How we play against Brighton, I am seriously worried that we won't crack top 6. It is just top 6, if ETH doesn't sort this out then I see only maybe 8-10. He needs to forget who was in the XI but to play his 11 best players regardless of reputation or age. If Martinez is such a good passer and tackler then put him as DM with Eriksen. Please try Varane and Lindeloft. Forget about Maguire, he is just one of slowest defender in the league. I am done with Rashford, please start Garnacho. If Ronaldo is staying then he leads to attack, else buy a new attacker. Just do it.
Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24
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It’s better now than later, but it’s not like he’s some sort of genius if he’s just now figuring it out. Our general lack of success under multiple managers in recent years should make anyone question the level of talent in the squad. ETH was hired in April and started work in early June. Film study and a few weeks in training should’ve been enough to figure out McFred don’t have what it takes. Honestly, if his opinion is changing a lot based on one game, I’d say he is overreacting. I don’t mean to be too critical of ETH because he is not the source of our problems. With how this window has unfolded though, it seems more and more that we need a generational manager to turn things around.
This may be worth a try as our midfield next week
Fred Martinez Eriksen
Or Garner replacing Martinez if he's just up to playing as a DM.
It would give us better control as opposed to Mctominay in there and Bruno playing an attacker.
Fred Martinez Eriksen
Or Garner replacing Martinez if he's just up to playing as a DM.
It would give us better control as opposed to Mctominay in there and Bruno playing an attacker.
After watching us play yesterday..I dont have confidence we will win any game this season..
I have been pretty consistent on this. I said this time last week Ronaldo shouldn't be in the squad for Sunday and he shouldn't have.
But either ETH decided he had to use him or more likely, he was told to use him and whichever it was it showed weakness from the manager, when strength was needed. If he'd clamped down on the King, maybe the others would have ran twice as hard.
When he finally did come on well: 30 mins, no goals, no assists, no dribbles completed, 6 touches and 4 passes and a standing ovation from deluded fans who still think its 2005. Would a kid from the academy have returned worse stats or better, who knows - but we should be forcing Ronaldo out of the club, by not playing him, because look what happened last season when he was a pain on and off the pitch.
You're kidding. He set rashford up for a goal except rashford fluffed it. It was called offside but it was definitely onside. That wasn't too long after he came on too from memory.
I've not seen anyone calling for Twn Hag to be sacked? If there have been then I agree, they're idiots.
If Ten Hag is backed properly he will be a success, and many predicted we'd finish outside the top r this year, which means they are prepared for another crappy year.
But to call this a speed bump when it's more of a 5 mile road considering we've been horrendous the past 5 years, and really bad for 10 years.
I'm confident Ten Jag will be a success if there is a structure in place above him, we'll see on that happening over the next year
No way.
Paredes is worse for PSG than Rabiot could ever be. He, Paredes is lazy as feck. Paredes is technical flashy but as a whole package is at best is Fred level. Rabiot is around Ander Herrera level. Not a high bar, but definitely better.
Rabiot is not the troublemaker himself. He's just a mama boy so his mother acting as his agent getting overprotective to cause unnecessarily bad media coverage.
Renato Sanches share somes resemblance to Davids but he's so far is not even a third of Davids, in everything bar ability to rush with the ball. Renato Sanchez doesn't even play no6 position to begin with.
It was offside, Rashford was offside when Ronaldo first collected the ball and the flag went up (delayed as usual) to indicate that even if he'd scored, it wouldn't have counted.
But I'm assuming from your reaction you are a Ronaldo fan and would be happy to have him at United till he's 40, well that is your right, freedom of speech and all that.
I'm of a different opinion: once Ronaldo indicated that he really didn't want to be at United this season, he should have been forced out - and not playing him would be key to that. He could easily buy himself out of his own contract and join a CL club as a free agent giving him the chance to improve his stats in that competition. But more importantly, Manchester United will have a better chance of winning a cup, maybe getting top-4 without him, than with him, mainly because of the problems his presence will cause the manager behind the scenes. Sir Alex Ferguson always said nobody is bigger than the club, but sadly Ronaldo thinks he is....
I hope the chorus of posters who claimed here that “José was right” will be forced by the mods to answer for McFred. It was José who brought us this shit and we’ve become the laughingstock of global football. ETH must be given midfielders, not Jose’s Abott and Costello.
So far the buys are all his. Then pursuit of Frenkie is on him too -- I doubt if anyone would have pursued Frenkie for nearly 3 months unless Frenkie has assumed ETH that he was coming if the conditions are right ie he gets the money owed.
So lets see.
