Mate, I just said there were a lot of problems that Ten Hag can’t be blamed for…. Seems pretty nuanced to me.
If you really look at the history of the Ten Hag discussion on this thread, most of the Caf, including myself, were optimistic that Ten Hag could deliver the goods this season. However, as we fell out of the CL, last in our group, conceding 15 goals, and didn’t look much better in the league, there was a rising group that were uncomfortable with his tactics.
The Ten Hag inners were quick to defend with many excuses, some valid. But even the vociferous ones like yourself were pretty silent after bad results. After the Palace 4-0 drubbing, almost all conceded that whatever Ten Hag was trying to do wasn’t working.
If the reports are true, that was when Wilcox stepped in and told the coaching staff that we needed to revert to a more conservative approach for the last few matches. And, lo and behold, we got some results.
I’ve read all of the reporting / post mortem and to me, it really didn’t change my opinion on Ten Hag. The reports of players ignoring his instructions were pretty isolated and, perhaps with the exception of Ronaldo, not really verifiable. The bad cop, bad cop approach to players like Casemiro and Varane was, if you ask me, a bit ignorant on Ten Hag’s part. To me, he came off as a poor communicator and tactician wanting to wield power with an iron fist. It’s hard to execute tactics if you don’t understand them…
You can read the reports through an ‘in” or “out” prism and not change your opinion on Ten Hag. Clearly, there was smoke because we started discussions with several managers before deciding to stick with Ten Hag.
The great thing about this is that we’ll find out eventually if Ten Hag can get us back to competing, no, wait, winning major titles like the CL and the league.