Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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Red-17 said:
It was also far from the only time it happened though. One example could be a miscommunication or missed assignment. Less glaring examples occurred a handful of times all with us already up a goal meaning there was no reason for us to put that much risk into it. The level of risk we were taking is only sustainable in short bursts of 15-20 minutes which is why our midfield looked tired 30 minutes into the game. You can't expect Mainoo and McTominay to be regularly making runs into the box and simultaneously be responsible for screening the defense in a high intensity match.

We looked lost from about 35 minutes until the substitutions which he deserves credit for, but the tactics were certainly boom and bust in the first half. It could have paid off if McTominay buried the second chance, but conversely Liverpool could have and should have made much more from their chances.
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I must have short memory, but I do not recall it happening much when we weren’t chasing the game. And if it did, I don’t recall it being something that Liverpool mustered a relatively decent chance from.
 
Potentially 3 finals (and a trophy), along with hopefully consecutive top 4 finishes. It's not a bad first couple of seasons by any stretch.
 
Brilliant today. I hope he can get he team to fight like this for the rest of the season
 
We’ve been shit for ages and had some crap results, don’t know why people feel the need to come in here antagonising after a win. What ever turns you on I suppose.

as for ten hag today, as much as I was hating the second half I’m glad we went for it the final ten minutes and loved our balls out approach in extra time. Best feeling watching us for a long time. Was happy with that
 
That has to be the greatest game I've experienced as a United supporter. The 1999 UCL final was definitely up there due to how it ended and what was at stake. But this game against Liverpool was unbelievable as far as the drama element is concerned and it will live long in the memory bank.

Liverpool were better than us technically in possession and have a CB pairing that can close off the space in a higher line due to their physical and athletic gifts. That in-turn allows Klopp to throw more bodies forward in the opponent's half which is a clear advantage for a coach wanting to play the game in the opponent's half. And that is the big difference between the two teams right now and it's mainly down to Liverpool having better personnel than United and not our tactics being flawed like some of you seem to think.

The screenshot posted earlier where the gap between the midfield and last line is of course too big and there has to be compactness in that regard. But is that a tactical flaw or is it a personnel issue? It's a personnel issue for me and the back-line doesn't step forward to close off the space, which leaves a big space in the middle with people then saying that there's no midfield when in-fact that space has to be occupied by the players in the last line who have to backup the high press. Lindelof is extremely vulnerable in that situation and wants to back pedal rather than defend on the front foot and all it takes is one player to not commit in the back-line and a big hole with then appear in the middle. Ideally you commit the fullbacks forward and have the CBs control large spaces in the channel. But unfortunately we don't have a CB pairing that can defend on the front foot to close off the space to maintain compactness. It's not a big issue as far as i'm concerned because i'm expecting new CBs to rectify that problem.

We need to raise the level when it comes to eating up ground and winning duels without sacrificing the technical side of things in the first phase which has the potential for a big improvement. And when you have all the pieces together, then I expect to see a identity form on the pitch.
 
LordSpud said:
Potentially 3 finals (and a trophy), along with hopefully consecutive top 4 finishes. It's not a bad first couple of seasons by any stretch.
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We’re not finishing top four, but if we can manage a strong league run in and nick the FA Cup, he could salvage something from an otherwise pretty torrid season.
 
Zlatan 7 said:
We’ve been shit for ages and had some crap results, don’t know why people feel the need to come in here antagonising after a win. What ever turns you on I suppose.

as for ten hag today, as much as I was hating the second half I’m glad we went for it the final ten minutes and loved our balls out approach in extra time. Best feeling watching us for a long time. Was happy with that
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There's also absolute weirdos who don't seem too happy we won. Everyone should be absolutely buzzing after today.
 
miliebrowndivorceattorney said:
I took some notes this game. Despite the obvious differences in players available, LFC favorite, ETH's tactics completly owned them the first 20 minutes. And, in the end, defeated the mighty 23/24 LFC coached by God coach Klopp. Eat that, thank you very much.

After 17 minutes we had 9 high turn overs, 8 attacks total, 8 balls inside LFC box, 3 shots at target of wich one became a goal.

After 65 minutes and 2 goals for LFC I noted the 16th LFC attack vs 13 attacks for United. It was nowhere near what anyone predicted and the game went up and down many times.

The whole game we had several moments where we could score the winner. Bruno is a liability though and when ETH put him much more at the back and gave his space to actual dangerous players like McTominay, our game changed drastically.

On top of that I enjoyed this game to the last second. I never screamed so much at my tv! The big LFC completely beaten, crushed like a bug with our severely handicapped squad. It was a showcase of what a manager can do, and a showcase of how Manchester United should play for the future.

I've said many times what I like about ETH's coaching is that from the first minute we go for the jugular. many important games we score the all important early goal when under oter managers, we either didn't score untill very late or we didn't score at all (LvG for instance). ETH is making is play modern, high energy football. Yes we have problems maintaining our pose and especialy our midfield, our lack of leadership in a weak captain that is Bruno, but still we prevailed and I don't believe for one minute that Ten Hag is out this summer. INEOS would be stark raving mad.

