Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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Its a little ironic that Ten Hag gets praise for dropping Ronaldo, a move that Ole got absolutely fleeced for by Redcafe and journalists when we played Everton. Putting Maguire on the bench has definitely been the right move. His recruitment has been good thus far, we look like a fast and able team again.

Our transitional game is our bread and butter. The same as it was under the former manager.

The players are new, but its mostly the same highs, which are of course fantastic, the lads have been balling the past few games.
 
Tbh what I’m most surprised at so far, is that we’ve played sensible football and won deservedly against both Liverpool and Arsenal with Scott McTominay as the only ‘defensively sound’ starter among the front six! All the posts claiming ‘you can’t play Erikson and Bruno in the same midfield against top teams, you’ll get slaughtered’ were absolutely sensible, they were just wrong.
If I see one more Erikson, Ericsson, Ericsen I swear I am going to complain about it again. Is it really that difficult??
 
Fair enough.

Ole was a failure in the end. I just don't agree with your over the top abject failure stuff.

Ten Hag is working wonders with the squad at the moment. Long may it continue. I think we're good enough for 80+ with this squad

We have to be honest enough to admit that Ole tried to manage by consent. And was nothing like strong enough to route out the trouble makers who in the end were his undoing.

The fitness level was appalling as was the work ethic and standard of coaching.
You cannot always manage by trying to be everyone friend. That is not how leadership works.
 
Its a little ironic that Ten Hag gets praise for dropping Ronaldo, a move that Ole got absolutely fleeced for by Redcafe and journalists when we played Everton. Putting Maguire on the bench has definitely been the right move. His recruitment has been good thus far, we look like a fast and able team again.

Our transitional game is our bread and butter. The same as it was under the former manager.

The players are new, but its mostly the same highs, which are of course fantastic, the lads have been balling the past few games.

The main difference is winning football matches. The vast majority of the press don't care about in-depth analyses, they're just looking for narratives to spin. The Caf is probably the same. The team is currently winning matches without Ronaldo and the performances are slowly but gradually getting better. About a year ago, most people were still ecstatic after the late winner in the CL (and the 5 goals in 5 games) and the Everton game saw us drop points at OT in consecutive games. No one cared that we looked a worse side with him on the pitch, and that - unintentional yet unfortunate - comment from SAF a couple of days later made sure that no one would ever give the manager the benefit of the doubt.

Another thing is context. Last summer, it was clear that Ronaldo, at the age of 37, was looking to leave Turin. The way we approached this, especially after the alleged interest from City, put him in the spotlight and gave him the kind of importance that he can't support any more with his performances on the pitch. He can still score goals, but his goals, although needed, don't make the difference any more at the highest level. Not on his current wages and the accommodations that must be made to build the team around his goals. This summer, when he was out looking for a new employer again, Ronaldo finally got his reality check. And because ETH has handled the situation with the utmost care thus far, he has credit in the bank.

All in all, you can argue that Solskjaer was a bit unlucky with Ronaldo because he was doomed to make any decision about him from a weak position.

Where i don't i agree though is that it was the same under Solskajer. Just because two, or more, managers utilize similar game plans doesn't necessarily mean that they are doing exactly the same things. The positioning and the spaces between the lines look much better, the build-up and our rotations in its first 2/3 are quite different to what Solskjaer was trying to do, and, even though our passing in the final third still looks a bit laboured or iffy at times, we get player in the half-spaces in better situations. That is without talking about what constitutes half of what transition football actually is: The defensive transition which, under Solskjaer, looked decent in his first season, then became bad in his second full season, until it became truly abysmal toward the end of his reign (and no, you don't get to put all the blame on Ronaldo for this). This is what ETH has truly fixed in these last games: Either by pressing high or in the middle of the park for periods within the game and/or by maintaining a good shape, we don't allow the opposition to create many good chances against us. And we do that without playing 5 at the back or with making McFred a mainstay in our midfield. If Solskjaer had done the same, in a short period of time too, he would still be here. But he isn't.
 
I’m stoked we got him (ETH). He’s clearly an astute tactician and he has a specific plan he expects implemented. One more window and we should have a fearsome side.

What positions do you think he prioritises next summer, be very surprised if we do anything in January unless he goes back for FDJ
 
Well, no wonder he chased De Jong till the last minute

Do you think he goes back in again next January, also believe now he has that core of players he trusts in Christian,Lisandro,Malacia & Antony he will now look outside of Holland/Ajax.
 
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An entire Athletic article describing the beauty and science of Oleball. You love to see it.
 
Couldn't agree more. Our incredibly potent transitional game is how we earn the right to play our own possession football.
The game against Palace will be interesting as they are a team comfortable with surrendering possession and playing in transitions as well. This is why they've managed to give Liverpool and City problems, even this season.
These are the games that scare me where Palace with Zaha can do what we have done to Arsenal and Liverpool. Brentford was the obvious wake up call though.
 
These are the games that scare me where Palace with Zaha can do what we have done to Arsenal and Liverpool. Brentford was the obvious wake up call though.

Yeah also need to see evidence of him being able to break down a low block team at home too but we are making progress so that's positive
 
He's doing well so far by dropping the underperformers, he's showing that you don't start because of your name or price. This season will be full of ups and downs but I think we'll be right up there. Come on Utd
 
Yeah that was definitely a turning point,still could do with someone who can provide that burst through midfield too.

Yeah exactly, Eriksen's passing is good but he doesn't really carry the ball through the middle like FdJ. We're leaving that role to McT right now and he's fairly good at it but I wonder what the long term plan is.

