So you wouldn’t take a Morata for six months
Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24
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So you wouldn’t take a Morata for six months
Thought his name was easily pronounced I can do it in my sleep.
Then I listened to audio sent by Samid I think and it goes Eri... tebdghdhsj ahhdhjs.
Then I listened to audio sent by Samid I think and it goes Eri... tebdghdhsj ahhdhjs.
I would consider Morata or Depay (ugh). An Ighalo regen would be my preference and that is Morata, sort of. Depay is getting towards desperate levels, even if he's matured and is able to play through the middle.
Depay could be good for us I think. He is a decent finisher now and can hold up the ball well and make something happen. Was good at Barcelona until he got injured and Koeman was fired.
He has been a leader for the Dutch NT both on and off the field. I don’t see anyone better out there who we could get on a loan.
Playing players out of position is absolutely normal for a head coach like Erik ten Hag, because he subscribes to the positional play principles that first appeared on the world stage under Rinus Michels in the 70s.
I would call it out of the box thinking and something that I commend a coach for due to the tactical flexibility he provides for himself.
It all stems from the total football concept of Rinus Michels who coached his players to be comfortable in playing different positions. Which allowed his teams to rotate position and change shape at will without sacrificing defensive structure. And that was something Michels picked up from watching Basketball according to reports and applied it to football with great success.
We don't see total football in it's purest form anymore but the remnants are still there. And playing a player out of position is absolutely normal for certain coaches who subscribe to a certain school of thought.
Absolutely.
We have only 1 player who can play as striker, Martial. And we all know that he is injury prone and his form blows hot and cold.
It's criminal that ETH have to work under this limitation. We are one of the biggest club in the world. The owner and the board really let the club down. The incompetency still continues without SAF bailing them out.
Glazers need to get the money out and buy a striker for ETH in Jan
It's criminal that ETH have to work under this limitation. We are one of the biggest club in the world. The owner and the board really let the club down. The incompetency still continues without SAF bailing them out.
Glazers need to get the money out and buy a striker for ETH in Jan
Unfortunately, playing players "out of position" is currently culminating in a lack of goals. I am all in favour of being flexible, but this season, whilst there have been huge improvements in possession and play, we should have scored more.
We now have three midfielders who can create goal chances, but so many of those are not converted. We really need a clinical finisher.
We now have three midfielders who can create goal chances, but so many of those are not converted. We really need a clinical finisher.
If we keep playing progressively as we have with purpose and desire, I wouldn’t mind us finishing 5th and missing out on the CL. Yes it will be a tragic outcome financially and in terms of attracting top talent but we can at least see tangible progress on the pitch, something we haven’t seen from the previous 1.5 managers. Success will come, patience is all that is required, with ETH at the helm.
Playing Shaw at CB or Malacia the odd game at RB has got nothing to do with the lack of goals. It's not like it has effected the amount of chances being made.
People just like to mourn, just check post match Antony thread was the busiest because where else would they go to mourn.
The results are very impressive really. If we’d somehow won our first two games (which would be the expectation for us usually) then we’d have the same points as City and 20 goal Haaland. Despite securing all our signings so late in the summer and the whole Ronaldo SNAFU. Which is incredible really.
Jesus - all those who hate seeing players out of position must despise watching us recently. At certain points on Tuesday we had our RB in the central striker position, our LB in the DM position, our AMC wide right, our striker playing CM and our LW at left back…player rotations eh? It’ll never take off. Total fad.
Casemiro has been a brilliant signing with regards to the defence. Before teams just ran through Fred/McT. This guy reads the game so well that he cuts passes out before they get near the defence which can allow them to be more forward thinking. He is exactly what we needed.
If it wasn't for those 2 shitty games at the start of the season we'd be right in the mix now
Fecking Brighton and Brentford
Fecking Brighton and Brentford
You could argue that if we didn't have that start to the season we would never have spent so much on Casemiro and Antony.
Imagine if he'll have more signings - we will be more of a complete team and play way better. I reckon that he needs 3,4 players and we can challenge next season.
Only if we weren't collapse against Brentford and city - we could have a much better goal difference.
Imagine complaining about a manager playing a player in a different position due to injuries, when it was a roaring success 
It’s a shame we didn’t get rid of Ronaldo at the start then we’d of bought a ST in the summer. The only reason we didn’t was because we had other priorities such as CB and improving the midfield massively and ETH thought we’d get by with Ronaldo and martial.
Moaners gonna moan. Who cares if they dont like it, ETH is a superb manager and seems like a decent person on top. I love the guyImagine complaining about a manager playing a player in a different position due to injuries, when it was a roaring success
Wasn't it explained some players are ill and why Maguire was on the bench (only trained once and still feeling unwell but made himself available) and others not available. So not sure what the big deal is? Needs must and all that.
