I'm sure Tony can cover at least one of them at least before 3 months on the medical bench.
Erik ten Hag | 2022/23 & 2023/24
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I'm sure Tony can cover at least one of them at least before 3 months on the medical bench.
Could have done with another experienced striker to supplement him anyway
Martial couldn't even get fit for pre season
Seems to be enjoying he's bald. Lovely to see.
The jury on Ten Hag is still out for m. He doesn't seem to have any idea on what type of players he wants to tie in with his system. He wants to play 4-2-3-1 system yet doesn't seem to place any emphasis on combative cdm's. Casimero was the club's signing, since then prioritised signing mount who is a number 10
We buy a sweeper keeper, who is now pumping up long balls from the back to initiate counter-attacks, when I was under the impression we were going to build up from the back and have a high press transitioning through the middle of the park. Yet after spending 400 million we don't have the personal to play such football so we end up sitting deep most games waiting for the counter and relying on speed merchants like Rashford and garnancho to bail us out of trouble
This is only going to work for so long against teams who don't have the personal and tactical flexibility to not play into our hands. When we face competent teams with a competent gameplan, teams will either just sit deep and allow us to play ourselves in trouble and hit us on the break or they will just play through our midfield who can't keep the ball in the middle of the park. The Saville game was a perfect example of this
We buy a sweeper keeper, who is now pumping up long balls from the back to initiate counter-attacks, when I was under the impression we were going to build up from the back and have a high press transitioning through the middle of the park. Yet after spending 400 million we don't have the personal to play such football so we end up sitting deep most games waiting for the counter and relying on speed merchants like Rashford and garnancho to bail us out of trouble
This is only going to work for so long against teams who don't have the personal and tactical flexibility to not play into our hands. When we face competent teams with a competent gameplan, teams will either just sit deep and allow us to play ourselves in trouble and hit us on the break or they will just play through our midfield who can't keep the ball in the middle of the park. The Saville game was a perfect example of this
Good old NET spend.
I think he does. I’m just not sure you’ve quite understood it. Either that or you just don’t like the idea of it.
Ok, go off king? I assume you have a Fifa Pro license and 10 Champions League wins under your belt?
Media would've had a right wank if he was the manager of Pool or Arsenal and got them a trophy, top 4 and FA cup final in the first season.
On the other hand, I like it that’s there’s no over the top focus on him. Let him do his work and he’s going to bring trophies galore for us.
On the other hand, I like it that’s there’s no over the top focus on him. Let him do his work and he’s going to bring trophies galore for us.
I dont care what the media thinks, he is the real deal and will make this club top again. Look what he changed and cleaned up already
Totally agree. I’m just pointing out the media biased against everything United
Onana's clearly not just pumping balls out from the back - if you watched yesterday's game, that'd be pretty clear to see. Teams sitting off and containing are difficult for any side to break down - this is potentially one of Sancho's strengths , in terms of being a give and go player working in tight spaces, although we haven't seen as much of it. Antony is being asked to vary his game a bit more, which will involve trying to produce combinations and open up space as well as playing channel balls for the rb or Bruno to get onto a deliver a cross or cut-back, rather than just trying the left footed top corner strike every time. Rashford and Garnacho are both capable of dribbling and so opening up space by engaging opponents in their box, at which point Hojlund will be the one to try and get on the end of cut-backs. He's known for finding space well with near post runs, so that's a potential avenue.
We still need to have the option of breaking quickly - that doesn't mean just allowing teams onto us until the 18 yrd box, but rather quickly regaining the ball after turnovers and finding first-time passes, or engaging fairly high up when teams start moves and, again, finding a quick ball, which Bruno in particular is good at and Mount also has the energy allied with technical capacity to do. Licha will, as always, try and break the first line of the press and set our midfielders free to drive or pick out the 2nd pass - something Shaw can also do pretty much as capably when asked.
In terms of opening teams up, if it isn't working for Bruno or through Rash/Garnacho/ Hojlund driving at them, then potentially Amrabat, if and when he signs, is capable of picking a pass further up the field as well as initiating breaks. It's not a 'finished' side but you can definitely see one with a range of ways of engaging the opposition already rather than just going for oleball counterpunch, or conversely being stuck in antiseptic passing...
Tbf the standards at Utd are higher than Arsenal or Liverpool as it should be.
Ten Hag is doing a great job, he’s made several big decisions, all correct in my eyes, got 3rd last year plus a trophy with a mixed squad and lots of players most fans deem not good enough. He’s bringing in players that suit the style of play he wants us to implement whilst trying to move the ones deemed not good enough out.
Not sure what else some fans expected in his first year.
Not sure what else some fans expected in his first year.
I think that is very common these days on the Caf. I certainly see what he's trying to do, but I don't like the idea of it and I think it's naive and not looking particularly effective. Hope the manager proves me wrong.
This season is a big test for ETH and what he can do with HIS squad. I just thought he will improve our football and make it more modern in terms of passing, movement etc. So far I see we're just a very direct team that relies on individuals to deliver. That isn't a controversial opinion about current United side. And I am afraid buying Mount, removing Eriksen and switching to 415 formation only pushes us further that direction. This is based on a small sample but there's plenty of people having the same impression.
He does improve the players though so that's a big plus and makes me excited for the new season.
We have a lot of direct players. All of the best teams in the history of the game have had the very best of these.
All teams rely on individuals to deliver, too.
The inference that Ten Hag just sends out these players and says ‘crack on, lads’ is a bit preposterous, to be honest. There is clearly some thought that goes into how we set up and how we seek to move the ball from back to front.
They are going to dine out on that Coutinho sale for 30 years aren't they?
Our build up from the back is very good. It's a concern as soon as we get into the oppositions half.