Still support eth, unless he goes right back to mcfred.
What's his alternative for Brentford?
Garner who has been injured for most of the pre-season and has not much game time? Iqbal? You could destroy a kid's confidence by putting him on too early in his career.
Otherwise what do you suggest?
To be fair it was worse than it usually would be because Potter is a tactical genius, completely congested the midfield where we had to rely on insufficient full backs and wingers. Agree though if they play at Brentford, at least McTom, then he has no sympathy that kind of performance is unacceptable can't start the next game.
Fred, Donny, Eriksen. Much much much better in the 2nd half.
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Potter is a very good coach but he has also been at Brighton long enough that he has his team well-drilled. And has multiple playbooks developed over the past few seasons.
ETH just got there -- so his playbook is very limited and has to try and solidify on the few that he has tried out during the pre-season. Potter will know this -- and the other coaches in the league.
This Potter Lesson wont be unique unless ETH goes on a steep learning curve and drills the players into the various tactical approaches ASAP.
That's why we looked lost once we lose possession. The system started falling apart.
The FBs had no idea what to do once they lose possession or they had brain freezes. Both goals came from the spaces where both the LB and the RB were supposed to be. Unchallenged shots on goal.
McFred are poor at progressing the ball forward from the defence. Fred has an excuse -- playing out of position.
McT is a very limited player or lacks the confidence to take charge and drive the ball forward. He is best against top 2-4 sides where you need someone who will disrupt the possession-based play like what Park used to do. But at the moment in this team, his limitations are in the spotlight.
So the key will be to replace a McT and add a mobile striker.
There are a quite few good coaches in the league besides Potter. They will look at the little videos on how ETH sets up United and force United to change the way they play -- knowing that United isn't well drilled even in the few setups that he has worked on. But ETH won't have had the time nor the players in place yet. They aren't muscle memories yet.
This Brighton debacle won't be the last this season.
The most worrying part was not the defeat. It was the style of play that give me the deja vu that Ole is still here.
We are supposed to be at least able to see new style of play in progress albeit inconsistent. But the style of play was negative, slow and boring.
We are supposed to be at least able to see new style of play in progress albeit inconsistent. But the style of play was negative, slow and boring.
I suspect it will take another few months before that style becomes muscle memory in the players. We will have a few more of these dips. I won't be surprised if we are 9th or 10th right before the Qatar WC.
Then things start to pick up in Feb.
If iqbal or one of the youths are good enough for the bench they are good enough for the start. Against Brentford, not like throwing them in deep end against Liverpool or city. Anything is better than mcfred at this point. Guaranteed had he gone with two of the younger players in central midfield last game couldn't have been any worse. fecking Mctominay man
Van De Beek exists.
But he must be on option 4,5 and 6 now he’s not getting the players he wanted.
In a perfect world he would have Antony, FDJ and probably Dumfries now. Are those 3 players honestly too much to ask? It’s not like he asked for Haaland and VVD is it.
The footage showed pretty clearly he was onside though, so a VAR review would probably have let the goal stand.
It was onside. In what world would we have a better chance of getting top four with our current options (exactly the same as last season) minus Ronaldo, last season's top scorer? He needs replacing but you're letting your dislike for him blind you to our lack of options.
Quality control
Ten Haha: "I'm happy with the current squad - we make good progress. I'm happy with the signings until now. You don't need any player, you need the right player. That's what we're working for."
The right player being what? Some cheap old farts?
Have we gone from the Busby Babes and Fergie's Fledgelings to Ten Hag's Granddads?
The right player being what? Some cheap old farts?
Have we gone from the Busby Babes and Fergie's Fledgelings to Ten Hag's Granddads?
It's a bit red herring if Ten Hag is solely picking the transfer targets.
Time indeed will tell, what we can agree on is this season will be around the same level as last with the way we're going about things.
Money wise they are and thats why they are not here.
That's not why FDJ is not here - they agreed the price with Barcelona.
i think we’ll get top 6 but maybe not top 4. Our best route into CL football is going to be winning the europa and that won’t be easy.
Iv got a feeling ETH is going to be on a big learning curve, some of his decisions and the sort of players he wants to sign makes me think he isnt at all prepared for the competiveness and intensity of the PL.
