Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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Presumably you're happy with a more pragmatic approach in the short term though, whilst EtH can get everyone up to speed with the way he wants to play?
I understand it’s needed, and you’ve got no choice to embrace the journey and see the progress of which there has been some already.
 
I understand it’s needed, and you’ve got no choice to embrace the journey and see the progress of which there has been some already.

Couldnt agree more, some passages of play in the first half yesterday showed they're already improving in that area
 
The amount of moaning on the matchday thread was astounding. There was even a poster moaning here about ten hag's style taking a long time to be implemented. Its been 5 games ffs.

Anyway, give me 1-0's all season and i'll be a happy supported. Much better than the shite that was served up last season.

Edit: This was the post:
That's a second game in a row in which we park the bus and pray to God we don't concede the equalizer while hoping for a lucky break on the counter. I thought we're building for a team who controls the ball better ? We're not even fecking trying to say the least.

Words fail me.
 
The amount of moaning on the matchday thread was astounding. There was even a poster moaning here about ten hag's style taking a long time to be implemented. Its been 5 games ffs.

Anyway, give me 1-0's all season and i'll be a happy supported. Much better than the shite that was served up last season.

Edit: This was the post:


Words fail me.

Only excuse that poster has is that if he turned the game on 45 minutes in
 
Times he could of taken touch and played it out to full backs.

I agree but I assume that EtH doesn't trust him to make those decisions or he doesn't trust him to consistently make easy passes.

The issue is that if he starts to do it and gets a bit more confidence then he might get greedy and suddenly you lose a goal.

Perhaps he starts to do it and the defenders start using him a bit more and he makes and mistake and we lose a goal.

He isn't good enough at it to make the occasional mistake a price worth paying. The likes of Ederson and Alisson make mistakes and cost their teams a goal occasionally but they contribute so much in general that its a fine trade-off. DDG can't pass accurately or play as a sweeper keeper so any mistakes he makes when trying are not offset against the good.
 
Whenever he says park the bus, I'm picturing that guy from Ted Lasso.

Paaak the buuus!
 
The amount of moaning on the matchday thread was astounding. There was even a poster moaning here about ten hag's style taking a long time to be implemented. Its been 5 games ffs.

Honestly, I was expecting a different approach from EtH too.

I think those first 2 games scared him a bit and he quickly realised that he couldn't "learn on the job" without first building a very stable defensive unit first.

I was expecting more attacking football with much more interplay from the midfield and forwards and basically a far more exciting style. For now I think he wants to have a good defensive unit and then he will start to tinker more with the midfields and forwards. There are glimpses of it but ignoring the lack of talent in some positions, there is a lot of work to be done.

I think that already we can see that next summer he will want FdJ again, DDG replaced and another CF and preferably a RB. Hes going to be a bit hamstrung this season due to DDG and lack of options in the middle of the pitch.
 
Anyone who underplays the value of the three wins in a row needs to consider that EtH has pulled it off while leaving Harry Maguire and Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench. I'd say not many would have envisaged at the beginning of the season that would happen to either, let alone both and he's showing that it's really all about picking the team who can win the match, and not about individuals. It's not about making a power play, instead he's just calmly solved two problems and because we've won the games, no one can really question it. It's kind of quietly brilliant. Just smoked a spliff too. Me I mean, not Erik.

and Shaw..
 
ETH took over a broken team.
The worst season in decades, we’ve picked up 11 points from our last 11 matches last season, in which we scored 15 and conceded 23.

He took over a bunch of lazy, timid, unfit and under-coached individuals that were not fit to wear the shirt and had every ounce of confidence sucked out of them, and he is turning them to a team, players that fight for each other, players that work their arse off and play with aggression, a will to win second balls, a will to get stuck in.

We’re seeing massive improvement in the team mentality from the first two matches and last season, the difference is night and day, I genuinely don’t know what people were expecting, you can’t just take over a completely broken squad and turn it into a well oiled machine overnight, these things take time.

There are obvious signs of improvement in movement and passing, decision making under pressure as well.
People may bring the LVG comparisons and how much more possession we’ve had in his early days but I remember these matches well, we were never getting pressed in our own half by smaller teams, I remember us having our entire half to ourselves almost and people just passing to each other rinse repeat, smaller team weren’t even trying to press us because they knew that all they’ve had to do is to sit deep and we’ll struggle to score, ETH is a lot more flexible than LVG which I like.

We’re going to get better and better, and from a group of individuals that were under-coached for years we’ll become a well oiled team, have patience, remember that state of what he took over, he’s doing a fantastic job.
 
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The fact that EtH is getting something, anything positive from this lot is pretty amazing to me really considering most of them were on holiday for almost the whole season before this. Getting new players do help in shifting of mentality I suppose (new players come with enthusiasm, new ideas etc.).
 
