I hope we can create a harmonic working space for him without all that Ronaldo nonsense. To be where we are in his first PL season, with all that injuries and with that prima donna throwing a hissy fit every week is quite an achievement.
Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24
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Full support to ETH period
This team with flourish with Ronaldo gone and ETH has no distractions or disharmony to address. Never thought I’d ever say that in a million years.
What a time for a player to go against a manager.
EtH is probably the last person any player should speak against because for once, majority of the fanbase is behind the manager and will support the manager over any current player.
It is also credit to Ten Hag how he has managed the squad despite a Ronaldo virus all season.
EtH is probably the last person any player should speak against because for once, majority of the fanbase is behind the manager and will support the manager over any current player.
It is also credit to Ten Hag how he has managed the squad despite a Ronaldo virus all season.
Is it because he's Dutch? I don't see many similarities between ten Hag and van Gaal.
We rarely do much in January regarding transfers but 3 years ago we got Bruno and it changed our season for better. Last January Spurs got players that helped them get to the top 4, while not getting a striker cost Arsenal that same top 4.
The gd isn't great. But 13/20 came in three games. We've done much better on the defensive front overall but we defo looked the best when varane and Martinez were together. We collapsed when varane went off against city.
We've missed a lot too on the other end which a fit striker would sort out. I think think we're going in the right direction and strangely the WC and Ronaldos interview could be a blessing for us
No its because he played two LBs meaning one was out of his natural position. And its because sometimes he treats football like a video game and acts out too late when our players are obviously gased and with a low moral. His man management could turn out to be an issue.Both McTominay and Garancho obviously influenced the game but we could have been 1 2 down by the time he made his mind up.
Despite this offcourse he deserves his squad and time. I just hope Lindelof isnt a part of it.
The short term gain would not have been ideal for the long term sacrifice imo.
We've had too many 32+ strikers for a short term deal and it's negated a search for a proper striker. We've gone zlatan, cavani, Lukaku, ighalo,Ronaldo and only one was seen as long term (and even he lasted only two seasons)
Bringing in arnautovic (even forgetting his off the field stuff) would have probably seen us give him a two year contract where he might have done decent this season,and then next we have him as a 34+ year old who is probably going to be used and we negate the striker search again
How he handles the Ronaldo thing from now on will be very important. Giving him three starts after his antics against Spurs was wrong, hopefully yesterday's interview is the end of it - there will be a lot of pressure on ETH to make things right with Ronaldo but hopefully this does not happen and we do not see him starting for us ever again.
True but Varane is injury-prone so we can't rely on him being available.
He has made the odd mistake and/or questionable substitution but you can already see ETH is best coach we have had post SAF. He needs backing all the way and Ronaldo can piss off.
Apparently Ten Hag has recorded a Ronaldo Diss song
Very strange post after Lindelof had a good game and won all his headers... Almost seems like you didnt watch the game and just want to talk bad about Lindelof.
I think the commentators said during the Fulham game that those players not going to the WC would be training in Spain. Something about EtH wanting to make sure all the players staying behind still trained the same number of minutes as those at the WC?
Yeah training camp in Spain for those not going, though they will have a holiday for a week or two before that camp.
"You're slow and you're old
no one would take you for free
MLS for you Champions League for me
you whine and you moan, you say it's unfair
son you're just past it heh heh."
Wonder what he is thinking right now? 
Half a year ago he was working at Ajax with nice structure, culture, good team, home country, etc. Now he's walked into an absolute trainwreck on fire with the whole world watching. How he handles it will be important.
Half a year ago he was working at Ajax with nice structure, culture, good team, home country, etc. Now he's walked into an absolute trainwreck on fire with the whole world watching. How he handles it will be important.
The Ronaldo interview only enhances the job he’s done so far. Those toxic dressing room issues from last year haven’t gone away so for him to unite everyone and manage that situation is very impressive - we know he’s a great coach already - this shows he has the authority to manage the big players too. Hopefully we kick on after the World Cup with a RB and Striker in Jan.
Wonder what he is thinking right now?
If he can handle this, he can handle anything moving forward.
The fans have his back and undoubtedly the club will too. Both of those groups know he’s well into decline.
Glazers should make funds available for signing in Jan. Clearly, we lack a striker and also squad depth considering Ronaldo is gone. The team already looked knackered and we haven't even complete half the season. Second part of the season will be more intense.
Touch wood, Shaw is also injury prone and usually will be out for a period of time in the season. Varane, Martial, Antony, Sancho all seems injury prone too.
