Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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Only losing away to the league leaders in the last minute shows the continued progress under him. A actual rebuild with progress. Busy schedule is difficult but we're (imo) going in the right direction
 
His post match interview was very good. Said we made so many mistakes leading to their goals. Glad he said what he did, mentioned good teams don’t make such mistakes.
He has a clear idea of what he wants from the team. We have a manager with a vision, we need to back him.
 
Well, the problem is not so much the set-up, as the fact we had to play the same team 3 timed in a week.

It boggles the mind why us and City had games rescheduled during mid-week and Arsenal didn't.

Mainly down to the fact we fecked up our Europa League group and they didn't. This meant we didn't have two free midweeks in February
 
This. It’s literally night and day to the absolute state we were in this time last year.
People lose there mind after losing 1 game to the top of the table when we’ve been on a magnificent run beating city on the way.
 
His post match interview was very good. Said we made so many mistakes leading to their goals. Glad he said what he did, mentioned good teams don’t make such mistakes.
He has a clear idea of what he wants from the team. We have a manager with a vision, we need to back him.

Yeah good interview he knows there is still so much to do in order for this team to challenge next season. We need to start with a CM partner for Casa and top class number 9 then go from there.
 
Casemiro was a club signing remember - for publicity and all that crap. That was the prevailing opinion.

Fine - give him the token £10-12m to spend every summer. But he shouldn't be anywhere near the big decisions. Antony is genuinely a joke of a signing.

Was it? I was over the moon when he signed. One of the best transfers we possibly could have made at that point in the window
 
I'm not too bothered by today's result as we still look in good shape for the second half of the season but it's a little discouraging we lose points in the 90th minute twice in one week. This game we could see it coming and Arsenal fully deserved the win but it still feels bad. 7 points off Spurs today instead of 6 would feel so much better.
 
People have to understand, Arsenal had the most touches in our box than in any other game this season.

How he decided to defend that deep is still a mystery. His game management is wanting to say the least.

Also how he's handled the team this past week has been shambolic..

Maybe he thought he would autopilot through the week, but alas we have been stung in the tail properly.

How do you think we should have defended against them?
 
Mainly down to the fact we fecked up our Europa League group and they didn't. This meant we didn't have two free midweeks in February
This would be a valid argument but City were made to play and they only have CL
 
This is a ridiculous comparison, against City he had Garnacho, Antony and Rash to threaten the counter until the end.

In this game, he chose to completely surrender without the ability to threaten any space.

Yeah, it had nothing to do with us being dead on our feet without our best midfielder. Ten Hag just surrendered.

Also, we were more threatening against City on the counter with Rashford, Martial and Bruno then Rashford, Garnacho, Antony in the 2nd half. Also, way more defensively solid. Maybe you can check the game again.
 
The job he’s done is mind blowing to be honest. We still need a second 11 really.
 
Love the baldy but he got it wrong today with the subs and going into a shell, cowardly stuff.
 
I thought that was one of his worst games tactically this season, he obviously prefers his players in Anthony and Wout and that's fine if they listen to his instructions more than other players, but keeping them until the end in a game like this is bit too much and maybe even cost us a game if it wasn't for mistakes from other players for the goals we conceded.

But we played a game just 3 days ago so it's difficult to blame anyone individually for the defeat, including ETH, not much he could do either with lack of other options on the bench either.
 
Still plenty of work to be done on that defence. Wan Bissaka caught napping on the 1st goal, lack of closing down on the 2nd pop shot goal and awful defending for that 90th minute winner. Had Casemiro played i doubt if 3 goals would be conceded but still should have been more solid without him as even Newcastle recently played Arsenal away and got a clean sheet.
 
Still plenty of work to be done on that defence. Wan Bissaka caught napping on the 1st goal, lack of closing down on the 2nd pop shot goal and awful defending for that 90th minute winner. Had Casemiro played i doubt if 3 goals would be conceded but still should have been more solid without him as even Newcastle recently played Arsenal away and got a clean sheet.
Newcastle have the best defence in the league. They barely looked troubled when they played Arsenal.
 
I feel more confident that we are in the right direction after this game today. We competed really well until the 70th minute against a side who is flying, at their home, without our star midfielder, first choice full back and striker. Every game we play I am confident that we will compete and have a chance to win. Its such a gift to be able to be optimistic again when United play rather than dreading our matches like last season.
 
I think 2-3 and we’re good. We’ve got some decent prospects coming through and ETH hasn’t long been in the job, some of our existing players will step up as he gets more time with the players. It’s his first season.

If you look at Pep and Klopp as recent examples, neither did much in their first season. It takes longer than that to mould the squad.
True. Its hard to think this is only Ten Hag's first season. With the way the squad is performing it feels like he's been around much longer than that.
 
How do you think we should have defended against them?
Easily, by attacking more. We are a team of transitions.

Look at the attacking maps shared by Premier League twitter account, we offered nothing going forward while Arsenal had their best attacking game this season.

It's backed by numbers, our goal difference, our goals scored, without Rashford we are toothless.

That's on him, still we have zero attacking patterns, remember we have his 100m attacking signing with ZERO assists in January.

attacking wise we are extremely poor, that's on him for sure.

