I don't think you come across as one.
I love that we won the FA Cup. My view is purely practical (that sounds like a statement that it is right and others are wrong because they are impractical. I just mean my method of thinking about it, I can still be incorrect).
I believe we were horrendous last season for a number of reasons. I think the biggest reason was consistent kamikaze tactics not injuries. Injuries would have effected us anyway but we could have been much better and I think a lot of managers in the league would have gotten us there.
And yes whilst winning the FA Cup was great I do think it was lucky. I say that not to have a dig at Ten Hag who I find to be a very professional man, someone I badly wanted here and find no joy in seeing him do badly. I say it to point out how ludicrous it is to try and use that to paper over the fact that the way he seems to set up the team is unsustainable and "2 trophies mate" is not a sufficient response.
The semi final was embarrassing and yes I think we were lucky in a game where we had 26% of possession 10 shots to 19. We were lucky that they through a goal in their own net in a way they hadn't done all season. We did set up well defensively and court them on the counter but we all moaned about Ole doing that when he beat them like 4 times on the bounce.
We are 2 years down the line with a worse style of play than ever, further away from competing for the league than ever, still not pressing properly, still struggling to beat the press, struggling more than ever to create chances and worse control of matches, after half a billion spent. It's just unacceptable and he requires drastic improvement in his own performance immediately.
I agree with you in that the biggest reason for last season's awful results and performances was the tactics, not the injuries. ETH insisted with something that wasn't going to work with the current squad. At the same time, though, I think the centre halves and the defensive midfielder are crucial to making his system work, and we didn't really have the players available for like 90% of the season who could play those positions to the required standard. Martínez was out for most of the season. Maguire was out for several months. You can argue whether Casemiro is suited to play DM in this system, I personally don't think so, but he was out for several months as well, anyways. Amrabat isn't a lone DM, neither is McTominay IMO, and he was preferred to take up advanced positions anyways, and Mainoo isn't a #6 either.
I think it was Evans who also mentioned that all the intense training and physical work massively benefitted him, and I presume most of the squad as well. And ETH's system requires very high physical levels and athleticism that I think the squad has been lacking for years. Even Rangnick mentioned this when he was interim manager.
Regarding the FA Cup final, I still believe it was a very good and organized performance. We ceded control, yes, but as I pointed out in one of my previous posts, basically everyone does that against City. They're the best team in the world, and have been for a number of years now. However, if you look at the performance itself, we basically shut them out, and worked out some good chances for ourselves. We beat them on xG as well, so they couldn't really do all that much with all that possession. We didn't let them create that many chances and we created the better ones as well. Their one goal came from a shot Onana should've saved anyway. I think a 2-1 result is a fair reflection of how both teams played on that day.
However, I was never someone who advocated keeping him just because of a one-off game. First of all, like I said, I think the system he so stubbornly sacrificed last season for can still work, with new defenders, new midfielders, and by avoiding another injury crisis. It can also have some so far unseen benefits, like improving our physical flooring, due to the intense training levels ETH presumably deployed because of the requirements of this system.
Also, he has shown that he can revert back to his first season's tactics, which still work, suit the squad more, and we still have our base level of 2022/23 as a solid top 4 team, because I believe after the 4-0 loss to Palace, ETH decided to grind out the last few games for better results, with a more pragmatic approach that suits the squad more and was similar to what we played in his first season after the first two losses vs Brighton and Brentford. Our squad is also stronger now than it was 24 months ago, and we will sign at least 2 more players IMO, but probably more.
So I agree, the 2 trophies argument isn't a sufficient one, but that was never my reasoning.
One thing I think is important to mention is that we don't even know what the tactical plan for next season is. I would like to wait for the first few competitive matches to be played out before becoming fixated on this topic again. We might keep trying with last season's kamikaze approach, we might revert back for now, to what used to mostly work under Ole and ETH's first season, or we might start over with another, vastly different approach. The people Ineos have hired to decide both this and the manager's future, are very smart and competent footballing people, so there's enough reason to be relaxed about this for now IMO.