Big improvements in terms of mentality as well as team effort.
i said it earlier, feels like he is the boss and the players know that. He is in charge of the dressing room and we have not had that since SAF
Yes, it definitely feel like that.

He adapted his style with DDG not being good to play from the back and found a way around that. That he is a great coach of implementing his own style we already knew but now, he is also proving he is smart and can change things depending on the situation. I could not be happier with him.
 
I am wondering what was EtH reasoning behind taking Kovar to the Leicester instead Shaw or AWB
 
McT is Hag’s Fellaini, a midfield bully. He did well yesterday.

What undid LvG’s time at United was the fans and press criticizing the boring style of play, which was really a pragmatic winning style at the beginning of his second season.

Pretty soon after that, the team went into a nosedive. The unrelentless criticism (and injuries) is what did us in I believe. Don’t make that happen again.

Those who say LvG is outdated, please watch the Dutch NT, for example against Belgium. For example, the 3 1 4 2 line up.

I’m fine with people criticizing LvG, but try to be factual.
 
McT is Hag’s Fellaini, a midfield bully. He did well yesterday.

What undid LvG’s time at United was the fans and press criticizing the boring style of play, which was really a pragmatic winning style at the beginning of his second season.

Pretty soon after that, the team went into a nosedive. The unrelentless criticism (and injuries) is what did us in I believe. Don’t make that happen again.

Those who say LvG is outdated, please watch the Dutch NT, for example against Belgium. For example, the 3 1 4 2 line up.

I’m fine with people criticizing LvG, but try to be factual.

Mate don't rewrite history LVG's football was boring as feck imagine going to OT for 3 0-0 draws in a row all they did was pointlessly keep the ball he had something like 5 of them over an 9 game period.

Edit:

RANK​
MANAGER​
GAMES​
% 0-0 RESULTS​
1​
Louis van Gaal​
53​
13.2%​
2​
Jack Robson​
116​
10.3%​
3​
Dave Sexton​
168​
9.5%​
4​
John Chapman​
206​
9.2%​
5​
Tommy Docherty​
188​
9%​
Ron Atkinson​
223​
9%​
7​
Frank O’ Farrell​
64​
7.8%​
8​
Wilf McGuinness​
65​
7.7%​
9​
Ernest Mangnall​
330​
7.6%​
10​
Walter Crickmer​
98​
7.1%​
 
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We are far from the finished product and they will be games this season where will be horrid and get outplayed.
But the players have responded wonderfully and are finally displaying some aggression.

As long as there is progress I'm happy. Not expecting much this season. But the next one has to be a top four finish.
 
Anyone moaning about ETH and the style of play 5 games in should take a long hard look at themselves because they’re a fecking joke.

Exactly.

Remember Mourinhos first few games at Chelsea in 2004, we somehow lost to them away and their football was dreadful until Duff and Robben got going. Then it was a different story.
 
2 consecutive shutouts on the road in 1-0 wins shows tremendous progress defensively for this group coming off the Liverpool win....can't see how you can say otherwise
 
Some absolutely tragic posts in here, mainly from a couple of miserable fecks.
We clearly have a really good manager. We have some likeable players again. We have what looks a team forming again. We are winning games again. I love it, this is what supporting a team is all about. If you cant take pleasure in watching a team improve, why even bother.

Whatever this team achieves in future, we are watching its beginnings. It's great.
 
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I am wondering what was EtH reasoning behind taking Kovar to the Leicester instead Shaw or AWB
He saved them for Arsenal? Just kidding, who knows the reason. Maybe both of then were not fit for whatever reason. Maybe their attitude turned to shit when they lost their place in the starting XI, and this is the way ETH shows his authority- if you don’t train well or act like you part of the team, you won’t be a part of the team.
 
With every game comes improvement. We played some of our best football we’ve seen in years last night, and to think this was only the 5th PL game.

I’m seriously impressed how well ETH has managed to pull this squad back together and having them actually looking like footballers. His signings are creating a solid spine for the team, bringing quality, dedication and energy, and that’s without us starting Casemiro or even seeing Antony play a minute.

I think Arsenal will give us a good benchmark of where we are at this early stage. They look full of confidence and if we can stand up to them and get a result, it will be such a great start.
 
I like the fact that ,even though we get defensive in the match, we defend as a unit. It should be hard to break us down and score goals first and foremost, our attacking talent is enough to make us win matches. As we saw in yesterday's first half, we are capable of and learning to play that one touch pass and move football. We are capable of making those triangles with one touch passing. We are playing as a team now, which should always be the priority for a team. Whenever we attack, we attack with a purpose, Antony coming will definitely help out creatively and with more variety of attacks.
As a great man once said, "Attack wins you matches, defense wins you titles".
 
