Erik ten Hag | 2024/25 | Sacked

Erik ten Hag

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I don't like Jamie Jackson at all. I'm not a big fan of Mitten either. I know he's well liked by some, but he played a big part in getting fans behind the manager last season.

He was even chuffed with his Twitter poll. :lol:

Yeah, that was really pathetic. Bigging up a silly Twitter poll posted five minutes after an FA Cup win, showing it to ETH, talking about it again and again. I mean, come on...
 
There would be more smoke about potential replacements by now. He's going nowhere soon.
 
To be honest the only way for Ashworth and Berrada to inspire any confidence is for us to beat Villa and then for them to still sack Hag 2 days later.

That would be a perfect scenario and go a long way to showing they're not clowns like Ineos are.

I refuse to believe that Ashworth and Berrada have looked over the last 18 months of data and have decided "you got two games to show us you're worth it". They aren't stupid people, I think ETH is clearly gone.

If he does survive, then I have no hope for this club. If they can't make a decision on him after all this then we truly are doomed.
 
There’s always a slight flaw in the plan

Yep but you can't help but admire the manager defence hustle. Not only the current manager but retrospectively defending previous managers with the "these players" mantra.

Imagine if we'd still had most of the 2013 squad circa 2021? I wonder where we'd have ended up? :confused:
 
We 100% deserve all this when even a random schmuck from the internet could have told you how it's going to pan out. Our "best in class" people had a long review and ended up not only keeping him but actually activating his extension as well making it much harder to sack him. The most incompetent managerial decision we've ever made. Great start for Ineos.

Ten Hag is the most unlikeable manager we've had by far. Imagine gloating about how "I will always win" while putting these kind of performances week in week out, embarrassing himself and the club in the two actual important competitions. He goes on about "his" cups like he won the CL and like one of them wasn't a mickey mouse competition. Or like in the other cup he wasn't incredibly lucky to not lose to fecking Coventry. Absolutely sick of him using these cup wins to prop himself up. So small time and for some reason fans bought into it. This "winner" of a manager has won only 1 game out of the last 10 in Europe, and some people still have the nerve to say he's a good cup manager. I guess he needs easy home draws for his system to work.

One thing that does my head in is people still trying to make a claim that "there were no good options out there" so it was reasonable to keep him. Liverpool and Chelsea needed a manager and easily got one. It's only us who apparently either need this perfect manager who checks all the boxes or we rather just persist with a proven failure instead. We still somehow have people saying we've sacked too many managers. Only our fanbase can't comprehend that statistically most managers will fail. It's part of the game, you replace him and move on. But no, not with us. A flukey win vs Villa will give him at least another month. You'd think the best in class people wouln't base their decisions on a one off game but they already did exactly that.
I find him extremely unlikable as well but to be fair I've found him this way since the beginning. I remember how after Brentford disaster he asked his players to run 14km in heat to 'punish' them for the lack of effort, which most on here found so incredibly impressive but to me it was a ruse of a glorified PE teacher and reminded me of certain Polish old-school coaches who had these methods, just always found them a bit pathetic.

All big clubs fail with their appointments, they are usually very quick to rectify that though. Bayern failed with Kovac and fired him despite winning the league because they saw they were not going anywhere, Barcelona failed with multiple coaches since Pep and fired them all in a timely manner, Madrid fired Lopetegui within weeks of him taking the job and had previously been quick to dismiss the likes of Ramos, Pellegrini when they saw them fail. All clubs do that, it's not just Chelsea, every club appoints managers who they think are going to be good but then see them struggle and have to part ways with them. Every single club would have fired ten Hag after last year's CL debacle, there's no way a top club is keeping a coach that failed to get out of a CL group with Copenhagen (who lost to Jagiellonia in Conference League yesterday, yet outplayed us) and Galatasaray, and that's without even considering our league performance which was utterly abysmal and unseemly of a highly esteemed football organization. No club would gloss over 38 league games and a disaster of a CL campaign because of 2 good cup games.
 
Although it was painstakingly boring football under LVG, but at least LVG had much worse squad than ETH.

We sacked after LVG won 7 in his last 10 and drawing some 2 games in that. Playstyle was given as a reason for that.

Now we dont even play any style and somehow ETH has survived relegation form for months

That's the worrying thing about INEOS so far. They're refusing to cash it a day for whatever reason and it almost feels like they genuinely believed that Ten Hag just needed better people above him for him to become better at his job.

I get the arguments about constantly sacking managers, but these people that say this are the and ones that wanted a modern structure. And a modern structure is great because it makes a manager/ coach more dispensable. So you can't have it both ways like some fans wanted - all the perks of this structure for ETH, but none of the negatives.

All in all though it's time for this new leadership panel to put their money where their mouth is and come up with a good solution that doesn't involve eating yet another year.
 
And...?

By football people I dont just mean the decision makers like Woodward, Murtough, Arnold. Also the United media, the ex player pundits and the fans. I dont think any other big clubs have several make-or-break moments over months, or years in ETH's case, for their failed managers. This is now our third manager in a row where we waste a season on a failed manager, stumbling around in a stupor for half of it before finally sacking them. It's a United exclusive thing because we have a uniquely deluded reverence for the manager position.

