Yeah, I agree it was a good answer from
@Valencia Shin Crosses, and I think I replied to that with a few further thoughts a above somewhere, and will refer you to that for my thoughts about that post.
What I miss in the debate, is a bit more recognition of the fact that Ten Hag managed last season, and Ten Hag managed this season. It’s almost like two different teams, and how to explain that - and what has predictive value.
One example is if you think he has been too stubborn this season, I think you’ll have to concede he can be very pragmatic looking at last season (4-2-3-1 vs 4-1-2-3-ish). Others think he has been too pragmatic this season (transitionally direct), but fail to accept that he made a backline including DDG improve vastly in playing out from the back and a frontline with Rashford, Martial/Weghorst and Antony in front of Eriksen deliver some of the best high pressing numbers in the league, when we had sucked at that under three previous managers. If you think 1/3rd of last season was sackable (forgetting maybe that we won four straight games to end the season with Wout Weghorst as a lone striker), you’d have to conclude that 2/3 was fantastic, not just good, when the total ends up with the second highest points return in a decade and two cup finals to boot. If it was just luck that Rashford scored 17 league goals last season, maybe it’s just bad luck he has only scored 7 this season.
I think we can all agree (hopefully) that Ten Hag’s first season here was not a result of coasting on the fantastic ground work laid by Solskjær, Rangnik, Woodward, Murtaugh and the Glazers. What we have is Ten Hag having two swings of the bat, one above expectation (of most), one below, and the question is what will come from a third swing.
A simplistic view is that it’s a downward trajectory from the first to the second season so this must continue. An equally simplistic view is that this second season is purely bad luck and can be totally disregarded. I think that anyone at this point concluding that anything to do with the manager position is a ‘no-brainer’ it’s either because they sit on information not partial to any of us (Ten Hag slept with Radcliffe’s wife?), or they are not using their brain enough, and assumes nobody else is neither. I certainly won’t claim to know what will result from next season under Ten Hag, but I see enough arguments from seven of his last eight seasons to think that he can come good again. I don’t see any other managerial alternatives available that come without equally bad patches, or a CV anything close to Ten Hag’s total. If Sir Berraillsworthcox talk to everyone at the club and conclude that this season is likely a long, hard blip, I’m very inclined to agree. Equally, if they conclude that this isn’t likely to come around, that there are better candidates to work with this group of players from June on, I’ll have little reason to question that.