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He can’t do that hence why he’s being instructed to just clear it. He doesn’t have the tools or calmness to pass out from the back successfully.
I think you can also see it in that sequence that's been posted: at some point, involving De Gea would have been a great choice, as he had more space to receive a pass and a better overview of the spaces to send the next pass into than everyone else. But instead, there follows a more difficult and risky pass forward. That looks me like the instruction is to not involve De Gea in this sort of situation.
 
Can see improvements all over pitch and we play some decent football at times.

One thing really annoys me watching game last night is when we are in possession of the ball especially when we are at the back, we play back to De Gea he just hoofs it up pitch and we give possession away straight away. Happend everytime we use De Gea.

Times he could of taken touch and played it out to full backs.

He tried playing it from the back and we lost the two games badly
 
He tried playing it from the back and we lost the two games badly
We don't really have the midfield for it either, only Eriksen is capable. ETH was actually angry when they tried to play out vs Brentford. He's a flexible coach who doesn't stubbornly stick with one way of playing. Fergie wasn't afraid to play direct and counter when needed.
 
We don't really have the midfield for it either, only Eriksen is capable. ETH was actually angry when they tried to play out vs Brentford. He's a flexible coach who doesn't stubbornly stick with one way of playing. Fergie wasn't afraid to play direct and counter when needed.

I agree. I was stating the fact that if we need to play from back then DDG is not the keeper for it regardless of who our CM's are. DDG is doing what he can do at that stage which is clear the danger.
 
I can see what Ten Hag is trying to do and the system he's trying to implement. Antony and Casemiro will really slot in easily and improve us tremendously.

DDG is not the keeper for us - likely be his last season at United. Him booting the ball out of play or to the opposition player, when there's an opportunity to just pass to our fullbacks is really disrupting our flow.
 
Exactly.

Remember Mourinhos first few games at Chelsea in 2004, we somehow lost to them away and their football was dreadful until Duff and Robben got going. Then it was a different story.

Yep. Some people have absolutely zero patience and expect us to be pasting teams 6-0 with 600 passes a game from day one.
 
We don't really have the midfield for it either, only Eriksen is capable. ETH was actually angry when they tried to play out vs Brentford. He's a flexible coach who doesn't stubbornly stick with one way of playing. Fergie wasn't afraid to play direct and counter when needed.


It's mad the way counter attack direct football is seen amongst some people like it's anti football.

It Has its place depending on the match, or time in the match. Easily the best on the eye when it comes together.

The poster last night claiming it was park the bus and then counter, clearly wasn't watching the match. Dominated the first half got a goal then set up to pick them a part 2nd half.


Perfect away football to be honest.
 
The transition from defence to midfield is almost perfect.
But we still do not have the attack that can take full advantage of the deliveries from midfield.
Anthony coming in will help.
But we need a reliable striker.
Tbf we'd look a lot better with Martial.
 
ETH is not playing "pragmatic" football. What ETH has done is to find the best, existing players who can play the roles required for his philosophy to work, even though it is not their ideal position. Thus, it is a given that we will see irregularities in the way they play.

That's what I wanted to say. Pragmatic may not be wrong word but I feel it has a negative connotation. To me what he is doing is basic common sense. Why would you ask DDG to play like Ederson, when you know it's not possible? That would be stupid. It's just common sense I feel. The opposite would be stupid.

Our midfield no longer appears to be non existent when a team counters us.

We don't seem to be devoid of confidence.

We're playing much more as a team, players seem to be trying harder to turn a bad pass into a good one, or to make up for a teammates mistake. We're playing much more as a unit.

At times we move the ball really well to get out of tough situations but we are still a bit too prone to erratic passing, particularly in the final third.

Even 10 minutes of looking really slick and 80 minutes of grind, is infinitely better that the 90 minutes of pure incompetence we've seen for the last year.

Absolutely. McFred was a horrible combination for that, and on top of that EtH has gotten McT and Eriksen to be so much better positioned. Great coaching there. You wouldn't think that's a combo that would be good enough defensively but shows you how much of it is coaching and teamwork.
 
I have also seen couple of posts saying we have been Mourinhoesque in the last 2 games, others have said park the bus.

I actually don't think so at all. I feel we have defended very differently. Usually under mourinho it was a lot of defending in the box. Park the bus also implies lot of deep defending.

I feel though that instead of that under EtH we have pressed very aggressively in the middle third of our half, forcing them back to the halfway line or back into their half. Basically never letting them build to get close to our box and put crosses into our box.

Very different imo. Open to correction.
 
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