Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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Cassidy said:
He said we needed open heart surgey and could need up to 10 players (because we had many leaving for free). He also said we should focus on signing younger hungry players instead of big names.

Not sure what he was wrong about there. We’re clearly lacking a CF right now and have no cover at RB. Unless you think the rebuild is complete and were winning the title this season. He wasn’t wrong
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it’s clear we didn’t need a squad overhaul to play a different style of football since we are literally playing a different, more proactive style of football with basically the same squad plus 4 starters. Best part was he had Scott playing very well while we waited for Casemiro as well.
Just googled Rangnick there to see if I was going crazy but nope, he also got the quality of Liverpools squad hilariously wrong as well

I am not blaming anyone, not my players or anyone else, but we just have to realise what kind of squad they had available. Look at their bench, look at the four players who weren't even in the squad: Roberto Firmino was the only one who was injured, Oxlade-Chamberlain wasn't in the squad, Minamino wasn't in the squad, Harvey Elliott was not in the squad. This shows what kind of quality and team they have built together working with Jurgen and his team for the last six years. "It is not just the quality of players but what kind of mentality they have, what kind of energy and physicality compared with high speed. I would say they have 25 Formula One cars in their squad."
 
If guardiola wasn’t here then I’d be convinced that we’d win a league title sooner rather then later. If he manages to pull of a league title with guardiola still in the league then he has to go down as one of the top managers in Europe. We’ve had manager after manager who have all failed… if he comes in and succeeds then he deserves all the praise in the world.
 
golden_blunder said:
Makes you wonder what the feck Ralph was doing with his division 2 coaches
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He was always fighting a losing battle with the dressing room how it was, they'd just seen off the back of a manager and were doing what they pleased.

Control has been restored by ten Hag because he's stuck to his principles and not wavered, dropped players who haven't performed, he's said that contracts won't be handed out until they've been earned and showed authority over this past week with the Ronaldo debacle. The players know they're not going to get it easy with this manager and they respect and buy into him and his way of thinking.
 
golden_blunder said:
Makes you wonder what the feck Ralph was doing with his division 2 coaches
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To be fair, as much as those coaches were dogshit and clearly bottom of the barrel in terms of what was available, we had a bunch of knob heads who wouldn’t listen to anything they said anyway.

From what we’re hearing from reports now, it seems like the players have fully bought into Ten Hags methods and those that haven’t don’t play or have left already.
 
crossy1686 said:
To be fair, as much as those coaches were dogshit and clearly bottom of the barrel in terms of what was available, we had a bunch of knob heads who wouldn’t listen to anything they said anyway.

From what we’re hearing from reports now, it seems like the players have fully bought into Ten Hags methods and those that haven’t don’t play or have left already.
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I’ll disagree with this. The players tried listening to him and pressed very well for the first few games but we obviously didn’t yet have the stamina for it and Rangnick completely shit the bed and abandoned the whole thing. We pressed well, gassed after 60 minutes and gave points away. The manager wasn’t good enough to address it and reverted back to low block while telling us how shit the players were. That often gets completely overlooked, that’s not how you get the squad onside. The man sent Martial off on loan, how idiotic does that look now?
 
cyberman said:
it’s clear we didn’t need a squad overhaul to play a different style of football since we are literally playing a different, more proactive style of football with basically the same squad plus 4 starters. Best part was he had Scott playing very well while we waited for Casemiro as well.
Just googled Rangnick there to see if I was going crazy but nope, he also got the quality of Liverpools squad hilariously wrong as well

I am not blaming anyone, not my players or anyone else, but we just have to realise what kind of squad they had available. Look at their bench, look at the four players who weren't even in the squad: Roberto Firmino was the only one who was injured, Oxlade-Chamberlain wasn't in the squad, Minamino wasn't in the squad, Harvey Elliott was not in the squad. This shows what kind of quality and team they have built together working with Jurgen and his team for the last six years. "It is not just the quality of players but what kind of mentality they have, what kind of energy and physicality compared with high speed. I would say they have 25 Formula One cars in their squad."
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The biggest problem is that Ralf’s best ability was to get in younger players who were going to make the next step up and prove that they’re top drawer. He doesn’t need to manage top players ego because he has always been focused on getting hungry players who want to prove themselves.