It might be a long season hopefully though he actually learns something and makes the required adjustments
It might be a long season hopefully though he actually learns something and makes the required adjustments
The media and so called ex player football pundits are a disgrace. The club has just overhauled its backroom staff and appointed a new manager who started late June. The club is basically starting from scratch. It will take time to sort out a proper recruitment policy. Meanwhile we need to recruit players to fix short term gaps in the squad. Irrespective of what you think of McTomminay, Fred, Martial and Ronaldo, it will be impossible for those players to play all the games this season so if we don’t sign at least a midfielder and striker then we will end up playing youth teamers. So considering this signing a player like Rabiot or even Arnautovic doesn’t seem so crazy. In fact the club actually did well to sign players like Martinez and Malacia with lots of long term potential in such a short time.
Yet the media, so called ex player football pundits and most idiots on here are blatantly ignoring these facts and some are even blaming ETH. The club have been so badly run the past decade that if we don’t get a striker and midfielder we could end up in a relegation battle if injuries go against us. It will take time to sort the squad out, transfers are extremely complicated & difficult and most take at least 6months or so work. ETH and the backroom staff have had 6 weeks. Ignore the media, ex players, the morons on here. Be patient and judge after 3 transfer windows. Thank God Fergie’s era wasn’t now, he never would have survived.
Yet the media, so called ex player football pundits and most idiots on here are blatantly ignoring these facts and some are even blaming ETH. The club have been so badly run the past decade that if we don’t get a striker and midfielder we could end up in a relegation battle if injuries go against us. It will take time to sort the squad out, transfers are extremely complicated & difficult and most take at least 6months or so work. ETH and the backroom staff have had 6 weeks. Ignore the media, ex players, the morons on here. Be patient and judge after 3 transfer windows. Thank God Fergie’s era wasn’t now, he never would have survived.
This guy needs two years - we are in the wilderness at the moment. Disjointed squad, owners who are not interested in the football side of the business. Lets back him - there should be positivity about what hes trying to do. It takes time to change a culture. Fergies been gone 9years - we are not the same UTD now. No point turning on this guy - Im 100% behind him and stevie mac. Europa cup here we come!!
ETH is dead man walking if the expectation is that we'll see such such improvement this quickly.
If he's here to implement the way his Ajax team played, I believe it'll take at least a season to see consistent improvement and chance of playing style. He's inherited a unbalanced squad who the majority of their time with us has had little to none consitency in terms of playing philosophy and tactics. Our squad is a complete mess filled up with out of form players with low confidence.
And when all that has been said. We are one match in this season against a well-drilled and coherent Brighton team. We aren't the only supposed top team who are gonna struggle against them this season.
I fondly remember Klopps first season at Liverpool. They finished 8th in a historically weak season for the top teams, which gave way for bloody Leicester to win the league. Our squad is just as much a mess as the team he inherited back then. In his first season they spunked over 100m on the likes of Benteke, Firmino, Clyne, Ings, Grujic and Joe Gomez.
We need to calm down. Let the man learn about his team, and slowly build it up from the ground.
Another point to make about lazy journalists in the UK and ex players who don’t know what they’re talking about. I will use Arnautovic as example, who played for McLaren & ETH at Twente. Does Gary Neville even know this??? Does he feck.
Yet again though, he played better than Mcfred did. So what is the issue? he might not be Roy Keane, but he's playing better than what we currently have.
Donnie has more lives than a cat.
It's so weird to me that people always slate DVB yet be is usually pretty solid. No he's not spectacular but he does the simple things, he's tidy in possession and he always fights hard.
Why is it always fall back to Mctominay even when he's playing crap.
well said.
If he signs players like Arnautovic and Rabiot he's purposely putting pressure on himself. If they don't produce he'll look like an idiot.
Players signed by van gaal at barca
Hesp
Reizeger
F. de Boer
R. de Boer
Bogarde
Van Bronkorst
Zenden
Cocu
Van Bommel
Davids
Overmars
Litmanen
Kluivert
The whole holland national team + litmanen
Hesp
Reizeger
F. de Boer
R. de Boer
Bogarde
Van Bronkorst
Zenden
Cocu
Van Bommel
Davids
Overmars
Litmanen
Kluivert
The whole holland national team + litmanen
Rabiot is a quality player, with him it’s more between the ears. He’s a moody cnut. Will that be a problem with ETH? We’ll let’s say, ETH track record with difficult personalities is 2nd to none.
As for Arnautovic, the player that McLaren & ETH gave him his breakthrough at Twente?
We need to fill holes in the squad so, contrary to previous seasons, these stop gap signings are now required unfortunately. Just as Klopp had to make them in his first season at the scousers.
Well FdJ is around 65m
and early In the window it was widely reported that Ajax wanted 70m
In a world where Nottingham Forrest and Leeds are spending 100m there’s no excuses.
Didnt Mourinho also create a new award for McTominay. The sooner these guys are out of this club the better.
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