WHY are people upset that people change their minds after we beat the best team in the world deservedly in an FA Cup Final?
“ha ha! You fools! I’m not like you, I don’t let trophies and emotions override my main footballing focus. Logic and numbers.”
Blah Blah Blah - Saturday was mint if you don’t at least consider keeping ETH after that you’re a wrongun.
After McKenna has decided to stay, it's an easy decision in my view. So I say preach.
I agree that ESPN coverage and punditry is about the worst in the business, but it’s smoke and mirrors to discount the validity of what he was saying just because of where he said it.
The fact is, Ten Hag used yesterdays game to say that having everyone fit, the game showed “what the team was capable of”, and that they were finally able to “play football they way we wanted to”. Well I bloody well hope not. What it showed, if anything was that with everyone fit he was capable of putting a game plan together that could produce a result, but the way we played and how we got that result was surely, surely, not indicative of the type of football we want to play.
This is apparently also a manager that can only produce when all his players are fit - if you listen to him - and can only produce when Martinez is fit - if you listen to the Caf - which is another huge red flag. A good manager has to be able to produce at least a competent performance during an injury crisis, even if no one is expecting you to perform at your best.
It’s also worth remembering, and I pointed this out earlier, to which no one had a reply, but at the start of the season - his second season - we lost 6 of our first 10 games with a nearly full fit squad. That kind of horrendous loss rate continued throughout the season, and was later explained away by some as the result of an injury crisis, but we came out the gate this season losing every other game. Spurs, Arsenal. Bayern, Palace, Brighton and Galatasaray, all turned us over in the first 10 games. We scored 15 and conceded 18 in that period. That run of 4 wins and 6 losses in the first ten games also included the opening day 1-0 over Wolves, where they tore us to pieces and had a stonewall penalty not given, and a very lucky 3-2 win over ten man Forest. So it could have been even worse.
Our form had been dismal since the Carabao cup final win last season, and has stayed pretty consistently poor regardless of personnel.
I think a lot of people, myself certainly, would be happy to give him another season if there were signs of actual progression in the team. There were a fair few people at the end of last season who were ringing alarms bells and saying he was shit, and I very vigorously defended him. I saw enough last season to see he had us moving in the right direction, and put the late season slump down to fatigue. Fatigue from competing on so many fronts (a consequence of success). But we came out of the gates this season looking completely clueless and disorganised with a non-sensical tactical approach. Almost every fan on this forum has been screaming for nearly the entire season about the absurdity of our midfield set up. Yet we win the FA cup with a park the bus performance, and suddenly people are all “give him time”.
I’d LOVE to give him time, IF he had shown any signs this season that he was building something, that he was moving us towards a clear style of play. But he simply hasn’t. He’s persisted with a baffling non-midfield set up, resulting in a record amount of goals and shots on goal conceded, as well as our lowest ever PL finish; and then in the final weeks of the season abandoned that approach for an ultra conservative 4-2-4-0 to win a cup. So what the giddy feck is the plan for next season? Park the bus? Back to tactical seppuku? Something new we haven’t seen yet, meaning we’ve built no foundation over his first two years? No, I’m sorry, but whichever way I shake it, he just doesn’t cut the mustard. He’s developed nothing in the last two years that can be built on. We are basically starting from scratch next season, with or without him, because there is nothing about the way we’ve set up this season that is even remotely usable for next season. That is damning.
The two things I will give him credit for, because a bad manager can do good things, is his consistent commitment to bringing through youth players in a meaningful way (vital for a United manager), and the way he’s handled disciplinary issues - which I fundamentally agree with. The problem is, if you are going to rule with an iron fist - especially in modern football where players are all over paid prima Donna’s - you have to back it up by being successful on the pitch. Otherwise it just doesn’t work.
I don't discount what they say because they're at ESPN, I discount it because it's the same agenda throughout. I'll still engage in debate about potential manager replacements, mind, and I don't see Erik ten Hag as amazing or clueless, so there's a lot of nuance and context.
I don't think he used the FA Cup final to say this is what he can do with a full squad at all. I think it was a tailor made tactical plan that worked to absolute perfection. And I suspect that even after a good summer window and decent availability of key players over the course of another season that would be a similar tactical plan against them again, because they are infinitely superior as a possession side against anyone else really.
I've said numerous times on here, as well as others, that Martinez is absolutely fundamental to the way we set up. You can say that's not a healthy position to be in, but he took over a team that was radically different from a team suited to his style of play. And it would have been that way for most promising managers at the time too. He more or less made two major calls in rectifying that by not pandering to Ronnie who then had a fit, and he sold Dave who needed to go. He also tried to help Sancho find his way, with incredible patience, but Sancho is not mature enough to appreciate it.
Last summer was pretty shite in terms of squad building as the club had briefed three times the players available and their desired prices for each, and then couldn't shift them which is far from an ideal situation to be in in terms of the dressing room. Thankfully, Maguire and McTominay still performed to their level this season, but I think the former doesn't suit our tactics at all and the latter is just not good enough. Can't complain about their professionalism. Some player or players did brief against the media a few times this season using that horrendous piece of shit Luckhurst and the media was really on Erik's case throughout this season. You can add the Greenwood situation and the whole uncertainty of the takeover, which affects not just Erik, but the playing staff, the coaching staff, and everyone at the club. So quite tumultuous really.
And we had that stupid money-grab pre-season which I sincerely hope is a thing of the past, as it set us back, instead of getting us ready. A Glazer special.
The midfield situation is a valid criticism and I had the same criticism, and likely most if not all supporters. He chose to play the percentages thinking this was the best way to not revert to a low block and play on the counter which was maybe the most pragmatic solution given we had Shaw, Martinez, a fit Casemiro missing, a Bruno in poor form, a lazy Rashford, no left back, a rapidly ageing Eriksen, an injured all season Mount, and only one striker, who was missing through injury twice during the season and at the start of the season.
But I feel the comparison with other clubs and injuries is a bit misguided. Chelsea had a player who - like Bruno under Ole - singlehandedly dragged them on. They also have more depth than we have. Arsenal had hardly any major injuries. Did Liverpool struggle with a similar amount of injuries to key players all season? I didn't notice (don't watch them unless we're playing them). City obviously have the best manager around and are so well drilled over years and years that they can carry quite a few injuries. I don't think they suffered anywhere close to what we did. Villa, who obviously have a very good manager but much lower expectations, nowhere near the same scrutiny, did they struggle with a similar amount of injuries to key players? Granted, Newcastle did suffer some significant injuries, and it showed in their results and performances over the season.
Onana had a mare for the first few months, something that was impossible to foresee given his career to date, but he's coming good now. The CL fiasco was both due to his poor performances and in Denmark we were much the better side until that Rashford red card (still think that was harsh).
To me the question now isn't whether it would make sense to keep ETH and he has free rein to do as he pleases, it's do we keep ETH with a new structure in place. He won't be identifying the talent, he'll be greatly supported by first in class people whose role is ensuring the cohesion of all levels of our footballing teams, and the implementation of a long-term vision.
Did you know we tried to sign a forward in January but couldn't due to FFP? He was having to ensure Hojlund stayed fit for as long as possible, whilst having a woefully out of form Rashford. I mean, there are so many factors for this season being the way it was. And yet, we are in the Europa now and won the FA Cup against the best team on the planet.
For me, the right way to go about this is giving him a fresh contract with (unpublicised) clauses that require a certain minimums to be met, which is a get out of jail free card should things not progress, meanwhile McKenna waits in the wings should the call come. Puchel and Poch can continue their plateauing elsewhere and Thomas Frank can keep dreaming.
