Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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The worst thing about Ten Hag for me is the lack of pragmatism.

One of the biggest issues we have is our lack of recovery pace at centre back. We cant hold a high line. Without that, it is hard to press and constrain the opposition in their own half when centre backs like Maguire start backtracking as soon as we lose possession. Varane and Martinez are not quick either.

This creates that huge gap in midfield. We have seen it since the first few games of the season, when he had Mount and Bruno pressing up as dual 8's.

The awful form of Casemiro has not helped.

Despite all of this though, you have to find a way to make the most of what we have. It starts with making the team hard to beat. The manager hasnt been able to setup, or coach a team to be able to cover the deficiencies in the team. He is still persisting with having midfielders push on, leaving those gaps in midfield. He still has his left back inverting, even when we don't have a real left back.

When you are conceding the most shots in the league, as we were earlier this month, you have to be able to stop it. This manager seems to want to persist with his ways and methods regardless.
 
gaffs said:
The worst thing about Ten Hag for me is the lack of pragmatism.

One of the biggest issues we have is our lack of recovery pace at centre back. We cant hold a high line. Without that, it is hard to press and constrain the opposition in their own half when centre backs like Maguire start backtracking as soon as we lose possession. Varane and Martinez are not quick either.

This creates that huge gap in midfield. We have seen it since the first few games of the season, when he had Mount and Bruno pressing up as dual 8's.

The awful form of Casemiro has not helped.

Despite all of this though, you have to find a way to make the most of what we have. It starts with making the team hard to beat. The manager hasnt been able to setup, or coach a team to be able to cover the deficiencies in the team. He is still persisting with having midfielders push on, leaving those gaps in midfield. He still has his left back inverting, even when we don't have a real left back.

When you are conceding the most shots in the league, as we were earlier this month, you have to be able to stop it. This manager seems to want to persist with his ways and methods regardless.
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He's actually dong the exact opposite, the setup highlights weaknesses in certain players.

It was a bold strategy to persevere with for an entire season and it hasn't in any way worked out.
 
When Erik came, I thought changes would be coming. We would play progression football with alot of movement and pressing but he found that it doesn't work very fast in year 1. He decided to be pragmatic with the players at his disposal. He would then spend alot of money again where the players he signed will never influence the play. How can Hoijund or Onana influence the style of play? If he really wants to be successful, he needs to know what is the problem and address it. Our season is over, he still doesn't know what is our problem. He could simply drop Rashford and Bruno to force the team to playing without them but time and time again, their names are always the first on XI. Change will never happen if ETH stays around. He needs to go, we need a manager who is willing to sell or drop players to implement change. Everyone in this club needs to be aligned in the direction that we are going. Sell Rashford, Casemiro, McTominay, Bruno (if someone puts in a big bid) then we will definitely see those changes.
 
Herschel Krustofsky said:
He’s standing up for the club.

The whole ‘cult’ thing is very childish. The fact you didn’t append with FC is, at least, something
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He's not standing up for the club he's doing it for himself so he doesn't have to talk about how shite he's been.
 
Unam333 said:
Can't say Diallo is setting the world alight.

Like Antony, Diallo is doing ok: he tracks back, can keep the ball quite well, has an pretty decent shot, drifts inside alot.

I do think Diallo needs to play more. In my books it's a toss up between Antony or Diallo who plays on the right imo.
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How can you judge these two the same? Amad has been kept out the team by a couple of players who are either no better or alot worse than him because for some reason Erik doesn't want to play him. If he'd had as many minutes as Anthony I believe he would be a lot better than what we're seeing from him.
 
SAF is the GOAT said:








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I've never had anything against Ten Hag personally. But he's needs to stop spouting absolute bollocks like this. After 2 years we shouldn't be competing for top 4 we should be firmly in it and looking to progress to competing for the title. Not hoping to snag an undeserved 6th place finish. Yeah we're not in a position to compete for no1 or no2. We're not even in a position to compete for fecking no5.

The main key position we need to strengthen is the managers position.
 
"This year we stand still" ... 3+ positions worse off, 15+ points worse off, 15+ goal difference worse off.

And yeh we might still be competing for the CL spots with no injuries, but we still wouldnt be qualifying for it. The football was just as rank when Martinez and Shaw were playing from the 7-0 onwards.

Though it is nice that he's the first manager to be brazenly lowering our standards before our very eyes. Previous managers all tried to do it while saying the opposite. Under Ten Hag we're officially required to be happy with merely competing for the top four. After spending £420m.
 
