Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24

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He has done a wonderful job so far, though he really made mistakes in the last 2 games, we could easily have 4 points instead of 1 in the last 2 games without those mistakes

I still trust him
 
SATA said:
The only gripe i have with him is his infatuation to start Eriksen every match. [/B]This player can’t be possibly starting and finishing every game especially in the big and end to end ones. It just makes the entire team too soft and light when the opposition team is up for a battle
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He doesn't have much options, does he. Eriksen for his play style is important. Fred cannot play that role and less said about Mctominay the better. That's why when people said he should have subbed Casemiro are not understanding we could have actually lost the game without Casemiro. Our bench option are bad.
 
I’m not sure whether to blame him for the utter catastrophe we have seen in the final minutes of the last 2 games or whether he’s just done as much as he can & the ‘average’ players we’ve bought recently are just not good enough.

We simply can’t lose the points we have in the way we have these last 2 games. We were minutes away from taking 7 points this week!
 
I would only say that the only thing that disappointed me is how late Garnacho is used for this games and sticking Bruno on the right doesn't work at all.
 
mav_9me said:
If we get a striker and proper CM he wants, I think we can be in a title race.
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I think he will need two strikers. He seems to like to replace his striker in the second halves which makes sense because that guy will be pressing from the beginning and a fresh forward is needed for the second halves. Without a striker (mainly), we badly struggle in the second halves and it usually costs us.
 
The United said:
I think he will need two strikers. He seems to like to replace his striker in the second halves which makes sense because that guy will be pressing from the beginning and a fresh forward is needed for the second halves. Without a striker (mainly), we badly struggle in the second halves and it usually costs us.
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Should we go for different types of strikers then?. Maybe something like Kane and Thuram. I like Osimhen but the money involved is crucial.
 
He needs 7 signings this summer
GK- De Gea can still stay on a renewed contract with reduced wages but a Sweeper GK is still mandatory to compete/replace him. Raya would be decent
RB- AWB will NEVER be good enough for a ten Hag system no matter what. He can be of use between now and May but a new RB that can actually retain a ball under pressure is needed to compete with Dalot
CB- Maguire like AWB will NEVER be a good fit for Ten Hag and too expensive to be a bench option. Replace him with a younger CB that can provide better depth to Licha/Varane
2 CMs- We desperately need a better back up to Casemiro than McTalentless who needs to be sold in the summer with Newcastle/West Ham lurking for him. We also need an upgrade on Eriksen in the 8 role who's been decent for a free transfer but simply lacks the athleticism to be a Connector especially in the big games.
2 STs- Martial's time at Utd is up too injury prone to be relied on and Weghorst might prove to be a decent loan purchase but we shouldn't keep him permanently no matter what. Need to get Kane and a young back up ST
 
He's done a fantastic job for the short period he's been here.

His reliance on buying from the Dutch market is worrying a bit

Some instances of questionable game management

Also he had a full preseason with the players so how do you turn around a few months later to realise Sancho is not fit enough to play? A lot of fans commented including myself

If he thought he had to risk Casemiro against Palace because he can't trust Scott why would it be any better against Arsenal. Yellows are occupational hazard for DMs
 
Although it was disappointing to lose by a late goal it feels great to have a proper and trustworthy manager. I heard people say „but you are not better as you have been between 2nd and 6th for the last years“, but watching us play makes you feel so much more comfortable that we are on the right track and it is just a matter of time.
You can clearly see what he is able to do. Now give him some funds and in 2 years time we will be talking about titles again.
 
I was really harsh on Arteta because our team refused to play attacking football against better sides. But then I saw the Amazon documentary, and it all made sense. He was constantly asking players to take risks, play attacking football, but they just couldn't do it.
My guess is that the same thing is happening with ETH. You can clearly see that his plan was to play like you did in the first half, press high, and make us defend. It's just that your players couldn't do it for the full game.
ETH is doing an amazing job, and is going to build a proper team if he gets backed in the next transfer windows.
What he did today with Weghorst, McTominay and AWB in the side is amazing really.
 
AFC NimbleThumb said:
We simply can’t lose the points we have in the way we have these last 2 games.
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This imo will be fixed when we have more options on the bench. The players looked pretty knackered by the end of the match. They've played too much recently imo.
croadyman said:
What striker do you want,actually put it another way which do you think fits Erik's system best
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Kane I think. Imo he checks most of the boxes you'd want for a #9 in ETH's system.
 
