Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

[Anustart89]

Rio's take is incredibly stupid. It's like he suggests that Ronaldo doesn't have the mental capacity to understand that he's a rotational player by the fact that he's been rotated and starting several games on the bench. But if EtH had told him he'd be a rotational player he would've understood and not pissed off twice so far this season.

And as I type that, I realise that he was told during pre-season that fecking off before the game's over is unacceptable, and then he went and did it again. So being told something doesn't necessarily mean anything anyway, does it?

Can't wait until he's gone from the club and all the Ronaldo fanboys (including those in the media) piss off from commenting on the club in relation to Ronaldo. And they will, because if the silence on Lisandro's performances tell you anything, it's that once they've been proven wrong they just stay silent on a subject, so once EtH gets us properly firing and gets a striker in then they'll all be awfully quiet.

 

[Glorio]

Thanks, will try to find it later, I have to work, life sucks.

Here you go (2:20 or thereabouts) - to be fair, it was a joke but that probably proves the point I was making even more.

 

[Gycraig]

We was trying to sell ronaldo in summer / he was paddying trying to move away, it doesn’t take an absolute genius to figure out he would be a bit part player at best, what sort of “communication” does he expect.
He isn’t good enough to be worth this shit anymore

 

[Scandi Red]

You say you wouldn't listen to Giggs because he's a cnut, to be clear I am not saying he's not but equally I'm not sure why him being a cnut would affect his opinions on football

If you can't trust the man, why should you trust his opinions? I also wouldn't trust my own ability to separate the man from the opinions. The content of what he's trying to convey would be entirely lost on me.

Beckham's a sell-out, presumably for promoting Qatar? Why would that make him not worth listening to?

Because I don't trust the opinions of sellouts?

Why is Cantona not a sell-out for promoting gambling companies?

There are levels, my guy. This is NOT the same as promoting Qatar.

And on Evra and Scholes, I don't see why them getting involved in the occasional weird act (that has nothing to do with football) would mean we shouldn't listen to their football opinions?

This was an attempt at a cheeky joke to be fair. Both Scholes and Evra have shown signs of strong bias, though.

 

[JB7]

Just curious why promoting gambling a sell-out?

Imo gambling is quite fine if you're not addicted to. Might earn some bucks too.

Because problematic gambling destroys lives. And if you are an addict, which a lot of people are, seeing it advertised every 5 minutes isn't helpful in my opinion.

 

[Strelok]

Because problematic gambling destroys lives. And if you are an addict, which a lot of people are, seeing it advertised every 5 minutes isn't helpful in my opinion.

Same with alcohol you know. In fact we could name a bunch of those I think. Tbh imo this is a bit too far but we can agree to disagree then.

 

[JB7]

Same with alcohol you know. In fact we could name a bunch of those I think. Tbh imo this is a bit too far but we can agree to disagree then.

I was just comparing one to the other in terms of people selling out. Fair enough.

 

[mav_9me]

People really can't handle differing opinions without descending into a full blown dramatic meltdown. We've had it multiple times with Neville now Keane and Rio.

Can't people just acknowledge they have their own perspective and know the shit their own team mates pulled across the years. I don't agree with them but they've far more context than the rest of us, immediately just flagging them as fanboys is ridiculous.

There is no more context to refusing to come in as a sub.

By defending the indefensible, they are proving themselves to be fanboys

 

[Escobar]

Wasn't Carragher the one who also said he is sure Martinez as a CB cannot work in the PL?

Yes. And I think last season he also had some absolute blunders. But generally he is good

 

[NLunited]

I still think Ronaldo can be useful for us this season, but it depends on him. His refusal to work with 10Hag’s () staff is concerning.

The last times he has come on he has looked sharper.

Whether he plays Ten Hag’s system is less of a concern, he can be used most often as a plan B and we can adjust pressing if he starts the occasional game. He ain’t got the legs to press like a maniac.

Most teams have a sort of pinch hitter on the bench (or line up), without Ron we don’t have one.

The most obvious solution to the situation is Ronald makes himself useful. Otherwise, get rid as soon as possible.

 

[RedOrange]

You say you wouldn't listen to Giggs because he's a cnut, to be clear I am not saying he's not but equally I'm not sure why him being a cnut would affect his opinions on football given that he played at the highest level for 20 years, coached at United and also managed internationally?

You're right, it would be a shame to let adultery with his brothers wife and a bit of domestic violence prevent us from enjoying fascinating pearls of wisdom like "the Premier League is a war of nutrition."

