Do you not remember how mind-numbingly dull Van Gaal's second season was?! I went 3 months without seeing a goal at my end of the stadium. There was a guy sat near me who was so bored he was doing the 'United We Stand' quiz during the game - and other fans around him were joining in to help him out, as a quiz was far more entertaining than watching the 40 consecutive passes between our back 4. History has been too kind to Van Gaal.
Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24
- Thread starter sewey89
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Would like to have seen Tuchel appointed, however now off the table then willing to give him chance under the new structure. Now let's go out and negotiate but please Erik no BROBBEY or DUMFRIES.
Van Gaal was shit and boring. Ten Hag isn't fit to lace his boots after this season.
I was starting to worry that they were waiting for Southgate.
I was in the EtH out camp but had come to accept he was probably staying. Feeling quite unenthusiastic about the new season but Euros and a close/pre season of transfer muppeteering will probably lift my spirits.
I think it's all good saying he'll be successful but measuring the level of improvement required its basically going to require Erik to reinvent himself as a manager and right the wrongs.
Has to be emphasized that the biggest issue last season was not the results but the performances. He attempted to implement a new approach and for every benefit it came with about three more disadvantages.
I don't think going into the new season he has the capacity to change it unless INEOS and more specifically Wilcox is breathing down his neck with a demand in shifting the teams dynamics.
It would be like a 6th or 7th sprinter competing against Bolt having to finish level with him in his peak. It's not so much the task overall but what's being asked of that average runner who runs 10.1, they can't be expected to get down to the 9.70's let alone a world record.
In a team that has been outplayed by lower league opposition in periods, I don't see that level of improvement in Erik, but one thing I enjoy about life as a principle is those sink or swim moments and we will see if Erik has the tenacity and intelligence to pull-through.
Has to be emphasized that the biggest issue last season was not the results but the performances. He attempted to implement a new approach and for every benefit it came with about three more disadvantages.
I don't think going into the new season he has the capacity to change it unless INEOS and more specifically Wilcox is breathing down his neck with a demand in shifting the teams dynamics.
It would be like a 6th or 7th sprinter competing against Bolt having to finish level with him in his peak. It's not so much the task overall but what's being asked of that average runner who runs 10.1, they can't be expected to get down to the 9.70's let alone a world record.
In a team that has been outplayed by lower league opposition in periods, I don't see that level of improvement in Erik, but one thing I enjoy about life as a principle is those sink or swim moments and we will see if Erik has the tenacity and intelligence to pull-through.
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This is where we'll have to agree to disagree. Give me a kamikaze 4-3 win any day over a mind-numbingly dull 4th consecutive 1-0 win with 70% possession and 2 shots on target. Ten Hag isn't perfect, but as a fan, I've had many more enjoyable memories over the last 12 months than I did during Van Gaal's last 12 months.
Good post Bastian.
I completely agree and for me ten Hag has absolutely got to play his default strategy which is to dominate all phases of play. He's said several times about wanting to play out from the back and dominate the game. And contrary to what is being said on here, his tactical ideas will work with the correct profile of players imo. So it's imperative those players are brought to the club and it's in positions in deeper midfield and at CB that will potentially have a huge impact on creating the conditions for the type of football he wants to play.
The target next season will have to be to finish in the top 4 and take further steps towards playing a proactive brand of football where building play from the back through the thirds, and pressing high as a collective unit, whilst having a strong rest defense to thwart opposition transitions is an absolute requirement. And the positions which will have the biggest impact on creating the aforementioned dynamic are the CBs and deeper midfielders, because those positions are absolutely crucial in controlling the game in possession and also out of possession. Those positions are absolutely open for ten Hag to upgrade and we of course will expect ten Hag to deliver along with the club to deliver in bringing the 3 or 4 players which are required at CB and in midfield.
If ten Hag fails or the club fails to get him the right players, then ten Hag will be gone regardless because INEOS aren't going to sack themselves.
My preferred outcome overall. I'm expecting a huge battle to make it to 4th place next season, but that would have been the case with whoever was managing the team. If he looks like he's floundering when he has a full squad to pick from, then Tuchel, Pochettino, De Zerbi and everyone's favourite waistcoat wearing former Middlesbrough manager, will be waiting on standby.
Disagree. He was unavailable due to injury, then started getting cameos. Showed nothing at first, Antony was actually better at that point.
Eventually he started showing some involvement in our attack and some quality. If you ask me, he was managed correctly.
At least we now know what’s happening I guess
I hope with other teams starting from scratch we can take advantage. We bloody well should do seeing as we're into the 3rd year.
This we are completely done as a top club and this decision just shows how we are in for another era of idiocy from INEOS. Completely bottled the decision due to fearing fan backlash, they don't believe in him that much is clear and he hasn't given anyone a reason to apart from a couple of midrate trophies in the sea of mediocrity spiced with a few thrashings from serious teams.
