Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24
- Thread starter sewey89
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Big balls to play maguire up front.
Could have worked also if decent crosses were fed into the final third.
And explain to me why play maguire up front and then take a short corner ? That's idiotic.
Could have worked also if decent crosses were fed into the final third.
And explain to me why play maguire up front and then take a short corner ? That's idiotic.
Over complicated things tonight and was trying to be too clever. Reminds me of Pep in Europe!
Agree completely. Although we never had command of the game 1 shot on target, at least we looked better first half than second. Hoofball is a poor way to try and finish a game off. There are always more defenders than attackers and might come off one in twenty chances if lucky.
Bizarre subs today. I thought we should’ve reverted back to our original formation after the failed 3-3-3-1 experiment as we looked more dangerous first half. Instead we go with Harry fecking Maguire up top.
Hopefully the first and last time we ever see that again.
Hopefully the first and last time we ever see that again.
You'd have thought that we didn't just win on the road to top the group just now reading this thread
We didn't top the group.
I think the criticism is warranted for the decisions he made that completely changed the way we played in the second half.
4 shots all game. So poor.
Bruno has low iq that's why.
Boss, let's just never do it again . It was hilarious approach, I don't mind if we top the group or not. I would like to see a match against bigger clubs anyway.
. It was hilarious approach, I don't mind if we top the group or not. I would like to see a match against bigger clubs anyway.He obviously made a mistake but he did it by trying something different to surprise the opposition team and trying to change the game. At least he tried and his decision today didn't cost us the 1st place in the group.
Today we saw something we've been lacking in the last decade: someone on the bench trying something really different.
We had a very good first half. We were a solid team and the plan was working well. We could expect RS to go all in after halftime as they did, but after those first fifteen minutes, there was a whole game ahead.
Today we saw something we've been lacking in the last decade: someone on the bench trying something really different.
We had a very good first half. We were a solid team and the plan was working well. We could expect RS to go all in after halftime as they did, but after those first fifteen minutes, there was a whole game ahead.
Don't worry you shouldn't let the caf make you have to write that first before any criticism. I'm sure 99.999% supports him but he can still be criticised on here and rightly so.
No doubt anybody questioning those batshit crazy subs will be harangued again.
You'd have thought that we didn't just win on the road to top the group just now reading this thread
You sweet soul. Why the hell did you think we were trying and failing to throw the kitchen sink. We are 2nd and will have to play one of the teams that finished 3rd in the ucl .
Need more/better attacking options, in particular Antony and Martial back. Where was Sancho today by the way? Injured or ill?
The work he's done on the defence and (in general) the midfield is easy to see. I'm a little bit worried about our attack though.
The work he's done on the defence and (in general) the midfield is easy to see. I'm a little bit worried about our attack though.
So this was a change to old school 3-4-3 that Ajax (and Barca) used to play under Cruijff. It's a brave move which could've worked really well with the players we had on the pitch. Unfortunately, and predictably to be honest, most of the players didn't know how to execute it. The most vital part of the formation is the defensive midfielder that forms a diamond with the back three. He's supposed to make the plays happen; the archetype for that player is Frenkie de Jong. Casimiro should be able to perform that role to some extent, but didn't seem to take to it. Possibly Ten Hag had some other idea? It is an archaic formation to be fair.
I'm not a fan of pushing your centre back up front. I've seen Dutch coaches do it before but it rarely works out, because centre backs lack the understanding to set up offensive plays from such a position. It might've been the only real option given how knackered the team was and how good Sociedad was controlling the game.
I'm not a fan of pushing your centre back up front. I've seen Dutch coaches do it before but it rarely works out, because centre backs lack the understanding to set up offensive plays from such a position. It might've been the only real option given how knackered the team was and how good Sociedad was controlling the game.
Would you give him till Christmas to turn it around? Or pull the trigger during the WC break?
Tried to gamble and unfortunately it didn't work.
He wanted that we'll cross the ball for Harry in the far corner where could head the ball for Cristiano and Marcus that should have been inside the box.
He wanted that we'll cross the ball for Harry in the far corner where could head the ball for Cristiano and Marcus that should have been inside the box.