The rest he has done commendable, especially on the discipline and belief aspect.
 
Speaking of squad depth; do Arsenal rotate at all? I have a feeling that they are playing whole season witb 14,15 players
 
Sorry but I'm not trusting him with a penny after Antony. Hopefully the new recruitment staff can identify the players that will be valuable to the club long after ETH leaves too.
He needs to be kept far away from any recruitment unless we want more Eredivisie trash. Get a specialist DOF for that role.
I get the impression you both think it's either Ten Hag making all the decisions or the recruitment team.

It's both.

Anyway until we get an startring quality striker and midfielder plus some depth in other areas we won't properly compete.

As good as ten Hag is and as much as the current squad can improve we have a ceiling. We need to add more quality.
 
Virtually the same tactical mistakes two games in a row is a bit of a worry.
 
Speaking of squad depth; do Arsenal rotate at all? I have a feeling that they are playing whole season witb 14,15 players

Not really. The lineup game for the gooners is a game where everyones been scoring 11/11 all season. Jesus is the notable miss but with Nketiah holding his own for this long now, you wonder whether Jesus is that big a miss. Them losing Partey would be a considerable blow, much like us and Casemiro.

Our squad depth is better than theirs but not by much. We’ve got a lot of depth in certain areas but it’s horribly bad in other areas, namely the positions occupied by Casemiro, Varane and of course the centre forward position.

One thing I’d definitely say that we should be taking positives out of it is that we’re getting used to squad management and needing to rotate by playing the number of games we’re playing. That will be integral if we want to be a great team in the long run. I don’t want a team that won the league miraculously because we had some awesome XI playing one game a week most weeks and then the following year we underwhelm and look shit when we’re playing two games a week and we foolishly thought that XI was good enough to play twice a week every week on average all season.
 
I get the impression you both think it's either Ten Hag making all the decisions or the recruitment team.

It's both.

Anyway until we get an startring quality striker and midfielder plus some depth in other areas we won't properly compete.

As good as ten Hag is and as much as the current squad can improve we have a ceiling. We need to add more quality.
The fact that basically all of our signings thus far have been former Ajax or Dutch players, excluding Casemiro who was hardly a hidden gem, indicates to this point it has essentially been left to Ten Hag which doesn't make sense given how much less he was involved in that stuff at Ajax (theoretically a slightly smaller club with less pressure).

Hopefully with the additions made to the scouting department and the changes to the recruitment team that will be different this summer.
 
I think its clear that we need a CM and Striker as a priority. CM has to be one which will help us dominate games, like Frankie or Enzo, I hope we steer clear of Bellingham. He is a great player but he will not help us dominate games, similar to how he didn't impact England side dominating his biggest match against France.

It would help us immensely to dominate middle of the park, imagine Frankie & Casemiro today instead of Mctominay & Eriksen. Plus it will allow us to either play Eriksen/Bruno as an advance midfielder and an option to change them. Ideally Bruno will start because of his energy and workrate and his ability to conjure up something any moment, but it would be great option to have Eriksen come on late at games fresh and maintain possession.

Kane would be my preferred option at CF, not only it will help us provide a focal point for the ball to be held and not giving away possession all the time, plus with the likes of Rashford, Bruno and Antony, we have several players who are erratic and their bottom level is way too low, Kane for all his flaws (Pace, pressing), is a reliable passer and his touch does not dessert him at vital moments. Lastly, it will allow Rashford & Antoy to be played in behind with his passing, which will be a great weapon.

Ideally we should buy a CB like Timber aswell who can over for both RB & CB and get rid of Maguire & AWB and also let go Mctominay and get a cheap backup for Casemiro if a situation like today comes again. With the likes of Henderson (30 - 35M pounds), AWB (15 - 20M), Maguire (25 - 30M) and Mctominay (20 - 25M), Pellistri (8 - 10M) as well, I believe we may be able to finally fetch a decent 100M - 120M for these players, which will allow us to get Frankie (75M) & Timber (45M) and allow us to blow our budget on Kane (80M) & cheap backup for Mctominay (15 - 20M).
 
Newcastle have the best defence in the league. They barely looked troubled when they played Arsenal.
And why under a new manager have Newcastle suddenly become the best defence in league? they conceded 62 goals last season more than a flaky Man United. Improve has been made with Man United's defence under ETH but as i said a lot of work to do yet defensively and shouldn't be relying one player to hold it together.
 
If we get new owners and they open the check book for ETH, league should be scared.
 
And why under a new manager have Newcastle suddenly become the best defence in league? they conceded 62 goals last season more than a flaky Man United. Improve has been made with Man United's defence under ETH but as i said a lot of work to do yet defensively and shouldn't be relying one player to hold it together.

Because they're doing their absolute best not to play football. The clear playing time in their games this season has barely been above 50%, which places them right at the bottom of the PL teams. Surely United fans don't want their club to follow the same path. ETH is right when he speaks about mistakes and mentality. It's not about over relying on one or two players. That is true, but it's beyond the point. We have to learn to win football games by trying to play football.
 
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