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"If we have a good window ". It will be a great window if you piss off you clown
 
Watching his Ajax team highlights, the unselfishness of those players was why they were so successful. Players receiving passes and immediately having options because their teammates are already making runs. Here at Utd, Bruno passes to Rash, Garnacho, or Antony and they all cut in and shoot and that's if Bruno isn't shooting from outside the box himself. It still boggles my mind why he at the very least, hasn't/didn't lay the foundation for his style of play. I understand the players are shite, and he had zero help from the numpty owners and banker running the club. This is why I was big on Nagelsmann if they sacked ETH....I think he would of come in and immediately instilled his tactics into the squad. Sure it would of taken multiple transfer windows, but it would of been a positive start. What we all watch week in and week out is just absoulte shite. Players receiving the ball and then having no clue as to what to do next. They look up to see all his teammates standing in one spot doing feck all! Why can't Eric explain what he wants them to do, formation, movement etc??? I do beleive ETH is smart manager who understands the game, extremely stubborn, but he was hired on the merit of what he did at Ajax, and this Utd squad looks nothing like that. Explain to my moronic football brain why this is??

If he keeps his job, surely INEOS will demand that progressive attacking Ajax style of play?? No? Yes??
 
Standing still on an escalator maybe. At this point I hope he bans every journalist, so the world doesn't have to be exposed to his drivel. I'd happily never hear from him again.
 
Longshanks said:
He's got his 70 million pound CF and his 90 million right winger. Both of whom have been available for the vast majority of the season. Neither have hit the required standard. It was his decision to cut Sancho off so he has to live with that. And Rashford and Bruno are good quality proven players it's his job to get the best out of them. And of course he has had an exciting young player from the academy who is having a good break out season.

All those players have been available for the vast majority of the season. He has pretty much his first choice attacking players available and we have been very poor offensively most of the season.

It's his job to get more out of them than what they have delivered. He has failed. That's management.
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No, it wasn't. There is no need to rewrite history. Was he supposed to bend over for Sancho? You are all crying for discipline, and when the coach actually shows some, now it's not a good thing?

Just like it wasn't his decision for Rashford to go partying when he had training the next day. Just like it wasn't his decision what to do with Greenwood. Just like it wasn't his decision to send back Reguilon back and be without a natural left-back for the second half of the season. You are saying that it's his job to get more out of them. But it takes two to tango. You can't squeeze a lemon out of a rock.

Look, I'm not blindly defending Ten Hag, I'm 50/50 if he has to stay or go as both camps have good reasons to think one of the other, but if you believe that some other manager would magically improve this squad, who by the way is playing a good portion of the season without establishing CB pairing all season, I would call that a stretch. The squad needs rebuilding big time, need quality in players, needs players to stay fit.

One of the main reasons why people want Ten Hag to go is the shots conceded per match this season. When he had the better part of the squad available last year, this was not the case, and De Gea even won the Golden Glove.
 
Even with an injury stricken squad, we should be playing with a defined style and approach. I saw glimpses of it in the last game with a possession based style of play but nowhere near consistent and that against poor opposition.

ETH cannot be using injuries as an excuse, this team (with all the injuries) under good management should comfortably be in the Top 5.
 
Vidooq said:
One of the main reasons why people want Ten Hag to go is the shots conceded per match this season. When he had the better part of the squad available last year, this was not the case, and De Gea even won the Golden Glove.
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We had a completely different formation and playstyle last season. He didn't really change much from what we were doing under Ole, with the same 4231 and general style just with Casemiro and Eriksen in the two deeper midfielders and Martinez in the defence.

This season he decided to make his own changes to the team and we've played a 4141 that was ridiculously open. It hasn't mattered who was fit, we've seen the same issues right from preseason with a huge gap right through the middle of the field and the one midfielder getting completely overrun. Even with close to our strongest line-up on the field we're being dominated by poor teams.
 
spwd said:
How can you judge these two the same? Amad has been kept out the team by a couple of players who are either no better or alot worse than him because for some reason Erik doesn't want to play him. If he'd had as many minutes as Anthony I believe he would be a lot better than what we're seeing from him.
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Amad has had opportunities to show something and hasn‘t except for Pool game in FA cup. He just needs to take his chances when they come.

To start him over Rashford is a bit bonkers imo. Even out of form, Rashford is still better right now.
 
Does he really think all other clubs will sit on their asses over the summer and wait us to catch up?

More deluded than Mr "I needed more time", and I cant wait to se his back at the end of the season.
 
NLunited said:
Amad has had opportunities to show something and hasn‘t except for Pool game in FA cup. He just needs to take his chances when they come.

