Erik ten Hag | 2024/25

[Robbie Boy]

I think winning the league is extremely hard in this era, and we don't even qualify for the CL half the time and when we do we humiliated in the group stages for the most part.

Tellingly though, the one things that's stayed constant throughout the last decade is that the underlying stats have never rated us as a team. Even in seasons we've finished in the top 4 or second the underlying stats have suggested we're not as good as the table says. That to me, gives away the quality of the managers we've had at the club.

Season	xPts (Expected Points)	Actual Points	Table Position	xPts Position
23/24	44.24	60	8th	15th
22/23	66.4	75	3rd	5th
21/22	54.52	58	6th	8th
20/21	65.64	74	2nd	4th
19/20	70.99	66	3rd	4th
18/19	61.86	66	6th	4th
17/18	62.33	80	2nd	6th
16/17	70.89	69	6th	4th
15/16	56.44	66	5th	8th
14/15	63.03	70	4th	4th

Winning the league is extremely difficult, yes. But, we haven't even come close to any kind of realistic challenge. Arsenal were a mess a few years back and even they've challenged. The point is that we've hired poorly for over a decade meaning the club has made no tangible progress in that period.

Not one single post-Fergie manager has come remotely close to taking the club forward. That in itself is depressing as we literally employ managers who come in, initially look like they are making some form of progress, some get some minor success (I.e. a erm second place finish or a Cup), then it ultimately goes to shit and they leave behind a messy squad with its morale on the floor.

So while challenging for major honours is a pipe dream, having a manager that can even build a decent squad and make some tangible progress would be welcomed at this point.

 

[DSG]

This is obviously terrible and a sign of his lack of ability to properly assess players and their skillset, but what worries me, even more, is that United is literally the only club allowing this level of nepotism and mediocrity. You won't find a single other club with a grain of ambition that would so blindly support a manager who is clearly out of his depth, and it's his third season so there was more than enough time to see this! And I completely don't get the fiercely loyal fans putting ETH and his future above Man United - I could anyhow understand this sentiment towards club legend Ole, even when it was clear he's not good enough, but we don't owe ETH shit and we're still talking about the guy who managed to bottle it at the biggest stage against the champions of the bottle, Spurs.

Remember, Sir Alex was almost sacked in year 4 of his tenure. There is a distinct possibility that Ten Hag will go elsewhere and win big trophies. He needs more time.

 

[Ibrahimorich]

Remember lads, Gareth Southgate is waiting in the wings. Be careful what you wish for...

 

[golden_blunder]

Jim must be itching.
Just go on and pull the trigger, just do it now before we are more fecked than an ambitious pornstar.

Well the look of anger/disgust on the face of Sir Jim and his team, I wouldn’t like to be in ETH shoes. Barrada had a look of a boss who can’t wait to get him on his office to explain what’s going wrong

 

[Castia]

His quotes are absolutely moronic

He got a new deal in the summer but it's already starting to feel like borrowed time he's doing himself no favours what so ever.

Having a rival manager who's been in the job for 2 minutes and using a full squad of players he's never managed before pick apart his tactics is fecking humiliating for the club. What a joke.

 

[e.cantona]

Should've been sacked close to a year ago

 

[Bobade]

Great quote from Ole. He wasn’t ultimately up to the job but it was nice to have a manager who talked sense and seemed to have a clear style of play (and ability to coach it).

It's actually crazy how much Ole got slated for that quote as everyone just got hung up on the fact that he apparently said "trophies are for egos". He was absolutely spot on in what he said.

We're actually seeing the result of trophies are for egos now. Ten Hag's comments post match are ridiculous. He seems to think that we have no problems in our play because he took away two trophies in two seasons. I'm glad we did, but it doesn't take away from us being embarrassed nearly every week in the league. I still have a soft spot for him myself, but I genuinely don't know why that is. It would be ridiculous for Ineos to sack him so early into the season, but is it any worse than waiting until say Christmas, at which point we will have almost certainly sacrificed another league campaign?