But instead of getting him to do that, we decided that he should just try to salvage what he can from the existing squad who’re all highly paid and would likely take a step down if they moved on from the club.

It’s like getting a guy who’s worked at McDonald’s his whole life and hiring him and expect him to be a good pastry chef just because he used to working in the kitchen.
 
MUFC OK said:
If he gets 4th, build a statue :devil:
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I’m sorry you feel this way. Personally, I think we are playing some good fluid patterns and seem to control matches a lot better than before. Yes we miss that clinical striker upfronr which for a variety of reasons (Martial, Ronaldo, Greenwood) United haven’t had - but for a long time we have a midfield and that’s harder to fix
 
We’re on the right track. Its been a tough start, we’ve already played the top 6 within the first 11 league games.

Finally after years of mediocre performances going unpunished he’s willing to make the big calls and drop players it doesn’t matter if you’re Shaw or Ronaldo if you aren’t performing you’re out.

I think we gambled and put a lot of hope onto Martial this season and that could ultimately cost us, it’s a massive priority to get a world class striker in the summer (doubt we can get one in January)
 
pascell said:
He was always fighting a losing battle with the dressing room how it was, they'd just seen off the back of a manager and were doing what they pleased.

Control has been restored by ten Hag because he's stuck to his principles and not wavered, dropped players who haven't performed, he's said that contracts won't be handed out until they've been earned and showed authority over this past week with the Ronaldo debacle. The players know they're not going to get it easy with this manager and they respect and buy into him and his way of thinking.
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And the board has also backed ETH. His stature is only growing with his authority over the Ronaldo situation. It feels like we will allow him to do as he decides without the commercial element.

It's clear he has the control and respect of the squad, and there's a few leaders emerging in the dressing room also. It was hard for Rangnick being only a temporary fix, he was never going to have the time to implement his style, nor the power in the dressing room to get players on board. Plus, he's not had much recent experience coaching either.

ETH has the power, it looks like he'll have the time and he's making clear progress and imprinting a culture and style on this team. Everyone bar Ronaldo is buying in right now. Look at Fred, couldn't get a look in earlier in the season, then McTominay gets suspended and now Fred has taken his chance and put in a decent performance against Spurs and seems to be above McTominay now in the pecking order. Players are being rewarded for their form and competition for places has increased in the squad.
 
cyberman said:
it’s clear we didn’t need a squad overhaul to play a different style of football since we are literally playing a different, more proactive style of football with basically the same squad plus 4 starters. Best part was he had Scott playing very well while we waited for Casemiro as well.
Just googled Rangnick there to see if I was going crazy but nope, he also got the quality of Liverpools squad hilariously wrong as well

I am not blaming anyone, not my players or anyone else, but we just have to realise what kind of squad they had available. Look at their bench, look at the four players who weren't even in the squad: Roberto Firmino was the only one who was injured, Oxlade-Chamberlain wasn't in the squad, Minamino wasn't in the squad, Harvey Elliott was not in the squad. This shows what kind of quality and team they have built together working with Jurgen and his team for the last six years. "It is not just the quality of players but what kind of mentality they have, what kind of energy and physicality compared with high speed. I would say they have 25 Formula One cars in their squad."
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What are you talking about. We wouldnt be able to play how were playing without Martinez, Eriksen, Casemiro etc. and the squad overhaul wasn’t about style of play it was about how many players were leaving on a free in the summer.

By the way Rangnick was talking about what is needed to win/compete for titles. Were not even close yet.
 
Again, 3 of the 4 best players for us on the pitch were the Ten Hag signings of Eriksen, Antony and Lisandro. We were the better team by far but lacked threat. Would have been a better game for Martial than Rashford with the decent football we played in the first half.