I initially Felt he should have made subs sooner and changed things but now that I’ve had time to reflect there isn’t much he can do with what he has.
The drop down between Casemiro and Mctominay is truly astonishing not that we didn’t know that before.
I thought he needed to add extra legs to midfield sooner but actually when he added Fred it made no difference because we were still playing with Fred and Mctominay. And there was basically nobody to replace eriksen with either. Ultimately it took a scrappy 10p goal for a basically full strength Arsenal at the absolute peak of their game to beat us. And the only player they had missing is that gigantically over rated Jesus who Nketiah is now out performing statistically anyway.
 
Strelok said:
This imo will be fixed when we have more options on the bench. The players looked pretty knackered by the end of the match. They've played too much recently imo.

Kane I think. Imo he checks most of the boxes you'd want for a #9 in ETH's system.
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The only thing he lacks is pace but then so did Shearer and he scored a few haha. Be nice if we could get a cheap press and pace merchant as alternative option. Only thing is I can't think of any names off top of my head.
 
The fact at the start of the season all we wanted was a cohesive unit with a playing style and yet Ten Hag had got us within touching distance of the league leaders is amazing.

Once we reinforce in the summer time I fully expect a title charge next season.
 
I wonder why he didn't go with that City's game formation. I thought it was our best formation against tough opponent. We created much more chances than City, and was only let down by poor finishing.
 
giggs-beckham said:
Not convinced on him to be honest. Seems another counter attack coach. Counter press fancier name

We're more organised and he's a more saf type authoritarian. The best manager since Jose, but our press and possession game is poor and personnel dependant.
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My suggestion to you is to watch more United games cause you seem to be stuck in September or something.
 
I dont think he wanted us to be so passive in the 2nd half, it was tired legs in combination with McTominay. He tried to remedy it with Fred but to no avail. People going mad cause Garnacho wasnt introduced earlier, but it was a midfield where we were losing the battle, who would give a ball to Garnacho? Anyway it's such a silly stick to beat him with but it seems some couldn't wait to have a pop at him strangely.
I've seen few posts of ETH being a coward. Mental.
 
BlueHaze said:
@AjaxCunian
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I love Antony to bits, was unreal for Ajax, also against better opposition. When he came on for Brazil vs Croatia I believe, that was his standard.



Taking on defenders, working very hard, very direct play and he had a very good understanding with Haller and Mazraoui.



Now he seems to have no understanding with the other attackers or fullbacks, very void of confidence, but keeping everything very basic.



I am not writing him off at all though, but can understand the fanbase thinking he's a dud.
 
AjaxCunian said:
I love Antony to bits, was unreal for Ajax, also against better opposition. When he came on for Brazil vs Croatia I believe, that was his standard.



Taking on defenders, working very hard, very direct play and he had a very good understanding with Haller and Mazraoui.



Now he seems to have no understanding with the other attackers or fullbacks, very void of confidence, but keeping everything very basic.



I am not writing him off at all though, but can understand the fanbase thinking he's a dud.
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I thought he was ok yesterday, tried to take defenders on too 2 or 3 times, kept possession, pressed, tracked back. I know its a low bar but it's something I guess. Still trying to find his mojo for whatever reason.
 
Real Name said:
I thought he was ok yesterday, tried to take defenders on too 2 or 3 times, kept possession, pressed, tracked back. I know its a low bar but it's something I guess. Still trying to find his mojo for whatever reason.
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Agreed, but ofcourse for that price, we expect much much more. But he has the basics and workrate at least.
 
I think this is the best we can get out of these players and these many players. City are and Arsenal are performing at a slightly different level to the rest of the league. ETH is going to need some more time and a few more quality players to compete with them in the league table. The evidence is right in front of us, 11v11 we are able to compete and even beat them, it's the draws here and there that are hurting us given the size of the squad and the quality on the bench.

Worth remembering that Pep and Arteta both have been in the PL since a few years now, this is ETH's first season, where even he is expected to learn, which he is, but even during his learning phase he's getting the near best out of the squad at his disposal.

I'm not too worried about outplaying City and Arsenal, as long as we can get results and draws from those games, we should have a squad to beat teams like Palace, Villa, Brighton, Brentford. The ones that have taken points off us this season.