 

[Giggsyking]

 

[Bobby_2024]

More than his bad signings, his stubbornness of not changing formation is causing his downfall,

I am bit surprised he is so thick not to see this but hell bent on something doesn't work by leaving middle of the park so open by "not having enough bodies in midfield and pushing full backs so forward" .

We can talk about players 24x7, but first we need to stick together to make sure opposition wont attack our goal with so ease.

 

[Flying_Heckfish]

Arrogant, deluded robot

That's amazing

 

[Shark]

He's going to get a few months is he, regardless of results? We've just been humiliated again in our own back yard to Liverpool, without a single response. That apparently means nothing to Neville though, sure just give him another 5 months and pretend you have a shred of standards for this club anymore. Pathetic.

 

[redIndianDevil]

That's too late. We can't miss out on CL again.

The manager cult is still there in our home fans. Our home fans seem to take pride in supporting a manager instead of playing decent football, so we will let EtH dither on wasting another couple of years.

 

[RedRover]

Remember lads, Gareth Southgate is waiting in the wings. Be careful what you wish for...

Can't be worse than this.

 

[matherto]

Corporate needs you to find the differences...

 

[Annihilate Now!]

The manager cult is still there in our home fans. Our home fans seem to take pride in supporting a manager instead of playing decent football, so we will let EtH dither on wasting another couple of years.

That is changing - his name didn't get chanted once yesterday, and there were lots of boos at HT/FT (from the few that were actually left) - and when Garnacho got subbed

 

[Judas]

He's going to get a few months is he, regardless of results? We've just been humiliated again in our own back yard to Liverpool, without a single response. That apparently means nothing to Neville though, sure just give him another 5 months and pretend you have a shred of standards for this club anymore. Pathetic.

We might disagree with him, but I suspect he’s right. Can’t see INEOS binning him for a little while after backing him, unless we really lose a ton of games in a row.

 

[Berbaclass]

 

[Castia]

That's not happening. The new regime would look more foolish than the manager who's clearly out of his depth to persist with this.

Game week 6-7 if we're not improved he's gone we cant afford another season of finishing 8th.

 

[Jaffa Cakes II]

The post SAF years have been chaotic from the top to the bottom of the club. I hope we avoid yet another knee jerk reaction, in short, that we do not dismiss Ten Hag, if that is the decision, until we have a high quality and committed alternative lined up and ready to go. Reading the current gossip that Southgate is the hot favourite to replace him inspires me with neither hope nor optimism.

 

[Blood Mage]

Imagine how much fun we'd have pissing ourselves if a Liverpool/City/Arsenal manager made those quotes after an embarrassing defeat.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

How is he insurance though, this is what is confusing me? He’s desperately under qualified. He shouldn’t be anywhere near the job, beyond a caretaker role of a few games.

He has managerial experience and did quite well with PSV. If the club want to go the interim route until the summer which I think they would to prefer to do, Ruud can step in.

 

[Betson]

When INEOS decided not to pull the trigger on ETH in the Summer and to take up the extra year option he then became their manager , their choice, their problem.

They are not going to bail on him any time soon as it will smack of 'you have no idea what you are doing'.

No matter how poor the results and performances are he will at least get until Christmas

 

[TsuWave]

Neville - possibly due to PTSD from his managerial stint - is always hustling against United/United’s best interest. In his head sacking a manager is a cardinal offence - to the point he frames it as “stupid”.

Carragher couldn’t believe what he was hearing and even said “why would that (sacking him) be stupid?!”

 

[BluesJr]

Yeah those quotes/meltdown after the game has confirmed that he’s done. You don’t recover from stuff like that, 3 games in ffs.

 

[Shark]

We might disagree with him, but I suspect he’s right. Can’t see INEOS binning him for a little while after backing him, unless we really lose a ton of games in a row.

