don't get beat!

 

[The Mitcher]

Not only this, we’ve got a forum who shuts down any thread it doesn’t like the tone of and now we can’t even post in that poll thread.

I’ll probably get banned for calling them out.

I got a warning. Keep pushing back regardless

 

[Matt851]

What is he aiming for us to do on the pitch? I can't see it

The only obvious thing is he is completely ceding control of midfield by having two of our central midfielders play incrediy far forward

 

[r0663664]

Seriously, Bruno and McTominay right up there, 1 to create and the other to score. Once the balls is given away cheaper, we get overrun by Bournemouth. It is not the first time that we can beaten again and again. Erik is no genius, I think he is a fraud. Even if De Jong is here, we will be trash by average team. Erik hasn't learn anything, just because McTominay saves his ass a couple of times. Do you reward his loyalty by playing him week in week out? WTF is that, what are you trying to prove? Tell everyone that in United, if you work hard in training that you get games. I already say take Bruno out and put in Mainoo for better protection and ball retention or replace him with McTominay. As long as you have wingers that can take on defenders and a striker willing to make runs, you will have a chance to score. Erik's current tactics is too open and venerable to counter attack and he doesn't to earn anything. Time to go, bye Erik. It wasn't enjoyable to say the least during your stay.

 

[kouroux]

I see funny trend among his devotes fan base, whenever we lose it’s because players have downed tools and let the brilliant mind Erik down, however the good games are strictly because of his immaculate tactics.

Proper cult like thinking.

 

[The Mitcher]

I see funny trend among his devotes fan base, whenever we lose it’s because players have downed tools and let the brilliant mind Erik down, however the good games are strictly because of his immaculate tactics.

They are also serial losers, despite having won trophies in the past.

 

[ItDoesntEvenMata]

How do you know that there is no reason for not playing Varane ?

I said no apparent reason, as in he has said he has no problem with him...which I find more of a red flag as that means he genuinely thinks there's a tactical reason to pick Evans or Shaw at CB and Reguilon at LB than Varane