Sacked in the morning.
I missed the game but it sounds like ten Hag did what Klopp did in his first season at Liverpool, where he used a CB as a target man upfront. For Klopp it was Steven Caulker who was utilised as a striker on more than one occasion, much to the frustration of the Liverpool fans at the time.
And some have mentioned ten Hag using Bruno on the flank, which is something I predicted he would do before the season even started due to Bruno being weak in the defensive and middle thirds of the pitch.
I have no issue with ten Hag experimenting with the players he inherited from the previous manager. It's something I expected him to do and the results aren't going to always be pretty, like we saw at Liverpool in Klopp's first season.
Bring on the drop-outs from the UCL.
And some have mentioned ten Hag using Bruno on the flank, which is something I predicted he would do before the season even started due to Bruno being weak in the defensive and middle thirds of the pitch.
I have no issue with ten Hag experimenting with the players he inherited from the previous manager. It's something I expected him to do and the results aren't going to always be pretty, like we saw at Liverpool in Klopp's first season.
Bring on the drop-outs from the UCL.
Antony's absence didn't help, in hindsight perhaps it might have been better to play Elanga on the right wing and keep Bruno in his #10 role ahead of Eriksen and Casemiro, so we could control the midfield better since VdB's presence didn't bring any value at all
Has to take part of the blame.
- Despite the starting system not being that effective, the tactical change he made pretty much made us impotent.
- Bruno on the wings is just not effective, but tbf the only alternative is elanga who might have struggled against the press of real (which lets be fair Bruno struggled as well) . Still, not a fan of Bruno on the wing
- Shoulda put Scott up top not maguire
- This long ball to Ronaldo was garbage. But i imagine he thinks the team doesnt have the energy or the quality just yet to play through such an effective press.
Other than that the flipside is we are clearly lacking in terms of energy after this schedule. Add to that the poor quality of our squad and there are not a lot of options for ten hag. Ideally you'd bring on Cristiano instead of Harry, and have other good options on the wing instead of Bruno. Just gotta hope we can rally for these last couple of games.
- Despite the starting system not being that effective, the tactical change he made pretty much made us impotent.
- Bruno on the wings is just not effective, but tbf the only alternative is elanga who might have struggled against the press of real (which lets be fair Bruno struggled as well) . Still, not a fan of Bruno on the wing
- Shoulda put Scott up top not maguire
- This long ball to Ronaldo was garbage. But i imagine he thinks the team doesnt have the energy or the quality just yet to play through such an effective press.
Other than that the flipside is we are clearly lacking in terms of energy after this schedule. Add to that the poor quality of our squad and there are not a lot of options for ten hag. Ideally you'd bring on Cristiano instead of Harry, and have other good options on the wing instead of Bruno. Just gotta hope we can rally for these last couple of games.
I've barely had a critical word for him since joining but he had a shocker today. Everything was bad, starting lineup, change of formation and subs.
If we had scored another goal from a crap hoofball toward Maguire he'd be hailed as a genius.Well that was totally dumb.
Lindelof off, Casemiro in defence, Rashford as a 10 and Maguire strikerI don’t understand any of that.
Imo this is a match where he can experiment things. Even if we lose we're still through anyway. Just two extra matches. Big deal.
I don't really think he had any good options other than what we did. Playing Garnacho in the first half made sense as there was always going to be less space in the 2nd half.
I do agree that McTominay up top made more sense instead of Maguire and then throw out Pellistri on the wing or Iqbal or Shoretire in the middle, but I mean we're talking about trying to get a goal with 10 minutes left. Less about McTominay being better up top than Maguire and more so about not having McTominay in the middle and someone who can dribble out wide in Pellistri with Bruno central or Iqbal to help us play some football.
We need a striker and another midfielder, but we already knew that.
I do agree that McTominay up top made more sense instead of Maguire and then throw out Pellistri on the wing or Iqbal or Shoretire in the middle, but I mean we're talking about trying to get a goal with 10 minutes left. Less about McTominay being better up top than Maguire and more so about not having McTominay in the middle and someone who can dribble out wide in Pellistri with Bruno central or Iqbal to help us play some football.