The 7 match winning run has pretty much cemented my faith in ETH, and yesterday's result/performance changes nothing.
 
Can't believe people are already doubting ETH. Not to say he hasn't made mistakes but we look much better than any other time in recent years. We've also got an incredibly tough schedule and are actually overachieving. Crazy talk.
 
I am just disapointed with his choices to put Bruno on the right and keep Eriksen as a 10.

You can see that both at Palace and yesterday, when Bruno shifted right, there was no cover anymore on the right side and both him and Eriksen were useless in that position.

Yes, we are short of option, and he explained that he kept Wout because of the number of corners we conceded, but I would have play Garnacho left and Rashford on the right for the last 20 mins.

Also he should have probably played Maguire for the last 5 mins as we conceded too many crosses.

But jsut saying that we are gutted having lost against the leader is showing how much we progressed.
 
The team is in a transition. Crap coaching for the last few years which needs changing. Losers mentalities which need changing still. He came is to the Ronaldo fiasco and now hes having to deal with the whole club being in transition from owner to owner. Hes got us 3rd at the moment and still in all 4 comps.

Cut him some fecking slack for Christs sake!
 
Enjoyed his press conference after the game. Happy to hear he was annoyed. We need that from our manager. Not a Potter type who is just happy to be there.
 
Lyng said:
Enjoyed his press conference after the game. Happy to hear he was annoyed. We need that from our manager. Not a Potter type who is just happy to be there.
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Its a nice breath of fresh air. So many managers try to convince fans and themselves it was all good and dandy instead of saying it like it is.
 
LordSpud said:
The team is in a transition. Crap coaching for the last few years which needs changing. Losers mentalities which need changing still. He came is to the Ronaldo fiasco and now hes having to deal with the whole club being in transition from owner to owner. Hes got us 3rd at the moment and still in all 4 comps.

Cut him some fecking slack for Christs sake!
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Exactly.
I fully understand how disappointed our fans were at the result. And the poor 2nd half performance.
But goodness me. EtH had done enough to at least deserve a bit of respect.
We lost to a team running away with the PL, away.

These things happen in football.
We have over performed so far this season.
And this was a reality check. So let's put things into perspective.
There is still a long way to go. But we are on the right path with the right manager. He isn't a miracle worker.
 
We've just not bought enough players in recent years. Everyone points at the money we've spent, but in terms of sheer number of bodies in the door we're miles behind City/Arsenal/even Spurs and Liverpool. I did a long post about it ages ago, but in the last 5 seasons we'd signed the lowest number of first team players in the top 6 by a ton.

And it shows. We have 2 CFs, one of whom was signed 7 years ago and can't play more than 15 games a season adn the other is on loan from a Championship. We are one suspension/injury from playing Scott McTominay in a crucial match - one of literally the worst midfielders in the league at passing a football. A post-failed-heart Eriksen is forced to play 90 minutes when he's gassed at 65.

We just lack first team options, in very key areas. What ETH is doing with this squad, plaing this many matches is incredible. If we get owners who let the club spend its own money, and stick with him I have no doubt we'll at least solidy our Top 4 status for the forseeable and hopefully get a few title challenges in, especially if Pep's 'cycle' starts to come to an end. Klopp's looks to, Arteta clearly sacrificed something to the Gods for the fortune Arsenal have had and Chelsea...well you can only field XI players at a time.

We have to get ownership that can support the man though. My biggest worry at the moment is that the Glazers don't find a buyer, and the big clubs come sniffing in the summer for Erik.
 
Day after and with the loss sinking in...I think we can be proud of Ten Hag and the team actually. The fact some were even thinking before the match that we could win, not against your run of the mill sixth place Arsenal, but this Arsenal shows how far we have come this season.

No Casemiro, Sancho, Martial, Dalot. With a team that is only 6 months into its rebuild, that is short of a proper striker, that probably needs 1 or 2 other first 11 players, to pretty much go toe for toe with Arsenal says a lot. This wasn't a sit back and counter for 90 mins type of game, the game went back and forth in terms of possession up until the last 20 minutes or so. You have to credit Ten Hag (and the players) with this improvement. The fact we are playing Ten Hag's way regardless of who we play for me is the most encouraging thing.