To start him over Rashford is a bit bonkers imo. Even out of form, Rashford is still better right now.
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You call those opportunities?
 
frostbite said:
And next year we will compete for top-4 ... but only if you give me another 400 million to "strengthen key positions".
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Brian Brobbey and a club foot De Jong

Get the feck in

(God I hope he isn’t in charge of recruitment again this summer)
 
Aw, the poll is closed. I was looking forward to seeing the percentages change again after today's game.
 
So after spending 400 million on squad we need "everyone available" just to hope to compete for top 4. What other club can expect to have "everyone available"? Is he basically then saying top 4 is an unrealistic pipe dream next season? Unless we give him another 200 million for some ex Ajax players I guess.
 
The only thing holding it off is the FA Cup final. It will be announced a few days after the loss against City. Just bear with it.

Though, I do approve of his treatment of the rag tabloids. Feck them.
 
Rista said:
So after spending 400 million on squad we need "everyone available" just to hope to compete for top 4. What other club can expect to have "everyone available"? Is he basically then saying top 4 is an unrealistic pipe dream next season? Unless we give him another 200 million for some ex Ajax players I guess.
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It's self preservation. Dumb down expectations as a ploy to give off the impression that the manager isn't doing such a bad job. Mourinho was a master of it and many people bought it.

Last season was the transitional season and we came 3rd. This season we should've been looking to build on that, becoming more fluent in the way we play and bringing the gap to the likes of City and Arsenal. Instead we failed miserably in the league and Champions League. Time's up.
 
You watch his press conferences and feel even more depressed about United than you do when you watch the team on the pitch. Carragher made a nice point about Klopp this week about how when Liverpool fans saw Klopp on the sidelines etc you felt confident going to a battle with any team in the league. This guy just gives me no confidence at all, you can live with a manager like that if he was a tactical genius but he has shown this season that he has nothing tactically either so I don’t really know what he is good at
 
hobbers said:
£9m down to £6.75m

Just his pride alone should stop him hanging around earning that when Pep is on £20m. Poch and Arteta both earn around £10m.

If he'd done the bear minimum as United manager he'd have been given at least 1-2 year extension months ago, with a salary bump, or at least the 25% reduction wiped out.
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The 1st member of Utd’s players /staff we’ve given a shit contract to in 20 years.
 
Longshanks said:
He's got his 70 million pound CF and his 90 million right winger. Both of whom have been available for the vast majority of the season. Neither have hit the required standard. It was his decision to cut Sancho off so he has to live with that. And Rashford and Bruno are good quality proven players it's his job to get the best out of them. And of course he has had an exciting young player from the academy who is having a good break out season.

All those players have been available for the vast majority of the season. He has pretty much his first choice attacking players available and we have been very poor offensively most of the season.

It's his job to get more out of them than what they have delivered. He has failed. That's management.
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You can blame Ten Hag for a lot of things but the Sancho situation is 100% nothing on Ten Hag.
 
VP89 said:
I think the minute we see mitten/ogden/Dawson/Whitwell give some info, it would be more credible.

Italian journalists would have no clue what INEOS are planning.
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Dawson, Ogden are nowhere close to trustworthy when it comes to United news they might occassionally get things right .

Simple rule of thumb is likes of Whitwell, Ducker, Stone are basically United's mouthpiece if United wants some info put out there , while you can trust likes of Ornstein , Mitten to only put out credible well sourced info .
 
God help us. Another window with him deciding who comes and goes will see us properly mid table next season.
 
Godfather said:
God help us. Another window with him deciding who comes and goes will see us properly mid table next season.
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Not necessarily. He’s said he’s going to compete for top 4 if all players can stay healthy then let’s trust him. He might deliver this against all odds which would be a huge, huge achievement. Maybe he can take us where Villa and Spurs are, which very few managers are capable of.
 
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SAF is the GOAT said:








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In his first press conference, he said that the potential of the team is there as they finished 2nd the season before last. Now he's writing off his teams chances before they've even started a new season. Shows just how little faith he has in all of them now. Let's be honest though, he should have realised it in the 2nd game against Brentford :lol:
 
Sarni said:
Not necessarily. He’s said he’s going to compete for top 4 if all players can stay healthy then let’s trust him. He might deliver this against all odds which would be a huge, huge achievement. Maybe he can take us where Villa and Spurs are, which very few managers are capable of.
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Everyone who (unlike the majority of clueless fans here) understands football knows that this squad is barely championship level. Our manager is a true miracle worker, getting us to be competitive against the likes Coventry and Sheffield with a squad decimated by injuries.

With a full squad and a good summer transfer window even a solid mid-table finish would be a great target to strive for next season. But he is even more ambitious than that, he sees us potentially competing for top-4 spot in his third season already (!) What a man. What an overachiever. We are so lucky to have him. He is truly bringing highest standards to the club, as he recently said.
 
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