Ineos sport have already proven to be infected with this delusion. If Ashworth and Berrada dont sack ETH after the Villa game they will have proven to be infected with it too.
What if they sack him after Brentford they are still infected? What if they have already decided to sack him and are planning/lining up life after are they still infected?

You can’t bring the past into the judgement of the new. We’ll see if they are infected or not and it won’t be based off some arbitrary timeline set by the media
 
Laurie Whitwell on the Talk of the Devils podcast said he doesn’t think this is the “end game” for Ten Hag and the hierarchy insist his job is not under pressure

Seems implausible that he could survive a Villa defeat but there we go
This is more plausible and aligns with his demeanor. I think he knows he's safe for the next 1.5 - 2 years regardless of results.
 
I actually looked back at some highlights from his Ajax teams during 17/18 &18/19 seasons.
His football is indeed similar in many forms to what he tries to do at United. Some things I noticed and compared to what we see now:
- Ajax teams scored a lot of goals through front pressing as a result of errors from opposition. We try it here too, but the success rate is way lower which may be an indication of simply lower quality of dutch leage compared to PL.
- One of their favorite ways to penetrate opposition box was through half crosses from the wings especially from the left to the far post. We dont do it in here as much for some reason and again this may be an indication of different setup PL teams have compared to dutch league
-He had many gaps on the midfield making his team prone to runs from the opposition, which is one of his trademarks at United also. Again we concede a lot of goals just because PL teams have way more quality on their teams.

As a conclusion, if he is basing his setup to his Ajax teams, which they are indications that we do, we are doomed as there is just a big gap of quality in opposition his teams faced.
 
I refuse to believe that Ashworth and Berrada have looked over the last 18 months of data and have decided "you got two games to show us you're worth it". They aren't stupid people, I think ETH is clearly gone.

If he does survive, then I have no hope for this club. If they can't make a decision on him after all this then we truly are doomed.
I think they more likely looked at the previous 18 months and persuaded by various factors, cup win, Tuchel and co interviews not going well etc... decided to give ETH the start of the season to show improvement, so it will have been 10 games in all competitions this season, the decision to keep or sack has already been made barring some amazing turn around against Villa, it is about the optics of it, sacking Ten Hag after the Liverpool match after backing him in the summer would have been too soon, once the backed him they had to give him enough time and rope to make the decision for them, that time is Villa, may well even have been decided that this was a decision point when they kept him
 
I'm guessing he needs until the end of a third season to finally fix something. I'm standing in front of a wall with my brushes and a tin of paint. Hours go by and my missus finds me sitting on my arse doing feck all, none of the walls painted. I tell her I'll get it done before next week, yet I do nothing. Just sit there looking at the wall. Eventually, two months later, she finds me still sitting there doing feck all. And the only thing on the bare walls is a cruedly painted cock and balls.

:lol:
 
Half of those goals were scored against the mighty Barnsley. So without those it is 7 goals in 5 games.
And two gifts from Diogo, who is doing everything he can to ensure he isn't earmarked as Onana's successor.
 
I think they more likely looked at the previous 18 months and persuaded by various factors, cup win, Tuchel and co interviews not going well etc... decided to give ETH the start of the season to show improvement, so it will have been 10 games in all competitions this season, the decision to keep or sack has already been made barring some amazing turn around against Villa, it is about the optics of it, sacking Ten Hag after the Liverpool match after backing him in the summer would have been too soon, once the backed him they had to give him enough time and rope to make the decision for them, that time is Villa, may well even have been decided that this was a decision point when they kept him
To be frank, it's almost a poisoned chalice now, the United Manager job. Who'd want it, frankly? The only person I can think of is...............Frank (not Lamptard).
 
I think they more likely looked at the previous 18 months and persuaded by various factors, cup win, Tuchel and co interviews not going well etc... decided to give ETH the start of the season to show improvement, so it will have been 10 games in all competitions this season, the decision to keep or sack has already been made barring some amazing turn around against Villa, it is about the optics of it, sacking Ten Hag after the Liverpool match after backing him in the summer would have been too soon, once the backed him they had to give him enough time and rope to make the decision for them, that time is Villa, may well even have been decided that this was a decision point when they kept him
If they were going to sack him they'd have done this after Spurs game. It was perfect opportunity, a heavy loss at home to a side that on paper looked worse than us, after failing to win yet another easy European game against Twente, both at Old Trafford. There was always some small possibility of him going to Porto/Villa and getting results, which he actually did yesterday at Porto, which would have made the whole process more cumbersome. It's not like he hadn't fluked a win at Villa before.
 
To be frank, it's almost a poisoned chalice now, the United Manager job. Who'd want it, frankly? The only person I can think of is...............Frank (not Lamptard).
Is that intentional? bit harsh if true for a footballer (anybody actually) he has a surprisingly high IQ, 150 I believe
 
If they were going to sack him they'd have done this after Spurs game. It was perfect opportunity, a heavy loss at home to a side that on paper looked worse than us, after failing to win yet another easy European game against Twente, both at Old Trafford. There was always some small possibility of him going to Porto/Villa and getting results, which he actually did yesterday at Porto, which would have made the whole process more cumbersome. It's not like he hadn't fluked a win at Villa before.
Sorry are you classing last night as a result? geez
 
Is that intentional? bit harsh if true for a footballer (anybody actually) he has a surprisingly high IQ, 150 I believe
The p and the t are miles away from each other on my keyboard. Call me harsh.
 
