How many matches have we played with a “basically” fully fit squad minty?
Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24
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How many matches have we played with a “basically” fully fit squad minty?
Less expectation from them. Plus their football didn't change. Newcastle still play the same shite and Spurs play open as always.
Our problem is that we still don't seem to know what ideal ETH football would look like once he has everyone fit. And I'm not talking a few clips on twitter here and there. I mean over several consecutive matches home or away.
Until recently, many thought it would be like his Ajax team, which is the only successful team he's managed. But evidently that won't happen here.
And he will never get an entire squad for any amount of money. In fact, once we have a DoF he may get 0 players at the top of his list and will have to get on with coaching whoever he's handed.
Plus why does publicly insisting and pushing for a transfer have any weight? He could also publicly insist and push for Mbappe, KDB and Salah.
And when a proper manager gets told that because of terrible negotiation from the club, a third or more of his budget is going to be spent on Antony, he'll say feck no!
We've got someone proper overseeing us now. I dont think it will be tolerated to just not show up in games.
I hope the Villa game in years to come is seen as some sort of turning point, both for the manager and a few of the players.
I'm hopeful there will be a clear style of play when we have a solid back 4 with Shaw, Licha and Maguire back. A solid midfield of casemiro and Mainoo while our forwards build in confidence.
The injuries, lack of stability and massive lack in confidence has hindered any style of play.
I'm actually more concerned at how disorganised we are at set pieces, I'm hoping a bit more leadership with casemiro and licha will sort that out.
Never say never with this team. They can beat Barcelona today and lost the next game to Bournemouth.
Excellent post, pretty much how I feel about Ten Hag. I said at the beginning of the "easy" run of games we had September to November - this is the moment to experiment with the squad you have. He could've tried a few things, bottom line is the fans would've forgiven him some bad results if they saw the progress. What happened - he just stuck with this ridiculous setup in which McTominay is the key attacking player, we scraped some result but never looked anything more of a 5-10 team in the league. And that made me lose faith in ETH.
Eric fixed a problem that he caused himself, so he gets no credit for sound that from me. He looks tactically inept (I certainly don't know why people rate him as a coach).
He does have plenty of excuses but I just have no faith in him at the moment. Maybe he can still come good if he focuses on being a manager (dealing with people) and leave transfers AND coaching to other people, but I don't know if there's any club that has this modus operandi.
I also think this team has been underachieving lately because A) players are being forced to play a role not suited to them (Bruno mainly, but also Mount and Casemiro), and B) the setup with two #10s completely doesn't work for this squad. Eric has had his fair of bad luck with injuries so he has plenty excuses, but at the same time he hasn't done enough to make me a believer.
Ten Hag talking about players returning from injury as "new signings", given how often our managers trot out that line, they have to be directed from above to say it. No signings in January then.
Exactly. Last season we seen glimpses of ETH style. And scored some beautiful team goals when we had a fully fit squad. This season we’ve changed the defence and midfield god knows how many times. We lack leaders on the pitch aswell when there’s no Casemiro, Martinez.
Because we’ve had them out for so long so no doubt they’ll improve us massively when they return but again that will be a couple of weeks after returning. They could return a bit rusty. We rarely make signings in January but the club need to use Bruno as a template. After signing him in January after a defeat to Burnley we went on an unbeaten run. They say 1 signing can’t make a difference but the right one with the right mentality can go a long way and improve others around him.
I'd love it if for once a manager said "love the Jan transfer window, it can make a big difference and we're going to do business."
As opposed to "it's difficult, not the best time to buy, not much money, probably won't do much if anything."
As opposed to "it's difficult, not the best time to buy, not much money, probably won't do much if anything."
I have to say I don't see the managers logic even when we have the first choice midfield fit and well.
In a 433.
The three man midfield first choice is what,
Cass at 6
Ericson at 8
Bruno at 10.
So that doesn't shout high pressing to me. Nor does it seem a keep the ball at all costs side either. They are great players but it looks slow and out runnable to me.
So what is the style then?
I know it is full team game but the midfield is the key to setting a style and it isn't an excuse to say we have been destroyed by injuries( though we have been) because this midfield has played a lot of games.
Who did the manager bring in the summer to make this midfield work. Mount and Amrabat. Again good players but I don't see any combination which wins us the league.
I think his decisions are questionable and the results and performances don't suggest he has improved very much so far.
There is probably not a manager out there that would say no to a strong addition to their squad midseason.
But, i guess there are a few things that complicate things for the clubs.
It’s genuinely much quieter after a win on here. There are a number of posters who seem to come alive after a loss though and hammer their keyboards into oblivion. Let’s hope for a big win and a bit of calm heading into the new year. A win today and we are right in the fight for top 4.
This is a strange post because that midfield is literally proven?
The Case/Mount/Bruno setup is the big Q this year on ETH’s head.
Case/Eriksen/Bruno actually works pretty well and spreads a decent amount of goals and assists across the three. Last season Eriksen was playing well before he got the injury and Bruno/Case all chipped in with goals and assists. It’s not a great pressing unit because of Eriksen but last season Wout and Antony made up for Eriksen’s lack of mobility somewhat. Eriksen also dropped into the Kroos role deep left a lot which helped us out given how Rashford plays.
Eriksen. 28 games. 1 goal/8 assists.
Case. 28 games. 4 goals/3 assists.
Bruno. 37 games. 8 goals/8 assists.
So even with Case/Eriksen missing 10 PL games the three combined for 12 G/19 A which is not bad at all.
Our squad has been a mess due to injuries and poor squad planning by the club.
We have a stop gap dm in Amrabat and stop gap cb in Evans, instead of prime quality signings in those positions.
We have a young striker who is asked to lead the line because he is our only option. You cannot blame Ten Hag for that.
