Exactly. Højlund was plenty clinical when he got chances.
Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24
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Positive signs IMO.
Pressing was much better.
Pressing was much better.
He had to be no one passed to him
Yes, but we also wasted plenty when we did create. There's not a single attacking player we have who is anywhere close to clinical. Hopefully a number of players can chip in and Hojlund can keep on improving.
The Casemiro - Mainoo midfield with Bruno ahead of them just isn't good enough. It was night and day when Mount went off.
Throw in Rashford and Garnacho and you just have the ball pinballing about the pitch.
One sub and it went straight back to last season.
Throw in Rashford and Garnacho and you just have the ball pinballing about the pitch.
One sub and it went straight back to last season.
All the underlying metrics last season suggest we slightly underperformed for goal-scoring.
Chance creation is a far bigger issue than wasting chances(not tonight's game obviously) in general under ETH.
Player miss chances. It happens, but over the course of a season, if you create enough chances, you'll score plenty of goals.
Very true!He had to be no one passed to him
Signs are that we'll win the ball higher up more this season, so hopefully that'll change. If Amad gets consistent starts I have him as topping our assist chart this season, he has the ability to find players in tight spaces, much more so than our other wingers. Could help Højlund as well.Well, I'm just not confident we'll score enough. We shall see.
We did play worse when Mount went off, so hopefully we rectify that going forward.
It went back to chaos-ball again for the 2nd half towards the end.
His interplay with Keano is almost a bromance.
I'm not sure either, but my concern is if we'll create enough chances in the 1st place to even score enough.
Ahh yes. He needs a whole squad of Ten Hag players. Instead of 4 of his ex players, we need at least 4 more.
Tell me, when he was at Ajax did he have a whole squad of Ten Hag players? Is that why he was so successful?
Great.
He’s coached a 4-0. Can’t help the wasteful finishing of the front line
Love it. ETH seems happy.
So true. It went back to absolute chaos. Poor Zirkzee looked like an odd man out wanting the ball into his feet and trying to link up.
We need to address major weaknesses in our teams, that’s clear to see.
The final solution.
It's great to create chances but I won't get carried away over what was a scrappy performance against Fulham. The second half against City last week inspires far more confidence, but again, we missed good chances to put the game to bed and got punished.
Almost seemed to be a bit of tension there between Keane and Erik?
You should be a politician.
Better pressing but passing and movement are still dogshite.
Not really convinced. We'll see what happens away against Brighton, and Liverpool after. Maybe then I will believe more. But a good start.
I don't think everyone has adapted to the defensive set up quite yet, so the instability that the changes brought, led to a drop off in the execution of the shape.
Additionally, I think the current version of Casemiro and Mainoo may be too offensive at times. As the game wore on and they started to get more tired, they struggled to hold the defensive shape, which is why we went back to the ping pong style we saw last season. I think bringing Ugarte in will help with both issues, so our midfield is always fresh and maintains its quality.
That drop off in shape was concerning, but its understandable.
Ironically, I think our defensive shape will hold stronger in a way games, as Old Trafford is a pretty wide pitch and quite difficult to cover. I'd argue that one of the main reasons for our consistent success under Fergie was his understanding of the need to have good depth in midfield with players who also had really good stamina. Where other teams dropped off due to not being able to maintain their energy levels, having a mix of Keane, Scholes and Butt; Carrick, Anderson, Fletcher, Hargreaves; was essential in ensuring we always had the legs to dominate games.
Should have been 2 goals to the good at least each half.
Force those feckers to stay behind for half an hour every training session and fire balls at them to shoot at. Criminal to miss chances like the one Garnacho whiffed, how did you not even hit the target there?
Force those feckers to stay behind for half an hour every training session and fire balls at them to shoot at. Criminal to miss chances like the one Garnacho whiffed, how did you not even hit the target there?
That's far more of a style and fatigue thing than anything. We started trying to play super direct around the 70th minute mark. I hated it.
Also you'll always be more solid in midfield with 4 midfielders instead of 3. That's not really surprising
Bruno in midfield is a huge worry
Completely threw off our structure and momentum with those subs, but they had to be made. We had Fulham in a choke hold before that but if players like Bruno and Mount just took their chances we'd be praising a well deserved win and good performance. See, that's the difference. Haaland and De Bruyne take the first chance and then it's smooth sailing for City for the rest of the game because the opponent has to push up and they get ko'd with another goal or two. Until we become ruthless we'll always look like we're not a good team (imo we are), struggling against average sides.
Think the conundrum we currently have as a team is that our best shape is probably that box midfield we've been playing recently, but the issue with that is majority of the chances will fall to those two midfielders. Ideally we can exert that same level of control with Zirkzee up top instead of the Bruno/Mount combo, but either way we have to stop with this insistence on being super direct, especially as games wear on. It just further tires us when we are already tired, and makes the game more of a coinflip.
We need more time to gel, tough on him that the next 2 games are heavy
I noticed the Sam's when we switched to 4231, but I'm putting it down to fitness issues (maybe optimistically). Casemiro always gasses late, Mainoo only played his first game after the break last week and again always tires 2nd half.
It's obvious to everyone we need another body in there, but hopefully it's not as bad once we get up to speed.
Agree with most of it, but I just didn't like where Mainoo and Casimiro where positioned. Again, as you say, too far ahead and normally you have counter each time you lose the ball. Also think we definitely need Ugarte and he can't come soon enough.
With Zirkzee being a 9.5 I was hoping we'd keep the box midfield when he came on, but for some reason Bruno stopped staying high through the middle and started drifting to LB to get on the ball.
Next two games are tough.
Aye, midfield is definitely something to fix and priority in terms of upgrades. Some positive signs from this 1st game, some negative... Hopefully, we see less and less of those negatives. It's the 1st game of the season after all.
I'll be forever grateful to ETH for giving us Licha.
If we aim to be 'the best transitional team in the world' then you need to be a lot more lethal putting away your chances. Bruno or Mount score those chances and we go 1-0 up we probably get more space to launch more counters and we can start picking teams off and controlling games. Don't score and it's just nervous and messy.
Still, some good signs. Some good pressing and no huge gap in the midfield- I thought Mainoo and Casemiro did better but just ran out of stamina in the last 30 minutes.
Still, some good signs. Some good pressing and no huge gap in the midfield- I thought Mainoo and Casemiro did better but just ran out of stamina in the last 30 minutes.
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