Hopefully new owners give him free reign
Don't you guys learn anything? You never give one individual free reign at your club.
Exactly. Then the same people who want that complain about a lack of structure, long term thinking and planning
Absolute correct. People are obsessed with moaning, always lurking in player's threads when they've under performed.
We finished last season with 58 points, in absolute freefall. That was 1.52 points per game.
In just 6 months ETH has us projecting at 74 points, 1.93 points per game. And that projection includes our shoddy first couple of games.
Our PL win percentage last season was 42%, this season it’s 60%.
In short ETH looks likely to manage us to our second best points finish since SAF, likely pushing 80 points.
Add to that he’s beaten Arsenal, Liverpool & Spurs already.
Like feck he’s not doing brilliantly.
Anyone got that new biography about him?
Saw it in Asda last night and was considering getting it, read a bit and it seemed a really interesting insight into how he turned Ajax into a European heavyweight again.
Ultimately decided not to because I got 4 books for Christmas but I keep thinking about it now
Saw it in Asda last night and was considering getting it, read a bit and it seemed a really interesting insight into how he turned Ajax into a European heavyweight again.
Ultimately decided not to because I got 4 books for Christmas but I keep thinking about it now
It seems pretty obvious that some fans are not aware of what is actually happening at United. When Malacia played at RB, AWB was still recovering from injury and unavailable to play. Casemiro, played at CB due to Varane and Martinez being away due to playing in the final of this thing called the World Cup, and Maguire was ill. Then, Shaw was forced to play at CB as Lindelof became ill and Maguire had not yet recovered, but Varane asked to play even though he had just returned to training.
If someone wishes to complain about playing players out of position, they should complain about the years of playing Fred and McTominay at DM by Mourinho and other United managers rather than getting a proper defensive midfielder!
If someone wishes to complain about playing players out of position, they should complain about the years of playing Fred and McTominay at DM by Mourinho and other United managers rather than getting a proper defensive midfielder!
Back to back games against City and Arsenal coming up in the league.
Will be very interesting to see how the team approached and copes with the games.
Will be very interesting to see how the team approached and copes with the games.
You can never have too many books mate!
You can probably pick it up second hand in about a month anyway
Couple all that moaning with the fact that many of them were unaware of Maguire's illness, which was tweeted out through various sources at the same time the lineups were released. The info was there, but the moaners went off anyway through sheer ignorance, willful or otherwise.Imagine complaining about a manager playing a player in a different position due to injuries, when it was a roaring success
Would be enough on its own that i love his brand of football you can see taking shape, especially in possession. Above all else though hes doing this while having to deal with an uncoached and out of confidence squad, ex players watching his every move, Ronaldo, media darlings like Maguire, etc.
Can't help but be mega impressed to be honest, haven't read the thread but even the possibility of criticism existing at this point is astounding.
Can't help but be mega impressed to be honest, haven't read the thread but even the possibility of criticism existing at this point is astounding.
Well said. I know when someone for us is good when my kopite/city mates never ever mention them.
The silence has been deafening on ten Hag because he's clearly excellent and an impending threat.
It looks like he’ll be finishing this season with one hand tied behind his back. Feel for him.
It's funny how almost every match there's a couple of people that go 'wow, player x isn't even on the bench!' and then follow that up with 'now I really hate/love the coach', 'that will tell him', or some other big conclusion - while experience tells us that in 99% of cases the reason a well-known player isn't in the squad is because they're unavailable (injured, suspended - whatever). So the logical comment would rather be 'anyone know why player x isn't in the squad?' But I guess that's less fun.
Just to clarify a couple of things in my previous post about players playing "out of position." Firstly, it was in no way a moan. I do not do that and nor do I ever post negative comments about players.
Secondly, I was not referring to Shaw or Casemiro or Malacia - necessity dictated those. Rather I was focusing on Rashford and Martial at CF, neither being a natural in that position. They can play there, true, but neither has that lethal instinct of, say, Ruud or RvP or Rooney.
Secondly, I was not referring to Shaw or Casemiro or Malacia - necessity dictated those. Rather I was focusing on Rashford and Martial at CF, neither being a natural in that position. They can play there, true, but neither has that lethal instinct of, say, Ruud or RvP or Rooney.
Martial has played his best football through the middle for the last few years. He's not a ruthless goalscorer like the ones you describe, but it's not as though ten Hag is benching a player like that in favour of starting Martial. He wants to sign a striker and has been pretty clear about that.
Rashford shouldn't be playing through the middle if we can help it but we don't have the bodies in attack to do anything else. Ten Hag is just adapting to what he has at his disposal.
Many 4 or 5 goals games too. Attack wise Ole had the right idea.
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