Well done Erik ten Hag, also for putting that a bit overlauded coach Klopp and his boys of wonder. Thank you Erik for another game that had me screaming and jumping up and down like I haven't in many years. Epic, epic win. Great work and keep on going.
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Someone give this post a like!

@Cheimoon @Rood @Mr Pigeon
 
Absolutely delighted for him and the players today! Had some balls today. Well done, Erik! Get in there!
 
Robbie Boy said:
There's also absolute weirdos who don't seem too happy we won. Everyone should be absolutely buzzing after today.
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I’m still buzzing, just wrote in the post match thread, might have to watch extra time again now on itv player
 
Robbie Boy said:
There's also absolute weirdos who don't seem too happy we won. Everyone should be absolutely buzzing after today.
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Unfortunately this thread is laughable. The usual suspects were in here gloating that we're losing midway through, and then were bitterly posting in this thread about who scored the winner instead of celebrating a huge goal for the club.

This during a huge match against our biggest rivals, in which we created much better chances than one of the best teams in the world, who needed 2 dodgy deflections, should have won it in normal time, and did at the end of extra time. The team showed a huge amount of guts and grit to turn it around against such a good team after 2 lucky deflected goals. It's a genuine shame that hatred of the manager prevents some of these "fans" from enjoying it as much as they should.
 
Whatever you think of ETH, in or out, the one thing is clear the players continue to play for him. I wouldn't completely blame them for giving up on ETH given the recurring midfield issues but they are definitely doing what he wants to or at least fully trying.

Honestly I think that's a first post Fergie. Any time we've had a struggle results wise you could see players kinda stop playing for the manager....
 
One thing to say is that I have been so critical of Ten Hag and his season. So many terrible losses and poor performances, but

a). I always want a United manager to succeed
b). I am always, always happy when the team win.

I can’t see a way back for him just because of the depths we have reached this season and how poorly we have played in so many games, but today? Today he got everything right and the team never gave up and it’s a fantastic win which they all richly deserve.

The club is bigger than any manager and any player, but that’s a discussion for another day. Today, I am just delighted as a fan and ecstatic for them! It’s the single best moment of the season and everyone should have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.
 
Sweet Square said:
There’s clear systematic failings and the goals we conceded happened due to the systematic failings. But….. potential two FA Cup finals in a row and clearly the players still believe in him.

I don’t want him sacked and would give him next season but also I realise this is a form of madness.
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Disagree, Mainoo was at fault for at least one of the goals due to a lack of awareness and picking his man up. He’s a young lad, he will learn and that will happen.

At least one of the other goals doesn’t happen if Martinez is playing. Honestly can’t stress enough how much we need a proper backup/partner for him. It should have been Kim-Min, but that isn’t on ETH.
 
criticalanalysis said:
If I don't see this lineup for the next game, I'm not watching:

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On a serious note, a lot of fans were complaining about his stubbornness and reluctance to change his strategy in game. Today he showed the ability to change his formation and throw caution to the wind.

The reality is that a lot of elite teams are pushing their CB’s much higher up the pitch and almost playing a box 4 in midfield with 2 2 2 4, Against City we got seriously outnumbered in this area and for for long periods in the second half today it was the same as either one of Pools CB stepped into midfield and pushed us back, in the last 10 mins of the game and 30 mins of ET, ETH didn’t now what formation he was playing I think it was 2-1-7 but what we did have was legs and energy with Antony, Dalot, Amad, Garanaucho, Mount, Mctominay and Even Rashford getting a second wind. Plus No one should underestimate Eriksen creativity and Maguire physicality one of the few CB who can match VVD?

Fair Play Mr ETH fortune favours the Bold!
 
Well, it worked this time and credit to ETH for being bold. If his experiment failed, he would have been castigated. The margins are very thin.

I don’t think this win has redeemed ETH’s performance this season or that of the players but it shows we have something more to offer even with these group of inconsistent players.

I am very worried about how we defend and our propensity to give soft goals away or forget who we’re marking. Our insistence to play out from the back is time and time again costing us, which ETH doesn’t want to acknowledge.

So yes some encouraging signs but our defence needs sorting out.
 
DRJosh said:
Well, it worked this time and credit to ETH for being bold. If his experiment failed, he would have been castigated. The margins are very thin.

I don’t think this win has redeemed ETH’s performance this season or that of the players but it shows we have something more to offer even with these group of inconsistent players.

I am very worried about how we defend and our propensity to give soft goals away or forget who we’re marking. Our insistence to play out from the back is time and time again costing us, which ETH doesn’t want to acknowledge.

So yes some encouraging signs but our defence needs sorting out.
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I don't think you'd every get any real criticism from United fans for throwing caution to the wind and going all out attack when you are losing.

It was great to see him go balls out today and play so attacking towards the end. A big criticism I have had of him is he doesn't do enough to turn games around when we are losing, often waiting way too long to make attacking changes or not making them at all.
 