To me its clear to see if you stick a Kane/osimhen up top, a De Jong player next to Case. Sancho, Garnacho, Martial, Eriksen as options to come of the bench I reckon we challenge for all trophies.
 
It's quite telling about how far we have come under him that yesterday feels like points dropped rather than a point gained. We could have won that match. He should have made some changes earlier, but we did not get any fresh legs on and we saw what happened. Nevertheless, I am still happy with how far we have come under him this season.

The one area I would say that he is probably not ideal in, at least on current evidence, would be transfers, and that is not his fault as that was not his responsibility at Ajax. From the coming summer our signings should not be entirely driven by the manager as they were (understandably) in the summer gone past. Chasing after a pipe dream in FDJ for over three months and signing Antony on that huge fee were both not very good moves in my opinion.
 
flameinthesun said:
Day after and with the loss sinking in...I think we can be proud of Ten Hag and the team actually. The fact some were even thinking before the match that we could win, not against your run of the mill sixth place Arsenal, but this Arsenal shows how far we have come this season.

No Casemiro, Sancho, Martial, Dalot. With a team that is only 6 months into its rebuild, that is short of a proper striker, that probably needs 1 or 2 other first 11 players, to pretty much go toe for toe with Arsenal says a lot. This wasn't a sit back and counter for 90 mins type of game, the game went back and forth in terms of possession up until the last 20 minutes or so. You have to credit Ten Hag (and the players) with this improvement. The fact we are playing Ten Hag's way regardless of who we play for me is the most encouraging thing.

To me its clear to see if you stick a Kane/osimhen up top, a De Jong player next to Case. Sancho, Garnacho, Martial, Eriksen as options to come of the bench I reckon we challenge for all trophies.
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Definitely. Not to mention 3 tough games in 1 week with 2 of them being away in London. It all makes a difference.

We were competing fine until around the 70th when the legs ran out and we got boxed in. Unfortunately ETH obviously doesn't trust the bench all that much or felt they wouldn't change things, but Arsenal haven't lost at home for over a year.

People still think in their heads 'Arsenal are push overs' but they've had the 5th best start to a PL campaign ever. It's time to take this team seriously.

We are just at the start of our journey under ETH, but we desperately need new owners and the debt cleared, to give him the best choice of player, not 2nd/3rd/4th pick.
 
Cloud7 said:
It's quite telling about how far we have come under him that yesterday feels like points dropped rather than a point gained. We could have won that match. He should have made some changes earlier, but we did not get any fresh legs on and we saw what happened. Nevertheless, I am still happy with how far we have come under him this season.

The one area I would say that he is probably not ideal in, at least on current evidence, would be transfers, and that is not his fault as that was not his responsibility at Ajax. From the coming summer our signings should not be entirely driven by the manager as they were (understandably) in the summer gone past. Chasing after a pipe dream in FDJ for over three months and signing Antony on that huge fee were both not very good moves in my opinion.
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Agreed. Not only has he gotten us playing really well in a very short time, it seems to be real harmony in the squad and all his signings have been good so far
 
I think he’s done a great job so far but wish he could have been a bit proactive with his subs. We really needed Erikson off for Fred and he needed to use Garnacho and Pellestri against the tired Arsenal defence. Signing a back up DM is a priority in the summer.

Losing in the last minute it always hard but games are coming thick and fast so onto the next one.
 
With all the Arteta comparisons flying around I think there’s an important point to be made. With the fecking ludicrous schedule of fixtures (because of the fecking ludicrous World Cup) ETH is really only getting to work with the squad on a fixture by fixture basis. Bouncing from rest days to specific preparation for the next game. No time at all for more general work on shape or patterns of play.

Arteta had a full season where Arsenal basically only played one match each week. 5 full days between games every week on the training ground. Can you imagine how much ETH could improve us with that luxury?
 
Arteta has only fully implemented his prefered style of play after getting rid of half the squad he actually inherited and the club backing him with signings.

Ten hag needs the same exact backing to be honest. Maguire, mactominay, de gea, awb, jones, van de beek etc need to be sold or just let go and replaced with better players who offer something different to the team. So many fans have been talking about how poor some of these players actually are for a long time now esp maguire and mctominay but there were always some weird fans using the fact that ole plays them as proof that they were good. They never were. We need them to either be bench players or be sold...esp someone like mctominay who you can see doesnt have the basic passing skills needed to be at manutd
 
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