Good stuff. I'd say we're right at 50% to get 4th with City running away with it, Arsenal 2nd and then Spurs/United/Liverpool/Chelsea in some order and basically no way to separate them as Liverpool have the highest ceiling but are 5-7 points behind the other 3 and Spurs will have a slight attacking hiccup at some point, I think the 2 goals a game they've scored this season (and last) under Conte is a little above sustainability with their lack of creativity in midfield and Ben Davies and Hojbjerg looking less than their best, as they did a lot of the positive stuff in their build up last season.
 
afrocentricity said:
Ralf did feck all except talk
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Yeah. It was fine to be excited by his appointment, and even give him the benefit of the doubt for weeks and months. With the benefit of some distance though, he quite clearly alienated the players and didn’t show any signs of being equipped to manage politically at this level. We also asked a big picture guy to essentially do a firefighting job.

It will be increasingly viewed as a batshit move.
 
United's first half was pretty good, their 2nd half perhaps not so good but you've got to remember ten Hag is just over 15 competitive games into his tenure.
 
MUFC OK said:
Okay, let’s judge after 3 years then. Might get top 4 once.
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All we can ask of a manager is to see improvement in the way we play. Of course it may be too soon to say we've definitely turned a corner but if you can't enjoy the way we've played the last couple of games against top 4 contenders then I don't know what to tell you.

It's been over a decade since we've basically dominated (or at least been comfortable) against 2 top teams 2 games in a row. I've went years being pessimistic about United even after good results but I'm finally, if not fully aboard the hype train just yet I'm at least standing on the platform waiting for the train to pull into the station. It may take the slow route but I'm at last fully confident it'll arrive on time.
 
First time in years(And I think all of you will agree with me) that I actually like and can relate to a Manchester United team
 
Cassidy said:
What are you talking about. We wouldnt be able to play how were playing without Martinez, Eriksen, Casemiro etc. and the squad overhaul wasn’t about style of play it was about how many players were leaving on a free in the summer.

By the way Rangnick was talking about what is needed to win/compete for titles. Were not even close yet.
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You say etc like there’s more…it wasn’t 3 games ago when we were saying Scott’s form was rightfully keeping Casemiro out.
It didn’t come close to a squad overhaul to change our style of play, Rangnick just wasn’t good enough and hid behind transfers and running down our players in public. He should have been sacked on the spot when he announced the team for the Anfield game. Jones might have a case for constructive dismissal it was so bad.
 
redNATION said:
We’re basically headed in Ragnicks direction anyway, in time (quite soon) the likes of Rashford, Sancho, Shaw, DDG will be replaced, and we’ll have a whole new 11. Whatever you think of Rangnick he was right that the team needed complete overhaul and if we’re serious about challenging City then that’s where we’re headed.
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Disagree. I see Rashford and Shaw as mainstays. Sancho, it's up to him. DDG will be gone in summer for sure ( on a free, this is our chance)
 
mav_9me said:
Disagree. I see Rashford and Shaw as mainstays. Sancho, it's up to him. DDG will be gone in summer for sure ( on a free, this is our chance)
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Rashford won't be, he's not a quality 9 and there's so many better wingers out there.
 
He’s the one. It’s going to be incredibly difficult to topple a City team that keep improving year after year so important that the board back this guy as much as they possibly can in the next couple of years.
 
That ajax passing drill we seen at the beginning at one of the sessions in pre season when it got leaked.

You can see it working now on the players in the games. One touch and tempo of the passing has improved. Players look more comfortable on the ball in play.
 
cyberman said:
You say etc like there’s more…it wasn’t 3 games ago when we were saying Scott’s form was rightfully keeping Casemiro out.
It didn’t come close to a squad overhaul to change our style of play, Rangnick just wasn’t good enough and hid behind transfers and running down our players in public. He should have been sacked on the spot when he announced the team for the Anfield game. Jones might have a case for constructive dismissal it was so bad.
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We wouldn’t be playing the way we are without the additions of Martinez, Casemiro, Eriksen and Antony.

