Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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Good post. I can see quick fluid football and us moving the ball quicker. Some good one and 2 touch football. Movement in final 3rd being better.

As you said not on ETH if players can't put the ball in the back of the net and put chances away. Created plenty of chances last night to win that game by lot more.

not to stir the pot so to speak but i think one of the main issues last night was Ronaldo....of all the players he was the most static and offered the least from any of the attacking players
 
that's funny at best anyone criticizing him right now....that match yesterday was a perfect example of how he's building this team to play

you have a team sitting in basically a block of 8 and rarely coming out of it yet we created 34 shots, created at least a dozen very good chances...the finishing isn't on ETH it's on Rashford, Bruno, Ronaldo for missing the target or not putting the ball in the back of the net in clinical moments. To say that should easily have been 5-0 isn't an exaggeration yet he gets the criticism for some sort of non alleged style of play?
We wanted someone to take control of the squad, provide leadership in recruitment and scouting, and show progression the pitch, both in terms of results and performances. He’s done this. He’s dropped non-performing “big” players like Maguire and Ronaldo and Shaw, given very detailed instructions and sorted the dressing room with his 13k run. Although he leaned on players he has experience with in Martinez, Eriksen and Antony, his transfer moves have been good so far.

I’ve been very critical of Dalot in the past, but Ten Hag has turned him into an average defender (which is say something because he was awful over the last year) and a really competent distributor when he pinches in as an extra midfielder.

I’m less concerned with the Caf buzzwords “instilling a philosophy” and “patterns of play”. Most of the people in the Caf have no idea what those mean anyhow, they just want us to look and play like City or Liverpool. You can see that the high line we employed and the possession focused approach vs Omnia actually left us very open to counter attacks. Tbf, they should have had at least one goal on a counter, though they didn’t create much else. That’s the downside of playing in a Pep-style system, you really are open to counters and top clinical sides like Bayern and Real will punish you.

For me, he’s been an 8 out of 10 so far. For reference, I’d have rated Ralf a 2 out of 10 (great press conferences), Ole a 6 out of 10 (except his last few weeks, those were a disaster).
 
Last night was a good performance hurt by the fact that we don't have enough clinical finishers as people said, but you can't say that there wasn't a style of play. There was 70% plus possession, we had 30+ shots and constantly won the ball back quickly when we lost it. Yes we know Omonia aren't great but you're not guaranteed to do that against anyone.
 
Although he leaned on players he has experience with in Martinez, Eriksen and Antony, his transfer moves have been good so far.

He doesn't have experience with Eriksen.

It's more that it's a player he brought in himself
 
I believe in him & he will take us to glory

Yeah have seen glimpses but won't see it on a regular basis until he has his own team,still stuck with players from previous managers who won't ever fit his system
 
Apparently Cundy went for him on Talkshite last night and said it's no different to Solskjaer
I'd be more shocked if he didn't tbh. Their whole MO is saying dumb shit to make people irate and call up
 
The biggest difference between Ole and ETH is that he will make substitutes. I still can't forgive Ole for not making a sub against Villarreal. We had them ropes and then the player on the pitch lost their energy to keep pressing for a win.

Let's be honest if we had Ole he would have kept the same players on and we would have gotten a draw or thrown in another attacker and lost on the counter.
 
The biggest difference between Ole and ETH is that he will make substitutes. I still can't forgive Ole for not making a sub against Villarreal. We had them ropes and then the player on the pitch lost their energy to keep pressing for a win.

Let's be honest if we had Ole he would have kept the same players on and we would have gotten a draw or thrown in another attacker and lost on the counter.
The funny thing is Ajax fans’ biggest criticism of ETH was his stubbornness in not making subs or making them unbelievably late. I think currently because the team doesn’t play in his image he’s happy to change things up. But when he is happy with how we play we could easily see him reverting to type and ‘trusting the players out there’
 
Cundy. Less of a surname, more of a lazily pronounced description.
For an ex footballer pundit giving shit opinions the guy was barely a footballer. 12 years career with less than 150 games to his name. Forget about how good or bad he was, does anyone even remember him playing anyway?
 
Think it's no coincidence that the time Martial has been on the pitch has coincided with our most cohesive link up play. Nobody else knows how to receive the ball in a central position, hold, turn one way or the other and link up with somebody else. Everyone else forces things way too much and lack composure. Martial, or a striker like him, is like the glue to our attack IMO. If they aren't there, it'll look disjointed because we're missing the vital cog.