We are still in 4 competition and ETH need more players.
Touch wood, Shaw is also injury prone and usually will be out for a period of time in the season. Varane, Martial, Antony, Sancho all seems injury prone too.
We are still in 4 competition and ETH need more players.
It seems like the right time to make a first judgement (as the first season phase came to an end), but at the same time it kind of doesn't feel right. All those injuries massively affected ETH choices, Ronaldo saga, and game every 3 days basically eliminates any possibility to work on any new different game-plans. How much the team spent on training ground in the last 2 months?
Results-wise, I think we're really good staying in touch with TOP4. Goal Difference is truly terrible, but we had some extreme results so I'm not really bothered. Europa League was simply a lot of bad luck to finish second, and we have a decent chance in EFL Cup with some big teams already out.
Performance-wise.. I guess we can divide the season so far in two phases, before and after Antony's injury.
When Antony was fit I thought we're really progressing with each game, we could hold to the ball, worked left right center, and although we did not create many good chances, we were definitely moving in the right direction. Not only we could control the game better then ever before, but we also limited opposition to half-chances and kept them under pressure. I felt excitement for the next game and I really though time is all that this team needs to score more goals.
The last few games since Antony was out I felt like this is Ole ball rather than ETH system. We had little control over the game, little patience and forcing a lot of early balls to Ronaldo, we seemed happy to give the ball away and then chase it back to catch opponent in transition. That is a fine tactic, but do we need to have Eriksen and Casemiro starting every game to execute that tactic? Because I have not really seen any alternative but I'll come to that.
The positives:
Overall I'm happy with Ten Hag so far, once again I think this is a very difficult season to re-build a team because of how little time is spent on a training ground and a lot of choices are automatic because of players needing rest / out due to injury. I am a bit worried that we don't have a plan B to 4231 system with Bruno as the link and Antony on RW, but it has to be said Ten Hag is getting the results. Some of those results seem a bit better than the actual performance suggests, so I'm not overly ecstatic, just happy with the season so far.
Results-wise, I think we're really good staying in touch with TOP4. Goal Difference is truly terrible, but we had some extreme results so I'm not really bothered. Europa League was simply a lot of bad luck to finish second, and we have a decent chance in EFL Cup with some big teams already out.
Performance-wise.. I guess we can divide the season so far in two phases, before and after Antony's injury.
When Antony was fit I thought we're really progressing with each game, we could hold to the ball, worked left right center, and although we did not create many good chances, we were definitely moving in the right direction. Not only we could control the game better then ever before, but we also limited opposition to half-chances and kept them under pressure. I felt excitement for the next game and I really though time is all that this team needs to score more goals.
The last few games since Antony was out I felt like this is Ole ball rather than ETH system. We had little control over the game, little patience and forcing a lot of early balls to Ronaldo, we seemed happy to give the ball away and then chase it back to catch opponent in transition. That is a fine tactic, but do we need to have Eriksen and Casemiro starting every game to execute that tactic? Because I have not really seen any alternative but I'll come to that.
The positives:
- all of our players are contributing with goals and assists, that is a very good prognostic for the future once we have an actual striker
- Shaw, Rashford, De Gea back in good form
- Dalot and Garnacho look like proper players
- we seem to grind out results which is a huge boost for mentality
- we no longer look fragile defensively when starting a game
- all of our new guys have been very good and are already core of the team from back to front
- handling Ronaldo situation - I think ETH had no other option than to play him recently, although he did play him too often and the captaincy was bollocks
- playing Dalot and Bruno 3 days in 3 days out - especially Bruno I think should get more rest, not only because of fatigue but also because he is very hot and cold and forces us to play certain way; that said, it was a default setup and considering there was no time to train I think it's justified to put everything on one card (paid off in the end I guess)
- it seems like we don't have a plan B for midfield, but Eriksen and Casemiro have been playing way way too much. I definitely prefer mixing them up with McTominay (who is having a good season) and Fred (who looks like a decent midfielder every now and then, but for sure needs a run of games first) than to run our main midfield duo into the ground with a justification "there's no alternative". I do not agree with that, it's a question of squad management. Again, did we really need to start Eriksen Casemiro against all of Omonia, Everton, Sheriff, West Ham and Aston VIlla in EPL, especially with so many hard games in between those? Also, if our tactic is to play long ball from defence to attack, what was the case in a few games recently, and then trying to get the ball back when opposition is transitioning to attack, wouldn't it make sense to use McTominay and Fred a bit more? That doesn't seem like a tactic made for Casemiro and Eriksen duo.