Because we don’t sack managers after finishing bottom of CL groups, 8th in the league, getting humped 7-0 by Liverpool or 4-0 by Palace etc. So it’s definitely not happening after a win.
Touché. I guess it’s too much to expect any semblance of reasonable standards here.
 
Yep but you can't help but admire the manager defence hustle. Not only the current manager but retrospectively defending previous managers with the "these players" mantra.

Imagine if we'd still had most of the 2013 squad circa 2021? I wonder where we'd have ended up? :confused:
In an old folks home?
 
To be frank, it's almost a poisoned chalice now, the United Manager job. Who'd want it, frankly? The only person I can think of is...............Frank (not Lamptard).

Yet, teams like Madrid, Bayern and Chelsea manage to find new managers. I think many of them would see the United Manager job as a great challenge.
 
He's going to scrape a result this weekend, get through the International break, get a few more bad results, then it all hangs on one game again, he scrapes another result there......and we keep going in circles.

I wanted to give him a bit longer this summer, but its time to put him out of his misery.

We need that new manager bounce, get anyone in and give them a contract until the summer then reasses the situation. If we get a few more bad results, 4th will already look unachievable and its not even Christmas yet.
 
All this talk about having make or break games is just bollocks. The decision regarding his sacking has already been made. If he stays after winning against Villa it'll be because he was always going to stay, not because of that result. I'm hoping we win at Villa and he is still gone the next day.
 
This is more plausible and aligns with his demeanor. I think he knows he's safe for the next 1.5 - 2 years regardless of results.
Thing that really frustrates me, more than anything Ten Hag does himself, is when the journalists will use the old "His job is not under pressure in the short term, but there is an acceptance that results must improve"

Results continue to get worse and then they say the same thing again. I'd rather they just say "His job is not under pressure in the short term, or the long term" and be done with it
 



Right.... It's the away match to Villa that's his make or break not the 0-3 losses to Liverpool and Spurs at home, the draw at home to an inferior Dutch team in Europa or throwing away a 2-0 lead in Europa Liverpool and Spurs have both scored more goals at Old Trafford this year than we have scored there in the league and Europa combined.

We've played a 1/6 of the season and are 13th. The only time we've looked remotely good this season was a league cup match against a side 2 divisions below us. Fulham was a slog struggle, Southampton was bad until Onan's penalty save jolted a little bit of life and we got 2 goals in 6 minutes, Palace we did ok but the shooting was woeful and then ETH played right into what they wanted to do with his changes and they were the better team the last 25-30 minutes.

We are mad to believe INEOS will be any different than the Glazers. But even then Glazers actually had some stones with managerial changes. Sacked Moyes before his first season was even over. Sacked LVG for getting 5th and winning an FA Cup in his 2nd season. Sacked Jose in his 3rd season when we were 6th and already through to the knockouts of CL. Sacked Ole in his 3rd season when we were 8th and already through to the knockout stages.
 
Right.... It's the away match to Villa that's his make or break not the 0-3 losses to Liverpool and Spurs at home, the draw at home to an inferior Dutch team in Europa or throwing away a 2-0 lead in Europa Liverpool and Spurs have both scored more goals at Old Trafford this year than we have scored there in the league and Europa combined.

We've played a 1/6 of the season and are 13th. The only time we've looked remotely good this season was a league cup match against a side 2 divisions below us. Fulham was a slog struggle, Southampton was bad until Onan's penalty save jolted a little bit of life and we got 2 goals in 6 minutes, Palace we did ok but the shooting was woeful and then ETH played right into what they wanted to do with his changes and it they were the better team the last 25-30 minutes.

We are mad to believe INEOS will be any different than the Glazers. But even then Glazers actually had some stones with managerial changes. Sacked LVG for getting 5th and winning an FA Cup in his 2nd season. Sacked Jose in his 3rd season when we were 6th and already through to the knockouts of CL. Sacked Ole in his 3rd season when we were 8th and already through to the knockout stages.
Calm down. You are emotional and angry given the results which is understandable.
 
Yet, teams like Madrid, Bayern and Chelsea manage to find new managers. I think many of them would see the United Manager job as a great challenge.
Both Bayern and Madrid are incredibly well run and constantly successful. So frankly there's no longer a valid comparison.

Would we have been happy with Maresca? Or Poch? Or Potter? In whichever order.
 
If he does survive, then I have no hope for this club. If they can't make a decision on him after all this then we truly are doomed.

That's the issue.

We know ETH is a dud, there's not much more to be said there. But, how INEOS react will be very telling as far as the future of the club is concerned.
 
Would we have been happy with Maresca?

If he had us 4th with the most goals scored in the league and tied with the 2nd best GD it would be like Christmas season came 2 months early right now.
 
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