Yeah, massively so. It affects all facets of play. Having him there allows the team to have a focal point, it eases pressure on the defence by being able to hold the ball up, stopping the game devolving into pinball. It enables him to facilitate the wide players, being able to link up and get them closer to goal with clever one twos, can draw in defenders as he has the technical ability to as well as hold it up play players in. He gives the midfielders a focal point and a passing option, as he's able to receive the ball under pressure and on the turn, which the other options can't.

His injuries are a real shame because he's very suited to the CF role under ETH. You can look at how different Arsenal are with Lacazette out for Jesus to see what a difference it can make.
 
I think we should play with a false 9 as there’s no real central striker in our squad. Maybe let Bruno play as a false 9 as his energy levels are good at bursting forward into space.
 
He is doing a great job so far.

All his purchases make sense (c.f. many buys from Mourinho/Ole eras didn't make sense at all)

His rotation and team selection are reasonable and very merit-based so far.

He seems to be able to handling dressing room issues well (even Ronaldo is kinda "tamed" by him).
 
Eriksen plays dlp role next to Casemiro/McT. We don’t have a back up for him yet.

I don’t think we will see Bruno as a cf: he is better a little deeper in a free role playing others in. He is not a striker and lacks the agility to play the false 9 role.

Best to let him expend his energy in midfield, it would be a waste not to.
 
I think we should play with a false 9 as there’s no real central striker in our squad. Maybe let Bruno play as a false 9 as his energy levels are good at bursting forward into space.
With a false 9 you need players getting into the box from deeper to put chances away, which would be Bruno if he were a reliable finisher.

He also doesn’t have anywhere near the discipline required for such a role, we’d be disjointed immediately when he goes charging off after a no hoper
 
Except finishings yesterday's performance was wonderful. We were moving the ball swiftly with intent. Created chances against a team sitting back for counter.

I am convinced this team is just one very good striker away from challenging for trophies. Of course, reinforcement at othet positions always welcome but our next top priority has to be a forward, a very good one.

ETH has worked extremely hard with the squad and we can see it’s starting to pay off. Yes we should have put last nights game to bed much sooner, but the quality of passing and attacking movement looked very impressive and had Omnia scrambling around in their own half for the entire game.
As mentioned, I think we’re literally one or two players away from being a title challenger, and Ten Hag should be credited for that.
After a 92nd minute winner against Cyprus 6th place und having a goal difference of -2 in the league.... And people are talking about the caf being a place often crippled with negativity.
 
After a 92nd minute winner against Cyprus 6th place und having a goal difference of -2 in the league.... And people are talking about the caf being a place often crippled with negativity.
That's just one or two chronic virtue signalling twats. It's okay to feel this way. I think most cautiously accept we are ways from our final form. We haven't even played with a true ten hag system striker yet. It's definitely not one or two signings away though. Would like to see even more technical possession types to balance out the err Ole DNA in the lineup.
 
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That's just one or two chronic virtue signalling twats. I think most cautiously accept we are ways from our final form. We haven't even played with a true ten hag system striker yet. It's definitely not one or two signings away though. Would like to see even more technical possession types to balance out the err Ole DNA in the lineup.
Agreed. About the bolded part: well said :) Lets see how we will do in the next three games, not only good teams against us but apparently we will miss Eriksen at least today, who I think, is sort of the catalyst for many of the positives in the last weeks.
 
Why is he wearing an Adidas branded jacket without our crest on it? Is it time to start questioning Erik's commitment to our great club?
 
I think he needs to be brave and drop Bruno and Ronaldo. Sancho can be benched for Garnacho. Play Eriksen higher up the pitch and have Casemiro plus one sitting.
 
Needs to trust Zidane Iqbal more, who had a fantastic pre season. If Eriksen is out, then he is the type of player who should come in for him.
 
He can't have missed how much we are lacking intensity and running power up front. Both personnel and style are a problem.

Sancho and Antony together lacks penetration, they are always coming towards the ball. Then you have a pensioner isolated. We need Rashford to give us any kind of dynamism and he's inconsistent. It looks a bit wrong at the moment without a striker to finish the picture.
 
For someone who is supposedly big on introducing academy players I have not seen a minute of ganacho or Iqbal yet?
What's going on?
 
For someone who is supposedly big on introducing academy players I have not seen a minute of ganacho or Iqbal yet?
What's going on?
Exactly, it's the same stinking players that are playing bang average and inconsistent that was under ole/ralf. EtH ain't resetting no culture here.
 
I'm not even sure what we're trying to do. Slinging crosses towards past it Ronaldo or strikers that can't even head a ball isn't going to work. What do we do in training?
 
Starting Fred is a decision that , worries me about ETH. No upside to playing such a player for 90mins and yet he still did
Only other option was to throw either Iqbal or Mainoo in, without getting into an argument on how much quality they have, it was hardly the type of game to throw youngsters into.
 
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