Against Aston Villa and Fulham, I would think we can do the job and win those games considering the progression of our team performance. It's testament to ETH's work that I don't feel we need to just somehow win against a non top 5 or 6 team.
Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24
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I'm still erring on the side of caution. They should be very winnable games but this sunday could easily be a draw - away at Sociedad on thursday in a game where we really have to go for it. Villa are rested since saturday.
To be honest, our smartest approach is probably to hope Arsenal beat Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs when they play them. We're at the point where it seems like Arsenal are nailed on for top 4, they have a 10 point lead over Chelsea and 15 point lead over Liverpool. We can simplify our task and say we need to finish ahead of 2 of Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea in order to get top 4 and the more points they drop the better.
A draw is the best of both worlds. Certainly think an Arsenal win is better than a Chelsea win though.
The chances of us finishing ahead of City to win the title are so minimal anyway that Arsenal's positive results are inconsequential.
Going on what a good coach and clear instructions have done for Dalot, who looked almost guaranteed to switch off and be sloppy at least a handful of times a game….I would really like to see Williams earn some minutes and see what happens. His attitude is spot on…where is he at this point does anyone know? Anywhere near fit?
Refusing to believe we can't finish above Arsenal. Need this title talk to die for them too. I'm not worried about Chelsea finishing above us at all.
Bringing this back to ETH, if he can prove to consistently beat the smaller teams (and we have a run now to test that) we will be shoe-ins for top 4.
We can finish above Arsenal. However, our most logical approach is to hope they take points off Chelsea/Liverpool/Spurs whenever they play them to secure our top 4 spot. If we catch them, great. If not, 2nd vs 3rd isn't that big a concern to me at this stage in ETH's first season, neither of us are likely to get anywhere near City.
I'm honestly not sharing this over-confidence many on here seem to have.
We're literally 8th in xPTS and 10th in xG, we struggle to score goals. While we watch our rivals games and say "they don't look very good", our rivals fans are watching our games and saying the exact same thing about us.
Arsenal are closer to us than they are to City imo.
Once the fixtures even out we'll have a better idea of the level of the teams.
This is exactly how I’m thinking…Arsenal are top 4 barring some epic collapse. Any win against other top teams is helpful. Sadly the case this season…
When two challengers for a top four spot are playing each other, the best outcome for us is a draw.
I keep seeing him giving his opinion on the game after the match with pundits asking him questions. Is it a regular thing now? I don't remember Ole or Jose doing it. Or maybe I just can't remember as I've tried to erase them both from memory.
Some opinions wouldn't hurt. That's what press conferences are for: To have questions answered.
As long as they don't ask questions which require me to reveal team tactics or questions with biased agenda, that's fine.
It could easily have been a draw against West Ham because they really aren't easy to beat. No team has scored more than 2 goals past them this season. It did turn out much more nervy than I would have liked. Fulham I am very confident of 3 pts. Villa being rested I think is secondary to our morale going into that game. If we do beat Sociedad by 2 goals, we would be going to the game high on morale. Still, we would be favourites against Villa because honestly Villa is dogshite in attack and I'm not talking being wasteful like us.
Same thoughts. He's also done a lot of sit down interviews (both MUTV and other broadcasters like Sky). Is this a new thing? It's refreshing to hear him confidently bat away stuff and talk about patience etc. I wonder if he has a choice to turn them down or not.
Man needs to get laid pronto.
He’s happy to talk football because he can. Love Ole but he must have felt the biggest case of impostor syndrome at times in interviews especially when queried on tactics.
Stop this now please.
This manager can’t do no wrong at the minute. His mentality is immense and rubbing of on the players. As if the pundits rate GP better then him and thought we should of gone for him 
This manager can’t do no wrong at the minute. His mentality is immense and rubbing of on the players. As if the pundits rate GP better then him and thought we should of gone for him
Don’t see redknapp saying how stupid we were to not get conte in much either lately. Or any vocal changing of their opinion on Martinez being too small to be a CB…or much credit for getting in a great DM putting in some game changing displays now. They won’t either. Just wait until their next bad game or string of bad results to go back to it. Merson saying how great de Bruyne is this week but not saying how he thought it was a massive overpay at the time and how much he was wrong. It’s abit like everyone I know who texts me the second we lose, how they always watch those matches. When we win..not one text and any mention by me of the game, they never seen it as they were busy…I always know when we win even if I’m not watching a game based on this…man United as a club doesn’t exist unless they are losing for half the population/pundits…
100%. The amount of bias that is out there is unreal! Obviously something to do with being the most successful team in England. If no one can mock us then everyone’s very quitet, 1 loss like you said and everyone’s loud again.
Nah mate, that's post-season. Right now we'll be looking for a spot in the divisionals and hopefully make it to the conference.
You'll be kicking yourself raw if this is actually Ten Hag.
The most important differences between his reign (so far) vs Ole are the higher intensity of our play and the non reliance solely on counterattacking to create chances.
Heh. Clear.
Our smartest approach is to take it game by game, work hard, improve in finishing, ball retention, creating chances and defending. We can’t control how the other teams perform. Play our best football and things will work out.
+1
Yeah the perfect solution is a stop gap until there are better options available in the summer
When will this nonsense about Ole end? We did not rely solely on fast transitions and there are video proof on how that is actually wrong.
As some would have put it: Ole when he finished 2nd slightly overperformed his xPts but he did instill a certain mentality that saw the team do a lot of come back, and play with a certain confidence. Ten Hag is building from that team that finished 2nd with some transfers and not from that team that imploded the year after.
Its funny because we only scored goals because we relied on individual brilliance as well that season, where is the individual brilliance now?
Its a misconception from fans that we played some park the bus football in every game.
Why is there someone LARPing as our manager
Finger crossed we have already found our SAF 2.0.
Finally, I can enjoy watching Man Utd play again. Under Moyes, LVG, Jose and Ole, I have fallen asleep many times while watching us play. The football was so outdated for a major club.
ETH not only managed to modernize our play but also instill fighting spirit like we used to be under SAF. His influence in signing players, discipline, coaching and nutrition are also top class. Basically, he is like SAF where he has influence over entire football structure of the club. He has totally transformed the club in such a short time.
Finally, I can enjoy watching Man Utd play again. Under Moyes, LVG, Jose and Ole, I have fallen asleep many times while watching us play. The football was so outdated for a major club.
ETH not only managed to modernize our play but also instill fighting spirit like we used to be under SAF. His influence in signing players, discipline, coaching and nutrition are also top class. Basically, he is like SAF where he has influence over entire football structure of the club. He has totally transformed the club in such a short time.
That last paragraph makes no sense to me.
How is he building on that team 2 years ago when Bissaka, Maguire, Lindelof, Mctominay, Fred are bench players (Even Shaw's place looked shaky) ? Plus ones that left Pogba, Matic, Lingard etc
He is building his own team his way. There was nothing to be build on from Ole's reign, it was a disaster.
100% agree with you. Ten Hag won’t want to build on anything from previous seasons. He’s putting his own stamp on things as we can tell because we’re a more possession based team now. Where as previously we’ve always been a counter attacking team.
Not asking for much then I see
Makes perfect sense to me, the last season was a write off. People should not be judging the players based off that season, as many of them have already been proven wrong.
The commitment to the joke went from funny to worrying quite quickly.
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