Ten Hag still needs another three or four players, too: a goalkeeper who can do what he wants, a right back to support/supplant Dalot, a De Jong type in midfield, and a striker who can both hold it up and score. Rangnick was absolutely correct when he said up to ten player incomings earlier this year.
 
cyberman said:
You say etc like there’s more…it wasn’t 3 games ago when we were saying Scott’s form was rightfully keeping Casemiro out.
It didn’t come close to a squad overhaul to change our style of play, Rangnick just wasn’t good enough and hid behind transfers and running down our players in public. He should have been sacked on the spot when he announced the team for the Anfield game. Jones might have a case for constructive dismissal it was so bad.
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3 games ago we were not playing how we played vs Spurs and Chelsea by the way.
The point was though that Rangnick was not just talking about style of play. He was talking about what we need to do to compete with City and Pool for the title. Which we are not doing at the moment.

He also said it shouldn’t take more than 2/3 transfer windows. One of the things he said was hiring a manager with a strong identity which we did by the way.

It a bit silly to say he is wrong when we have actually had a major overhaul this summer already (look how many players left) and still need to do more work to get to where we want to be (unless you think competing for top4 is the goal)

If you really believe we haven’t got more major squad work to do before we can win the title you’re mistaken
 
Smithy89 said:
Rashford won't be, he's not a quality 9 and there's so many better wingers out there.
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People forget how good Rashford was relative to his age prior to his injury and a season in and out of the side. His output was exceptional. People used to negatively compare him to Sancho and now look.

It would be very expensive to sign a better player on paper than Rashford for that left inside forward spot, and Sancho has shown that even a “sure thing” won’t definitely succeed.

Rashford will come good. He has his vigour and hunger back. Hopefully the goalscoring confidence will come again.
 
Kag said:
We wouldn’t be playing the way we are without the additions of Martinez, Casemiro, Eriksen and Antony.

Ten Hag still needs another three or four players, too. Rangnick was absolutely correct when he said up to ten player incomings earlier this year.
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Really? I’m seeing calls for a striker and we’d be right up there, not calls for 5/6 more players.
We dominated Spurs without Eriksen on the pitch, we even had a debate wether to bring him in v Chelsea. We played this brand of football without Casemiro in the side. We are playing progressive football from the back with 4 of the back 5 that Rangnick had at his disposal.
Say what you want but the players he inferred weren’t capable of playing any other way simply are playing a better brand of football. There’s no real arguing against it in my opinion. Even having these player run was beyond him. Having Bruno play a disciplined role instead of dropping back everywhere and launching long ball after long ball would have helped.
We are a football club, I’m sure we’ll reach 9/10 players over the next 2/3 windows because that’s what football clubs do. What we didn’t need was 9/10 different players to change out style of football which was 100 percent what he said and what he said was 100 percent wrong.
 
I love ETH start to include some of the youngsters and see if they are ready to step in. It could save us alot of money with needing to focus 2-3 position. Hopefully, he start giving youngsters in home games when we are 3-0 up. Would really love to see Garnacho for Sancho, I think he can provide more threat than Sancho. Would also like to see Iqbal carrying the ball forward in midfield.
 
Cassidy said:
3 games ago we were not playing how we played vs Spurs and Chelsea by the way.
The point was though that Rangnick was not just talking about style of play. He was talking about what we need to do to compete with City and Pool for the title. Which we are not doing at the moment.

He also said it shouldn’t take more than 2/3 transfer windows. One of the things he said was hiring a manager with a strong identity which we did by the way.

It a bit silly to say he is wrong when we have actually had a major overhaul this summer already (look how many players left) and still need to do more work to get to where we want to be.