We need a striker and another midfielder, but we already knew that.
Admittedly he went a little far chasing that 2nd goal, but what other subs could he have used, other than ol’ Slab Head?
With the thin squad we have, having Martial, Sancho and Antony all out wipes out 90% of our attacking depth, so barring Elanga or Shoretire who haven’t fully proven themselves we had no other attacking options on the bench.
With the thin squad we have, having Martial, Sancho and Antony all out wipes out 90% of our attacking depth, so barring Elanga or Shoretire who haven’t fully proven themselves we had no other attacking options on the bench.
Start Elanga instead of vdb and pin their left back, Bruno having no threat of pace in behind meant that they could squeeze right up.
It was a vital game and I don't understand starting a clearly not match fit vdb, we set up thinking they were going to sit back and let us have the ball to break them down.
It was a vital game and I don't understand starting a clearly not match fit vdb, we set up thinking they were going to sit back and let us have the ball to break them down.
Playing Maguire up top was as old school tactics as it gets and would be lauded if goal came from it.
For years i watched Ferguson do simliar especially with Steve Bruce.
For years i watched Ferguson do simliar especially with Steve Bruce.
Definitely should have put elanga or pellestri on in the last 15/10 minutes. It actually was a free hit for ten hag which is baffling.
For the last 15/20 mins we had 0 threat on the wings. No one to pin their fullbacks backs. Then we bring on Marcue and play him as a ten. Absolutely baffling.
It's on him today. And no, this isn't "kNivEs ArE aLrEaDy oUt".
Don't have a problem with the subs personnel wise but the change of formation clearly didn't work - largely down to sociedad turning the shit house up to eleven in the second half and constantly disrupting the game
We never managed to settle at any point and lost all rhythm.
Glad to see the unbeaten streak and clean sheets continue
Ultimately lost the group to a complete non penalty in the first game
We never managed to settle at any point and lost all rhythm.
Glad to see the unbeaten streak and clean sheets continue
Ultimately lost the group to a complete non penalty in the first game
I'm going to put that down to experimentation. Can't explain it any other way
We are less than half a season in to a rebuild. If we can finish top 4 this season it would be more than I expected at the start of the season. Winning a cup on top of that would be exceptional. If we don't get either then we carry on with the next phase of the rebuild.
I mean we won the game away from home at a tough place even if we didn't get the two goals required. I don't think there was much wrong with the original gameplan. The change in the second didn't work but then they're not always going to and we weren't blessed with that many options.
Caf on ETH after one bad half
Come on man, he had a shocker. I’m a massive fan of what he’s done, but he’s asked the players to play in a completely unfamiliar system for a third of the game and then put Maguire upfront for 15 minutes.
I thought that when Maguire was coming on, he was changing it back because it had been so bad
when the commentators said he was going up front, the game was done.He wanted to play depth players that needed minutes on the pitch and he did collect 3 points against tough team to score against... I guess he got what he wanted.
Yeah, Maguire coming in at CB to give us a structure back for the last 10 minutes would have made sense. Shaw and Dalot could then have got properly forward and linked with the attack.
We could have put McT up top to still give us the height if we wanted to launch it in.
We could have put McT up top to still give us the height if we wanted to launch it in.
Come on man, he had a shocker. I’m a massive fan of what he’s done, but he’s asked the players to play in a completely unfamiliar system for a third of the game and then put Maguire upfront for 15 minutes.
I thought that when Maguire was coming on, he was changing it back because it had been so bad
Saw it mentioned on twitter that switching to that 3-3-1-3 shape was something he did relatively frequently at Ajax when chasing games.
So they will have worked on it, they will likely do it again in the future and they're not going to get familiar with it without playing it.
Didn't work as well today as it hopefully will in the future but you can chalk that up to the learning process.
Bang on. It was just too early in our development. They’ll learn and improve. As we have done throughout the season.
Maybe they have, but there was no evidence of that today. I’m not a big fan of radical changes like that so early in games, unless of course you’re the team getting battered. Eg. Chelsea against us, switched things up really well before they conceded.
I just didn’t think the game needed that, and the Maguire thing made it even worse.
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