 

[Escobar]

People really can't handle differing opinions without descending into a full blown dramatic meltdown. We've had it multiple times with Neville now Keane and Rio.

Can't people just acknowledge they have their own perspective and know the shit their own team mates pulled across the years. I don't agree with them but they've far more context than the rest of us, immediately just flagging them as fanboys is ridiculous.

Opinions whilst ignoring facts are a bit daft tbh

 

[JB7]

You're right, it would be a shame to let adultery with his brothers wife and a bit of domestic violence prevent us from enjoying fascinating pearls of wisdom like "the Premier League is a war of nutrition."

Way to pull a part of a post away from its context to create a talking point. Well done you.

 

[mctrials23]

People really can't handle differing opinions without descending into a full blown dramatic meltdown. We've had it multiple times with Neville now Keane and Rio.

Can't people just acknowledge they have their own perspective and know the shit their own team mates pulled across the years. I don't agree with them but they've far more context than the rest of us, immediately just flagging them as fanboys is ridiculous.

Most people just expect someones opinion to be based in some vague sense of reality and when it isn't, they unsurprisingly dismiss them as idiots...

When they are saying things like "Ronaldo would have scored that" after he has missed a host of chances recently, its hard to see that an a valid opinion.

When they say you have to play Ronaldo because he is one of the greatest players ever its hard to think thats an unbiased opinion when Ronaldo hasn't been close to one of the best players in the past 3 years. Most people are intelligent enough not to confuse someones past peak with their current form, especially when that player is at the very end of their elite career.

When United are playing much better without Ronaldo in the team and they are still bleating on about Ronaldo needing to play you have to wonder why?

When these ex-United players had endless support and patience for Ole after 3 years in a job and they are already questioning ETH after 4 months of inheriting a complete mess, perhaps some questions should be asked about whether their view are completely shite.

 

[lapassion]

Maybe talk about Ronaldo and his mates in the other thread? This is not the thread for it.

 

[phelans shorts]

These off the record briefs are not getting through, they are too ambiguous and easy to ignore by loudmouth pundits.

Murtough needs to go on record and say he’s up for grabs for anyone who wants him, and has been since summer.

It would be showing a complete lack of disrespect to a football legend of course but this legend has shown zero respect to his club, his manager, his team mates and our fans so feck him - this season he’ll have earned an amount almost equal to the Glazer annual dividends while arguably doing a similar amount of damage.

The message is heard loud and clear by clubs, but nobody wants him.

 

[Strelok]

Keane, Rio etc defending Ronaldo when the whole (Manchester United, not Ronaldo) fanbase is not a bad idea. Keeps the back channel open, allows Ronaldo to have a way back in and start contributing productively. I'm sure this is what everyone wants. Even Ronaldo knows he's dug a hole too deep for even him to get out of unless he does miracles. Without the fan backing, he's a no body.

No offense but tbh this is a bit naive imo.

This whole saga happened because Ronaldo doesn't want to be a bench option. He wants a starting slot and the tactics must be centered around him. ETH or not.

Of course United is not daft enough to do all that. We're daft, but not THAT daft. So Ronaldo does his usual, throw a noisy tantrum to get the necessary attention from the media and fans. Then he keeps silent but sends his messages via his friends, ex teammates, paid PR firms etc.

By doing so he hopes:

- Cause enough pressure for United and ETH to bend over and give him what he wants.
- If not the above then United and ETH would be annoyed enough to pay him the rest of his contract so he can feck off.

It's a very calculated move. United and ETH responses by playing the same dodgy game. Keep silent then say what you want via the papers or social media.

So far no side has won yet. End of story. Imo both sides will be stuck in this shitshow until the very end of his contract.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

Yet our fans constantly bash Neville despite him loving the club, being one of our own, and being ever-present for us in our best years.

He said nothing about his good ol mate Ole.

 

[No Idea For Nickname]

 

[Greck]

People really can't handle differing opinions without descending into a full blown dramatic meltdown. We've had it multiple times with Neville now Keane and Rio.

Can't people just acknowledge they have their own perspective and know the shit their own team mates pulled across the years. I don't agree with them but they've far more context than the rest of us, immediately just flagging them as fanboys is ridiculous.

Opinions are to be respected but it's an easy cop out in this case. The so called opinions contained exaggerated, speculative and downright untrue "facts" to put down ETH and raise Ronaldo, they said he scored a goal every 2 games and downplayed league form to make it look like we were struggling without him. Keane said we were 5th and ETH desperately needs to start winning games but when one takes a look at the games we dropped points, most of them were with Ronaldo starting. It's not even a statistical coincidence because we straight up play tony pulis football to maximise Ronaldo. Keane is probably the most disappointing because he has actually managed before. He should be the first one in that studio to see the massive gulf in tactical effectiveness.