If you really believe we haven’t got more major squad work to do before we can win the title you’re mistaken
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I watched us swamp Liverpool and Arsenal while DDG had little to do. I watched us smother Leicester and Southampton in between that as well. Everton away was exactly like yesterday only we scored our chances in the first half. That is more impressive because it was so early in the process rather than now when we are finally up and running imo. The pressure was immense back then but the players and manager stood up to it.
You see, you just made it a grand statement. He said we needed up to 10 players to change our style of play, not win a league.10 players in one window I might add. Forest style team building
Absolutely ridiculous when you look back on it. People were jumping on that demanding a new first 11! Then fans were crying when Ten Hag dismissed that nonsense and he’s been proven right to do so
 
The Mitcher said:
Turns out not listening to Rangnick has been the right call.
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He was spot on about ronaldo.

And ten hag bought half a dozen players and will add a few more next season so rangnick wasn't off the mark.

Rangnick sucked at man management and which wasn't helped by the snakepit that the dressing room had descended into.
 
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It seems like we have hit the tipping point of the muscle memory of how WTH wants the team to play. I had expected to reach this stage after the Qatar WC. So I am pretty surprised and happy.

Creating busloads of chances -- only need better finishing and bob's your uncle.

My expectations were 5th this season and competing for the Top 4 next season and then the league in ETH's 3rd season. But if we get into the Top 4 this season, then the feckin' owners better back ETH/Murtough to the hilt the next summer window.
 
golden_blunder said:
Patience for gods sake
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Seems people are forgetting that the current title leaders finished in 8th place back to back seasons and someone like Klopp didn't even make the top 4 initially at Liverpool. Their managers were backed with patience and it's paid off massively.

These things don't happen overnight unless it's a once in a lifetime alignment of the stars like Leicester.

I'd be perfectly content with a top 4 finish if we're continously progressing on the pitch as we seem to be.
 
We need a quality striker. The chances that fell to Rashford in Newcastle and Chelsea game, if we have a Haaland, we would have won both game comfortably.
 
cyberman said:
I watched us swamp Liverpool and Arsenal while DDG had little to do. I watched us smother Leicester and Southampton in between that as well. Everton away was exactly like yesterday only we scored our chances in the first half. That is more impressive because it was so early in the process rather than now when we are finally up and running imo. The pressure was immense back then but the players and manager stood up to it.
You see, you just made it a grand statement. He said we needed up to 10 players to change our style of play, not win a league.10 players in one window I might add. Forest style team building
Absolutely ridiculous when you look back on it. People were jumping on that demanding a new first 11! Then fans were crying when Ten Hag dismissed that nonsense and he’s been proven right to do so
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Hes not been proven right, we're 5th with negative goal difference whilst spending 230m and signing 5 new starting 11 players and he still wants more.
Ten Hag is a top manager and he's getting us playing, if we want to win titles, he will need more squad investment, if you think otherwise you're having a laugh.
 
Some time you just have to let the man do his job. When you start putting margins in front of him your going to be disappointed.
 
afrocentricity said:
Ralf did feck all except talk
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If ETH had of came in as interim I'm pretty sure we wouldn't of faired any better than Ralf. Pogba and Lingard stinking the place up. The Ronaldo Maguire situation. The cnut who shan't be named situation. Martial wanting out. Rashford downing tools. The players basically doing what they wanted under Ole with no consequences.

What's changed now is Pogba, Lingard and the cnut who shant be named have gone. Maguire is "out injured", ETH has brought in his own players and the players know they have to fight for a place in the squad because there's a big difference between a manager and an interim which is one of the reasons Rashfords form has picked up again as he's getting closer to contract time.

ETH has a lot of advantages over what Ralf had including a preseason and it's taken him roughly 4 months to get us looking like a team again. What was Ralf supposed to do in 5 months with none of the advantages?

Don't get me wrong. I'd take ETH over Ralf anyway of the week but the constant belittling of Ralf just shows very little imagination instead of looking at the bigger picture. Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things anyway but haters are always gonna hate.
 
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