We rely on aging players like Eriksen and Casemiro, who don’t have the legs to play high pressing tactics every game. They are last season’s stop gap signings.
We just have to do the best we can and fix these issues one by one.
We have a clear style but lack a consistent execution of it. The chosen style fits United like a glove. There are a few players who aren’t the hard working type; they will either step up or be replaced.
Rashford was dropped and is making more of an effort now. If he drops off again, he’ll likely be on the transfer list.
There is no room for lazy or weak minded players at Manchester United.
If you think you can make better decisions or another coach would have done better in these circumstances, you are wrong. We could have been much worse off in fact.
Head on the nail there. For one, Martinez was SO instrumental in both defense and starting attacks last season. He's barely been there this one.
Yep he’s toiled and tried to make do with almost an entire first choice XI (besides the GK) out or injured at one point and yet people still wanted to see some sort of “ange” consistency. Imagine trying to play out from the back or try implementing a high line with a CB duo of Maguire and Evans. There’s loads to criticise the manager for without people having to invent things.
You're not wrong. When we do well I'm often off gloating to my mates and Liverpool supporting brother. When we have a miserable game, I need a place to vent.
High pressing- Utd have the most high turnovers in the league, play in average the highest defensive line and position in the league. This is a massive difference from the last few years.
Then there's the 316 build up and attack. It has had it's problems and that has mainly been the directness of the approach and the number of bodies committed forward. So when the ball has been lost, Utd neither have the legs or numbers back to stop counters early and keep the pressure on the opposition, instead it usually ends up in a scrap around the box.
The biggest problems to him making this style stick and work has been injuries in midfield and defence. Missing so many key players will make any team will struggle, as we've seen now with City, Spurs and Newcastle
I wish this could the be case as well but I do worry they played into our hands with their tactics. Still it’s great win over team that plays very well this season. I would love to see how they play against low block. They really need to speed up their game. Slow build up against low block equals no goals and stupid shots from far away.
I'd rather ETH kept Garnacho and Rashford on the wings and thrown McT as a striker. Antony is practically useless and is too easy to defend against. Rashford is not a striker, he only performs as a wide forward or in a two-man strikeforce. It comes off as stubborn planning, continuing to stick square pegs in round holes.
It's these types of lineups that seemingly shows ETH does not have the tactical nuance others at this level repeatedly show. Pep would probably use Bruno as a false 9 with someone supporting him, or some other mad scientist plan that has fans scratching their heads but confident nonetheless. It does not work every time but it definitely shows something on the pitch versus just garbage output.
I want this manager to succeed but he's seemingly going to die on this consistent hill of his. He needs to tweak this lineup to start the second half, take control and bury Forest.
It's these types of lineups that seemingly shows ETH does not have the tactical nuance others at this level repeatedly show. Pep would probably use Bruno as a false 9 with someone supporting him, or some other mad scientist plan that has fans scratching their heads but confident nonetheless. It does not work every time but it definitely shows something on the pitch versus just garbage output.
I want this manager to succeed but he's seemingly going to die on this consistent hill of his. He needs to tweak this lineup to start the second half, take control and bury Forest.
Really poor. Pretty much no positives aside from not conceding.
Clear that Villa played into our hands rather than any corner being turned. As bad as ever this.
Antony is a fecking nothing player and he puts him out right again. Why not try something different? Keep Garnacho on the right, Rashford left and a false 9. Anything but this painful shite.
Loving the patterns of play.
Look at the way Spurs, Bournemouth, Wolves, Brighton attack.
Look at the way we attack.
Horrific coaching. You can’t tell me the above teams have better players. Absolute dog shit. He needs to go.
Look at the way we attack.
Horrific coaching. You can’t tell me the above teams have better players. Absolute dog shit. He needs to go.
Why we do have so few players in the build up and everyone trying to be an attacker?
It just means even when the forward players do get the ball, they're always facing backwards and towards are own goal.
It just means even when the forward players do get the ball, they're always facing backwards and towards are own goal.
Completely agree.
If there’s no space in behind our attack is wretched. Not much has changed since the Ole period except that was a slightly better attack.
Also says a lot that our POTY contenders are probably Evans, Maguire and Dalot at this halfway point.
Also says a lot that our POTY contenders are probably Evans, Maguire and Dalot at this halfway point.
He’s fecking crap. We’d be better off playing with ten men and leaving him out.
Everytime Antony gets the ball I get angry. He's so crap. Take him off now at half time and bring on Amad not mctominay.
I've never played professional football but I can guarantee you I could get this team to ve better attacking football then ETH! Time and time again you see our players in the attacking third out wide, dicking about with the ball with short passes to each other rather than looking to get a cross in, and inevitably losing the ball.
I do wonder what we do in training tbh. Train so hard that we are constantly beset by injuries, illnesses, player disgruntlement. But absolutely no evidence of any technical quality on match days, nor even the faintest glimmer of familiarity or understanding between the players.
Honestly sick of him now. He can’t coach any sort of an attacking game. He can’t coach a defence as well. fecking useless
Tim Howard on TV begging ETH to switch Antony and Garnacho and never play Antony on the right again, telling him your job is to get down the left wing and whip in crosses and passes with that left foot. While I'd rather Antony sit on the bench at least on the left he wouldn't be constantly fecking up the attack by slowing down to cut to his left with the occasional shot into the stands. But Rashford is miles better on the left so Antony just needs to sit.
Really needs to get a grip of our attack, it's so blunt. That graphic Sky Sports pulled up half way through the first half showing our attacking statistics from this season is embarrassing.
He engineered the worst signing in the history of Manchester United and makes us suffer for his error by shoehorning the mistake into the team every week.
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