Then Rio speculated nonsense about ten hag man managing him poorly, I mean even if ETH promised him minutes those types of guarantees only hold up when the player is actually performing, they are basically crying about a poor performer being benched.

They even blasted him for not subbing in ronaldo into the city game when the preferred sub scored two. They've been pushing this poor management angle for weeks, with the added foolishness of downplaying decisions that are actually paying off, they could have just waited for a poor run of games to resurrect their agenda. This is how stupid this saga is. It's lies and speculations not some honest opinion.

 

[Oranges038]

This is right.

If ETH bows to the pressure being created around Ronaldo he will start to lose control of the players and it's a slippery slope from there.

 

[Foxbatt]

We get a new progressive upcoming manager and he has to deal with a past great WC player who is over the hill and his former team mates who are gunning for the manager because he dropped him because he refused to come on as a sub. And some fans are supporting these former players over our manager?
I can't believe this shite.

 

[Freak]

We get a new progressive upcoming manager and he has to deal with a past great WC player who is over the hill and his former team mates who are gunning for the manager because he dropped him because he refused to come on as a sub. And some fans are supporting these former players over our manager?
I can't believe this shite.

These are not fans of the club. These are fans of individual players.

 

[lex talionis]

I got beat up here a few weeks ago when I gave ETH an A- for his work so far, but I suspect even the most skeptical United supporters here would have to give him no worse than a B+...and that that A- is looking more and more solid as every week goes by.

The reason I can't go to a straight A is that he probably should have pushed harder for a third choice striker in the event Ronaldo ran into a wall at the beginning of the season (which he did) and that Martial's injury problems resurfaced (which they have) and we're now without a fit striker in form, which cost us points against Newcastle and Chelsea.

We should be sitting third in the table right now, but those four dropped points now have us in sixth -- behind the two sides we just drew with. We'll land a top four spot by season's end, but we need to sort out of problems in the final third if we're going to get there.

 

[Red_Aaron]

That Ronaldo couldn't even give the manager the common (read professional) courtesy of turning up for pre season and hearing/seeing his plans for the season means he has absolutely no right to demand special treatment now simply because of his name.

He disrespected ETH from the off and as a result lost any credit his reputation may have afforded him. He's got to earn his place in the team from the ground up like anyone else and the bottom line is he's been rubbish all season

In some ways I actually think he's done ETH a favour, by showing he's not afraid to lay down the law to even the mighty Ronaldo he's been able send a great message to the rest of the squad that he's top dog now and everyone needs to fall in line.

The sad part is I actually think ETH could've got a tune out of him if he'd just bought in to plan. Instead he'll lose a minimum of half a season doing fck all but souring the opinion of fans that loved him

 

[Adam-Utd]

That Ronaldo couldn't even give the manager the common (read professional) courtesy of turning up for pre season and hearing/seeing his plans for the season means he has absolutely no right to demand special treatment now simply because of his name.

He disrespected ETH from the off and as a result lost any credit his reputation may have afforded him. He's got to earn his place in the team from the ground up like anyone else and the bottom line is he's been rubbish all season

In some ways I actually think he's done ETH a favour, by showing he's not afraid to lay down the law to even the mighty Ronaldo he's been able send a great message to the rest of the squad that he's top dog now and everyone needs to fall in line.

The sad part is I actually think ETH could've got a tune out of him if he'd just bought in to plan. Instead he'll lose a minimum of half a season doing fck all but souring the opinion of fans that loved him

agreed.

the way he’s handled this could give him a huge platform of power going forward. everybody knows now you mess with the boss you get taken out.

it’s good the club backed him totally too - finally something the board did right

 

[Escobar]

Good thing is Ronaldo has an expiry date at United. So whoever sides with him will be on the losing end, latest next summer

 

[Boondog]

When these ex-United players had endless support and patience for Ole after 3 years in a job and they are already questioning ETH after 4 months of inheriting a complete mess, perhaps some questions should be asked about whether their view are completely shite.

Agreed. And I'll take it a step further and say what they are backing is the idea that a player should be bigger than the team. This is a concept that jives naturally with an ex-player, particularly one that has achieved a high status with the team and fan base. It's a bad take.

 

[mctrials23]

Agreed. And I'll take it a step further and say what they are backing is the idea that a player should be bigger than the team. This is a concept that jives naturally with an ex-player, particularly one that has achieved a high status with the team and fan base. It's a bad take.