- some of his tactical choices are weird. Starting van de Beek high up the pitch when we already have Ronaldo and Rashford plus Eriksen - Casemiro midfield looked like suicide mission and it kind of was. Going for one runner (Rashford/Garnacho) up front when we are in low block (West Ham, Real Sociedad) is another one. Too many times the team lost any shape after subs. I think we can do better.
- stubbornness to play Bruno at all cost. What a bizarre idea that is, he doesn't bring us balance, we exploit him even more than needed (and he's already playing like 97% of the possible game time), he is not a threat on the counter starting from the half line, it's just bizarre. He adds energy but you can already see he's tired so even that isn't a positive factor. Elanga is a poor footballer, but if playing him makes it possible for us to rest Bruno and shape into a more 4-3-3 with fullbacks and #8's pushing higher, then I think this makes more sense than Bruno the Right Winger.
Overall I'm happy with Ten Hag so far, once again I think this is a very difficult season to re-build a team because of how little time is spent on a training ground and a lot of choices are automatic because of players needing rest / out due to injury. I am a bit worried that we don't have a plan B to 4231 system with Bruno as the link and Antony on RW, but it has to be said Ten Hag is getting the results. Some of those results seem a bit better than the actual performance suggests, so I'm not overly ecstatic, just happy with the season so far.
Ten Hag is doing fine in the first phase of the rebuild. If we could get a top CF in January we would have a much better
chance of top 4 and winning a trophy. Gakpo would be another good buy.
chance of top 4 and winning a trophy. Gakpo would be another good buy.
He didn't have much choice as AWB and Williams are not part of his plans. That's why ten Hag is pushing the club to buy a back up right back in January.
I've disagreed with some of his subs like the one where he brings on a midfielder and moves Bruno out wide but for the most part his subs have actually been good and that's clear to see when you look at how many subs have either come on and scored or been involved in goals.
With the recent Ronaldo saga, I really hope that the decision to make Ronaldo captain a few games back wasn't influenced by the board. We need to give full power to ETH. The fact is Ronaldo is past his best and he can't accept it.
The next one to go is Maguire. Hope the board give backing to ETH to act decisively.
The next one to go is Maguire. Hope the board give backing to ETH to act decisively.
Like another poster said I think ETH actually gave him enough rope to hang himself with.
He made him captain and said to the press he is a leader and wants him to set the standard and lead by example (less than 2 weeks after Spurs).
He knew Ronaldo is finished IMO. He didn't perform so he dropped him again.
Mourinho did similar with Rooney in his final days, eventually he just dropped him all together.
Do you really think he accepted the job without knowing these things? That was the challenge to begin with.Wonder what he is thinking right now?
As I said , it could work both ways . You could lose the momentum completely while our players would return in a good shape.
There is no LVG similarity. That man loved having the ball all the time doesn't matter whether we actually do anything about it. ETH don't care about Possession.
Having 3 short players wasn't the problem yesterday. They overloaded our left side to exploit Malacia and it paid off. Any other day its an easy 3-0 win. You can't miss chances like we did yesterday.
People are delusional if they think yesterday was a good game. We were non existent from the 45th and 75th minute and our manager was late with the substitutions. Im aware the squad is limited and in that regard you cant blame the manager but subs are something that is in his control and they could have easly scored their second as well. Personally I want him to suceed but like I said "shades" of LVG I didnt say he was like him but people on the CAF love to nit pick I guess
I think people do realize it but don't realize how big a deal that is.
ETH has come out absolutely unscathed from this mess. Very impressive.
Excellent post. I've been saying this, even a stop gap striker is a must in Jan to stand any chance of top 4.
No striker = no chance of top 4 imo
And let the ball go through his legs and deflect when Fulham made it 1 1.
It's extremely naive to think this is the end of Ronaldo. Football contracts don't work like this.
Interesting thing would be how ETH will handle the situation if Ronaldo has a good world cup.
Interesting thing would be how ETH will handle the situation if Ronaldo has a good world cup.
Ronaldo has played his last game for us. What is left to be decided is how he goes and where.
At United? It 1000% is.
Feel so sorry for him that he has to deal with this mess in his very first season. But he has handled it very well so far. Hope we get rid of Ronaldo very soon so that he fully focus on his job rather than being distracted by this egotistical diva.
I think medium term it strengthens his position. The players will know that you don't mess around with Ten Hag and survive here.
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