I really don't understand the Casemiro signing either. If we want Eriksen in that deep playmaker role and we want a guy like McT to go box to box next to him, what exactly does Casemiro do?

Maybe the roles get inverted and Casemiro sits deep and Eriksen steps a little bit further forward into the McT role? But he can't really carry the ball. We can't force Casemiro to be a B2B either.
 
I think he is a bit special. He has made a real difference in output both physically and mentally and we have much more resilience against opposition teams. Playing Bruno & Eriksen together is something pundits would argue about but it means we can't be easily switched off by marking our one creative player (something that Pogba suffered from a lot).

He has made the most of the resources he has at his disposal and cut his cloth accordingly. Look at McT. I'll admit I thought he was hopeless, but he has been much better under EtH. By making him concentrate on just the simple stuff, and giving him 2 simple passing options (Bruno or Eriksen) he has looked way more solid.

For me the biggest difference has been the physical output. I was increasingly exasperated at forward players ambling around, not taking any chances with runs, and then complaining when they didn't receive the ball. Effort creates opportunity and multiple efforts create multiple opportunities and that creates hesitation in even the best of defences.

At the moment things may actually be more fragile than they appear. The odd team will exploit our high press and fluke some goals. We may get some odd reverses in fortune against some teams. We also have some who potentially are going to get sulky very soon (Shaw...Maguire??) and start leaking negative stories if the wind changes after a defeat.

But thankfully I think enough fans have experienced that real elation of being competitive again and will back the Manager to bring back title challenges and trophies once again.
 
What positions do you think he prioritises next summer, be very surprised if we do anything in January unless he goes back for FDJ
A striker, I’d think, minimum, this January. Hopefully gets his targets lined up early for summer. Maguire out, Shaw out, AWB out, get in FDJ or simulacrum, might also want to stockpile fullbacks since we are thin in cover.
Basically a partial rebuild every window forever.
 
He has made the most of the resources he has at his disposal and cut his cloth accordingly. Look at McT. I'll admit I thought he was hopeless, but he has been much better under EtH. By making him concentrate on just the simple stuff, and giving him 2 simple passing options (Bruno or Eriksen) he has looked way more solid.

I have been guilty of thinking he was hopeless too. I think EtH is trying to make McTominay play in the role De Jong was coveted for. If I recall correctly ten Hag mentioned he would train up one of our current midfielders if De Jong didn't arrive, and I think that's what's happening with McTominay. Whether he can do that job as well as De Jong is another story, but seeing him receive the ball, turn and beat the press against Arsenal on Sunday was very encouraging to watch.
 
We'll see teams sit deeper against us now, outside the top six any manager who watched the Arsenal and Liverpool would would know its suicide attempting to go toe to toe with us.
This is were we'll need the team to play like the first 15 minutes vs Arsenal and make it count.
Eriksen will be tightly man marked.
it is a new chapter for us under ETH. Let’s see how he overcome it. But teams like Everton, Aston villa, and newcastle will continue to play their games I think.
 
Eriksen will be tightly man marked.
it is a new chapter for us under ETH. Let’s see how he overcome it. But teams like Everton, Aston villa, and newcastle will continue to play their games I think.

Then Eriksen back to Martinez, to Malacia and up the pitch.
 
I just watched the presser. Total waste of time, BUT man do I love his one word answers. The awkward silence afterwards, and his f you smirk are really nice stuff. I’m EtH in.
 
Not sure about the budget but if we can add FDJ and another striker in Jan this will escalate our rebuild. Next season we just need to add another GK and RB to the team that already would have been playing together for 1 year, we are good to challenge, finger crossed.
 
https://www.manutd.com/en/news/deta...ign=ManUtd&utm_medium=post&utm_source=twitter
ERIK'S MATCHDAY Q&A IN FULL



Firstly Erik is there any team news and can we expect to see Anthony Martial back?

"No, Martial is not back. He’s progressing which we’re happy with, but he’s not ready to come in the games."

Four wins in a row – what do you think has changed in those matches and how pleased have you been with the performances and results?

"We are progressing but that is already behind us, we must look forward to the next game. And we are looking forward to it."

It’s matchday one of six, so it’s not as pressurised as a knockout game, but nevertheless how important is it to make a big impact in the first game?

"Huge because as you said it’s the first game in the group stage. We want to win every game and in the group stage we have to get into the top two [positions] to get to the next stages. So the first win is really important."

You’ve had lots of experience in Europe – do you enjoy European games?

"Always. European nights are always special. It’s great to compete with good clubs from different clubs with different styles and systems. I’m really looking forward to it."

What kind of game do you expect when you go up against a team from La Liga?

"Spanish football is always really skilful and technical and you see the great abilities of the players. You have to be aware of that and make a good plan to fight them and to win that game."


You mentioned about the different teams and styles you face in Europe - how much do you look forward to that challenge and how much does it help the team to face those different tests?

"It’s always good for the development of the team to face different systems and styles and to find answers and solutions. We come into Europe now and into the next phase of the season and it will help us as a team and we will get better from it and improve."

What is the next test for your players? Their effort and attitudes are very good, they’re starting games better, they’re scoring nice team goals, they’re tougher to score against – what do you want to see next?

"There is still a lot to work on. You see that in the games and the results are good because we are hard to beat in this moment and we must keep that going. That attitude as a team and supporting each other is really important to be successful, but of course when you see the games you can see we can improve a lot still in all moments – possession, building up play into attack and into the final third, from the transition, defending the pressing… there is still a lot to do. But from game to game we will improve, I’m sure of that."
 
Press conference AI generator questions and answers. Nothing wrong with it, but sometimes you just wish that the manager would pull out the maracas and curse everyone you know.
 
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