I think that many of them fundamentally have no reference point for the modern player/manager dynamic and the knife edge that a lot of dressing rooms seem to be on. Gone are the days of players being massively self motivated and playing for the shirt. Gone are the days of managers always being bigger than any player.

They all worked under one of the best and probably most autocratic managers ever and they are all mates with Ronaldo or at least they think they are. Ronaldo is a cancer on the team and should be removed.

Their behaviour when it came to Ole and now Ronaldo is proof enough that these guys cannot retain even a shred of impartiality when it comes to their mates.

 

[Kag]

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.

We wouldn’t be playing the way we are with the squad Ten Hag inherited in the summer. He’s no miracle worker.

By the time we add a striker and goalkeeper, as well as another midfielder then we’ll have bought 8-9 players. All necessary.

 

[cyberman]

We wouldn’t be playing the way we are with the squad Ten Hag inherited in the summer. He’s no miracle worker.

By the time we add a striker and goalkeeper, as well as another midfielder then we’ll have bought 8-9 players. All necessary.

I honestly think we would, he has had Scott and the likes of Dalot playing too well for us not to.
Not saying we would be playing at the level we are now but too many players are performing in his system that we have all written off.
People were saying Rashford was done for us, Bruno was too much of a loose cannon etc etc but these players are playing a different style and have 100 percent shown they were more than capable of adjusting to another style of play

 

[Kag]

I honestly think we would, he has had Scott and the likes of Dalot playing too well for us not to.
Not saying we would be playing at the level we are now but too many players are performing in his system that we have all written off.
People were saying Rashford was done for us, Bruno was too much of a loose cannon etc etc but these players are playing a different style and have 100 percent shown they were more than capable of adjusting to another style of play

I disagree. Without the likes of Casemiro and Eriksen then we’d be seeing more of McTominay and Fred in deeper positions and a lot more of Brentford and Brighton.

Bruno and Rashford are actually good players; they weren’t the issue.

 

[Hester_manc]

Maybe our play has improved. But we still only have 3 more points after 11 games, than we had last year at the same time.

 

[Varun]

Maybe our play has improved. But we still only have 3 more points after 11 games, than we had last year at the same time.

Same set of games?

 

[Gazza]

Maybe our play has improved. But we still only have 3 more points after 11 games, than we had last year at the same time.

We’d played Liverpool, City, and Spurs from the big 6 at this stage last season, getting three points (we lost 5-0 to Liverpool at home in this run). This year we have played all those teams plus Arsenal and Chelsea in our first 11 games, and picked up 10 points from 15 available. That is quite positive, no?

 

[MUnchies]

Maybe our play has improved. But we still only have 3 more points after 11 games, than we had last year at the same time.

Have you compared the teams we played last season to this season after same number of games? We have played City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham already, I will even add Newcastle plus playing better football with a new manager.

If we had played these same teams early on last season, I bet we would have been bottom after 11 games.

 

[Solius]

Maybe our play has improved. But we still only have 3 more points after 11 games, than we had last year at the same time.

Surely you took an extra second to think about how the fixtures might be different?

 

[Remember the geese]

Maybe our play has improved. But we still only have 3 more points after 11 games, than we had last year at the same time.

Aside from playing much more difficult fixtures this time around, we began last season with 13 points out of 15. A bit different to losses vs Brighton and Brentford. Not too bad at all then really, eh?

 

[Hester_manc]

Surely you took an extra second to think about how the fixtures might be different?

Last season we meet Chelsea (A), Tottenham (A), Liverpool (H) and City (H) during our 11 first games.
This season we meet Liverpool (H), Arsenal (H), City (A), Tottenham (H), Chelsea (A) during our 11 first games.

So we have meet only 1 more of the bigger teams this season.

 

[Solius]

Last season we meet Chelsea (A), Tottenham (A), Liverpool (H) and City (H) during our 11 first games.
This season we meet Liverpool (H), Arsenal (H), City (A), Tottenham (H), Chelsea (A) during our 11 first games.

So we have meet only 1 more of the bigger teams this season.

Our first 11 games last season.

Leeds (H)
Soton (A)
Wolves (A)
Newcastle (H)
West Ham (A)
Aston Villa (H)
Everton (H)
Leicester (A)
Liverpool (H)
Tottenham (A)
City (A)

So only 3 from the traditional big 6. And we lost two of them. This season we've played all 5 of the other big six and won 3, drawn 1 and lost 1.

We've also played much better football.