Well, yeah. At some point you need to work the ball in between opposition players. This is what we're poor at, and we rely way too much on being direct.
Let me put it this way. I am not saying it's completely random, what I believe is we rely way too much on direct play and we lack that "dimension" of possession game. I think every top team needs to be able to move the ball swiftly, Arsenal do it, City do it, we rely a lot on high risk direct moves bypassing the midfield.
Maybe this still happens slightly too often, though some of that will be using the best resources at our disposal ( Rash, Garnacho) against a more prevalent tendency amongst sides to press higher. But Licha is clearly still trying to find passes that break the first line of press and allow midfielders, like Mount, say, to carry the ball and start an attack. It's just a case of having midfielders make themslves available to take it on the half-turn. Mount I'm still jury out on in terms of being a first choice, but he makes himself more available than McT to receive it and is more reliable with the next pass than Fred and more press-proof (in terms of speed especially, and carrying) than Eriksen,, so there's been an upgrade there. I think we'll see more of this, although Plan A will still be to try and have wide forwards attacking space or full backs on the back foot, set in motion by 2-3 passes at most.
Right?
At least until they have another crap season and have to shell out.Ah, Net spend. Absolutely irrelevant to anyone but the scousers, they treat it like a fecking trophy. Very strange bunch.
Doesn't like the idea of it due to probably being a staunch supporter of Jose/Ole
So what would you like to see him do differently
I trust ETH and I think he has a clear idea of how he wants to play. I just fear he’s being a bit naive with a midfield of both Bruno and Mount. We seemed quite exposed yesterday and it we go into the PL, particularly away games, set up like that, then I don’t see our away record improving drastically. I think we need Amrabat to partner Casemiro and adopt a more defensively sound midfield structure in some games.
That's usually the case, unfortunately.
Yep remember how naive he was at the start of last season too and had to quickly change the tactics and midfield profile thereafter. I am happy to be wrong but these aren't unfounded concerns.
I get your point, but City, Arsenal and Liverpool are all setting up with 1 DM and 2 AM’s.
It works, but it’s all about getting the right balance, and one CB, Martinez (or inverted fullback, Shaw) stepping into midfield to provide cover.
The idea is to keep the majority of possession and push your opponent back to their own half, create overloads then score. Defensively it's rather a problem of how our back four and keeper would deal with their quick counters once we lose possession. And how effective our forwards/AMC would high press in that case.
When we face stronger teams we might have two defensive minded midfielders (Casemiro and another solid DM/MC) but for the majority of games that's the above. Not many teams in the PL are stronger than us atm.
I don't think we'll have a big issue with keeping possession, high pressing and dealing with quick counters. But unless that lad Hojlund hit the ground running imo we'll face that same issue - scoring like last season.
Both Bruno and Mount can play on the wing though so in tighter games maybe he’ll drop Antony or Garnacho
They can but shouldn’t.
Strange post. Do you need these before you can have an opinion on an internet forum. I don't agree with him but it's not like he's calling for ETH to be sacked or anything
Net spend has to be the most agenda driven stat there is. It means nothing these days.
Exactly. I just don't get these keyboard warriors who always comes with these fashion terms . Ok, I understand everyone including me does it but ffs, get the full perspective before we post anything like that. City has been successfully doing it for years. Arsenal did it and will do it again this year.
Simple question - do they really think they ETH is not aware of this so called "midfield overrun" before making any calls like that ? He definitely has a plan and let him execute it. We have a working example with City .
I thought ETH wished for a more technical, press resistant midfield. Between Bruno, Casemiro, Mount - none of them are particularly press resistant(especially Bruno who treats the ball like a hot potato).
I was hoping that we'll get a young, physical, technically brilliant ball carrier who is pretty comfortable in deeper areas and would help us progress the ball into the opponents half of the pitch -- Frenkie de Jong archetype. These types of players are my favorites(personal bias). Now it looks like we are going to resemble a gegenpressing(counter pressing), counterattacking side - similar to Klopp's Liverpool.
It's possible to win this way(probably even the highest honors), but it's not my preference. I guess i'm a perfectionist, obsessive control freak, like Guardiola
I was hoping that we'll get a young, physical, technically brilliant ball carrier who is pretty comfortable in deeper areas and would help us progress the ball into the opponents half of the pitch -- Frenkie de Jong archetype. These types of players are my favorites(personal bias). Now it looks like we are going to resemble a gegenpressing(counter pressing), counterattacking side - similar to Klopp's Liverpool.
It's possible to win this way(probably even the highest honors), but it's not my preference. I guess i'm a perfectionist, obsessive control freak, like Guardiola
It has its uses. It's just that the person who tweeted it ended up using it in a wrong way.
Net spend is not something that only increases. It can decrease in the future. So one can't infer anything from hearing that Manager x's net spend has "already" surpassed Manager y's net spend when even one of them is still active. Maybe ETH will sell Rashford and Garnacho for 200m each in a couple of years.
City had both Rodri and Stones playing together at their midfield base last season. Arsenal had Partey with Xhaka occupying a box-to-box midfield position and providing some defensive cover. I don’t think Liverpool’s setup last season worked until they deployed TAA as a fullback/midfielder.
I agree it’s all about getting the balance of the defensive mid and back four right. I just don’t think we get that with both Mount and Bruno in midfield as they operate in too advanced roles. But I’m happy to be proven wrong. Potentially Shaw and Dalot will tug in to provide some cover.
It’s pretty much always used incorrectly though, using arbitrary timeframes just to make whatever point you want. It’s also nearly always used as a short-term metric ignoring all context and conditions which preceded that timeframe. And I would argue there are enough shinanigans in football these days (hyper-inflated wages, agents fees and back-handers to parents and other stakeholders, as well as the productionising of youth programs - see City, Chelsea) to make it completely meaningless, certainly at the top level.
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