This is a false start by INEOS and completely delays a crucial rebuild by another year or two. I don't think any serious football operation watches that abomination at Palace and decides to keep the manager who presided over it on account of one game against a hungover City. Utter shambles and by November his future will be under scrutiny again, other teams will improve and we are just holding ourselves back by rewarding incompetence, negligence and stubbornness.
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I wasn't saying I preferred either style really, just that they were both equally poor. There was some good moments with LVG but i'll take 2 cup wins over 1.
It's a mistake but no bigger than the one giving him the job in the first place. Next season we will be sat in the same position most likely without the benefit of a lucky cup run.
Better than Southgate but the fact we took so long to confirm shows how poorly we're still run. Ineos or not we're still a shit show.
Oh ffs. De Zerbi is free.
Time to get behind the manager and hope for the best, but I'm not optimistic. Feels like we are just wasting another season while INEOS sort out the upper management.
Time to get behind the manager and hope for the best, but I'm not optimistic. Feels like we are just wasting another season while INEOS sort out the upper management.
Warm the seat for McKenna.
Just kidding
Just kidding
How about the goal against pool followed by further banishment? I wonder if I'm even living in the same dimension as some of you ETH cultists.
Fair enough. I much prefer Ten Hag's kamikaze style over Van Gaal'a mind-numbingly dull style. We shouldn't have to tolerate either style at United, but until there are better alternatives than Southgate or Poch, then I'm willing to give Ten Hag a few more months.
Jeez there is some people absolutely pissed off at this decision, so when Tuchel wasn't an option then who did they want to be appointed then?
Was meant as a jokeWhat? What kind of weird insult is that supposed to be?!
Shittiest thriller you could ever watch. Ten Hag's plot armor obvious from the start.
Romano's performance so uninspired, and Goldbridge sounds more and more like Jar Jar.
Romano's performance so uninspired, and Goldbridge sounds more and more like Jar Jar.
I thought the red card ruled him out?
I would have used him more personally and wouldn't give Ten Hag any particular credit with how he managed him but i will say that fitting him in with mainoo and garnacho wouldn't necessarily be easy. Even Bruno and Hojlund are somewhat lightweight and Antony or Rashford probably has a bit more to offer there than other choices. I guess with Rashford its more in theory than practice.
Flying close to the sun, indeed.
There has to be conditions, he has absolutely no excuses for poor performances if we can keep squad relatively fit and a proper structure behind him. So with transfers Erik gives INEOS the positions he needs and they give him a shortlist of options to choose. Just maybe that will put an end to Erik signing players he has worked with before.
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Right. Finally.
Let's get going for next season.
Let's get going for next season.
When you came so close to sacking the manager you can't make it more expensive for yourself to do so should the need arise, giving him a couple of years more will make it doubly more expensive and given his incompetence we might need to exercise that option as early as November. We should keep all our options open and if he can't manage in the uncertain situation his performances put him in then so be it.
But then we have the idiots upstairs who watch him shit the bed for 9 months and think that deserves another season because he won a 6 game tournament. At serious and ambitious football club he wouldnt survive the Palace debacle but here he comes out with a new contract. We will deserve everything we get from hereon in.
Fair, options out there were not great at all.
Nowhere to hide now though. After two full pre-seasons he's typically had us looking like the poorest outfit in the league pound-for-pound, full squad or not. He's been given leeway that no other manager has in my time, so the pressure will be on from the start next season.
Not expecting top 4 now, but I hope he can at least prove me wrong on that.
Nowhere to hide now though. After two full pre-seasons he's typically had us looking like the poorest outfit in the league pound-for-pound, full squad or not. He's been given leeway that no other manager has in my time, so the pressure will be on from the start next season.
Not expecting top 4 now, but I hope he can at least prove me wrong on that.
Did you not get the memo? There are only 2 camps: ETH cultists and those who want a better future for United. There is no middle ground.feck sake another season of you kids saying shite like this
You’d be wrong in that case as we played one of the deepest lines in the league in 22-23.
There were 12 games after the game against Liverpool. He was suspended for one and of the remaining 11, he played in 8. It's hardly banishment.
Ten Hag insisting on playing Antony and his reluctance to give Amad minutes is one of my major criticisms of him, but I am also not privy to what goes on on the training ground, or what makes up the individual player development programs and what targets they have been set.
What I do know, is that Amad appears happy at the club, and that his performances when he has got minutes, are night and day from the levels we saw from him before Ten Hag arrived. You can think he should've played more, and I'd agree with you, but you can't at the same time dismiss the suggestion that Ten Hag has developed him.
He didn’t fecking play ! Are we really trying to spin this as a ETH positive? It’s okay lads even if you support him you don’t have to spin everything, like I said he did well integrating Garnacho and Mainoo but was poor in how he handled Amad
Only because Rashford was in the goalscoring form of his life. We weren't great to watch for the most part.
Yeah awesome just waste another year and will see the end of players like Amad at the club.
No doubt we will give him a six year contract too.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.......
Oh well, on we go!
Oh well, on we go!
It is what it is. We should support him and hope that Martinez stays fit whole season.
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