That first 30 minutes were exceptional. Probably the best we’ve played under ETH. We really should have been at least 2-0 up before Liverpool even had a kick. The next 60 were awful.

But the biggest takeaway for me was the balls on ETH for that extra time. That was proper Fergie style, throw it all at them, no retreating, Old Trafford bouncing, classic United. The easy thing to do after the equaliser was to retreat again. Get back into a ‘normal’ shape. And it’s fully what I expected to happen.

But my god the balls on Erik to just throw it all at them. Then to take another defender in Lindelof off & throw on Mount.Bruno at centre back. Antony left back. There’s a fine line between genius & madness but today it was genius. And it was the most invested & ‘connected’ I’ve felt to a United team in a long long time.
 
Malone_Post said:
That first 30 minutes were exceptional. Probably the best we’ve played under ETH. We really should have been at least 2-0 up before Liverpool even had a kick. The next 60 were awful.

But the biggest takeaway for me was the balls on ETH for that extra time. That was proper Fergie style, throw it all at them, no retreating, Old Trafford bouncing, classic United. The easy thing to do after the equaliser was to retreat again. Get back into a ‘normal’ shape. And it’s fully what I expected to happen.

But my god the balls on Erik to just throw it all at them. Then to take another defender in Lindelof off & throw on Mount.Bruno at centre back. Antony left back. There’s a fine line between genius & madness but today it was genius. And it was the most invested & ‘connected’ I’ve felt to a United team in a long long time.
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I just leave these kind of posts, exactly how I felt too
 
I'm one of the biggest ETH critics. But if he can get the team play this style of football even if we missed out of CL next year he should stay. This is the sign of progress and modern style of play that we want to see.

From now until end of the season, continue playing this style of football and we will have solid foundation to build for next season.

I didn't see it coming from ETH and what a game and tactics from him to beat Liverpool!
 
Malone_Post said:
That first 30 minutes were exceptional. Probably the best we’ve played under ETH. We really should have been at least 2-0 up before Liverpool even had a kick. The next 60 were awful.

But the biggest takeaway for me was the balls on ETH for that extra time. That was proper Fergie style, throw it all at them, no retreating, Old Trafford bouncing, classic United. The easy thing to do after the equaliser was to retreat again. Get back into a ‘normal’ shape. And it’s fully what I expected to happen.

But my god the balls on Erik to just throw it all at them. Then to take another defender in Lindelof off & throw on Mount.Bruno at centre back. Antony left back. There’s a fine line between genius & madness but today it was genius. And it was the most invested & ‘connected’ I’ve felt to a United team in a long long time.
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Agreed. The tactical shift as well where he utilised Bruno as a quarter back in the backline is a proper out of the box move and it proved to be the game changer along with Eriksen and throwing Maguire upfront. We went toe to toe with Liverpool in Extra-Time and the game became end to end with us coming out on top.

I think we're one good transfer window away from having a complete system of play. The difference between ten Hag and managers like Mourinho and Ole was that they'd wasted funds on critical positions at the back by wasting huge sums on Bailly, Lindelof, Matic, Maguire and Wan Bissaka. Matic wasn't a bad player but he wasn't a Matic in his peak. So I'm not sure how a football structure could help either manager when it was reported that the scouts were telling them not to sign certain players and they were still hell bent on making those signings, which Woodward allowed them to make. You can't blame a lack of football structure when both Ole and Mourinho made no attempt to develop the club's existing structure and Solskjaer even admitted it was his decision to sign Ronaldo. Jurgen Klopp on the other hand went to Liverpool and revived a football structure that was being widely ridiculed.

Ten Hag if given the opportunity has the CB positions and deeper midfield positions open to him for improvement. And if we bring in the correct profile of players in those positions it will make a difference.
 
Adnan said:
Agreed. The tactical shift as well where he utilised Bruno as a quarter back in the backline is a proper out of the box move and it proved to be the game changer along with Eriksen and throwing Maguire upfront. We went toe to toe with Liverpool in Extra-Time and the game became end to end with us coming out on top.

I think we're one good transfer window away from having a complete system of play. The difference between ten Hag and managers like Mourinho and Ole was that they'd wasted funds on critical positions at the back by wasting huge sums on Bailly, Lindelof, Matic, Maguire and Wan Bissaka. Matic wasn't a bad player but he wasn't a Matic in his peak. So I'm not sure how a football structure could help either manager when it was reported that the scouts were telling them not to sign certain players and they were still hell bent on making those signings, which Woodward allowed them to make. You can't blame a lack of football structure when both Ole and Mourinho made no attempt to develop the club's existing structure and Solskjaer even admitted it was his decision to sign Ronaldo. Jurgen Klopp on the other hand went to Liverpool and revived a football structure that was being widely ridiculed.

Ten Hag if given the opportunity has the CB positions and deeper midfield positions open to him for improvement. And if we bring in the correct profile of players in those positions it will make a difference.
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It'd have to be a really good one to do it in one window unfortunately. A centre back, a left back, a defensive midfielder that will all go straight into the first team and another striker.
 
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