Is he right though? Or is it just something he wants as a "top red" pundit these days? INEOS never wanted him in the first place, thus them interviewing candidates while the guy was on holiday. It would baffle me to no end if they endure another season of us lingering in mid table and humiliating results. He might just beat Southampton, a team that's lost their first three games but if the likes of Neville uses that to claim we've turned a corner, would be simply embarrassing.

 

[Remember the geese]

Neville - possibly due to PTSD from his managerial stint - is always hustling against United/United’s best interest. In his head sacking a manager is a cardinal offence - to the point he frames is as “stupid”.

Carragher couldn’t believe what he was hearing and even said “why would that (sacking him) be stupid?!”

It's infuriating. Neville is insulting the intelligence of the entire fanbase by refusing to do his job correctly. What is he even being paid for?

 

[Chairman Steve]

Why does Gary Neville treat us like some unique entity that’s not like any other football club? Why until Christmas when he’s already had two full seasons and hundreds of millions to spend? No other club operates like this.

Are we supposed to have a collective amnesia after last season as we got beat soundly at home to mid table teams and not carry forward into this season?

There’s been god knows how many clubs that change managers early in the season over the years and go on to have good to even successful seasons. Neville just wants to keep the plane headed toward the mountain and not pull up. Enough with the borderline sanctimonious ‘we back our managers no matter what’ mentality.

 

[Alex99]

We might disagree with him, but I suspect he’s right. Can’t see INEOS binning him for a little while after backing him, unless we really lose a ton of games in a row.

The run through to December is actually fairly kind.

Between the return from the internationals and Arsenal away on December 3rd, we've got all three newly promoted teams, Palace, Brentford, West Ham and Everton, with the toughest games being Spurs and Chelsea at home, and Villa away.

Outside of the league we've got Barnsley in the league cup, Twente, PAOK and Bodo/Glimt at home in the Europa, and Porto and Fenerbahce away.

We should be getting through that relatively unscathed. He'll be gone before Christmas if we get to that Arsenal game having already lost four or five league games.

 

[Red Star One]

Corporate needs you to find the differences...

One of them is a multiple Premier League and a multiple Champions League winner and for all his flaws one of the most decorated managers of the game and for some time used to be the best in the world.
Another is a lucky lad born into a very wealthy family, elevated to his position mainly by his connections, who has never smelled and will never get close to winning the greatest trophies like the Premier League and Champions League.
Some difference I guess?

 

[RedRover]

Neville - possibly due to PTSD from his managerial stint - is always hustling against United/United’s best interest. In his head sacking a manager is a cardinal offence - to the point he frames is as “stupid”.

Carragher couldn’t believe what he was hearing and even said “why would that (sacking him) be stupid?!”

He's sacked loads of managers at Salford, and not always made the right decision either!

 

[despairingfool]

Mainoo doesn't need to buck up. He was a one man midfield, he's very young, and he made a mistake, it'll happen. The fact we're relying on him so much already is honestly a piss take.

Nah Mainoo gets a free ride from everyone. Garnacho gets more criticism. I think Mainoo should be played higher up the pitch closer to Fernandes. Hes too lax as a central midfielder as shown by the third goal yesterday.

 

[BorisManUtd]

What's interesting about that is the one season it says we underperformed and really should have finished higher than we actually did is 16/17 and I do remember us being incredibly unlucky that season in game after game. We missed so many chances every week, we were genuinely fun to watch that season. Might be the best football we've played consistently post Fergie.

So it feels like the stats matching the eye test. Good to know.

Yeah, remember all those draws at Old Trafford that should've been wins? Like 0-0 vs Burnley when Heaton was fantastic for them. 16/17 we played some promising football and won 2 trophies. 2017 as calendar year probably best as well because of those trophies and the fact we were 2nd by the end of it. Also played some good football in that first part of 2017/18 season. Think we got some leftovers of prime Mourinho at that time but it didn't last and as season progressed De Gea bailed us out on so many occasions.

 

[Berbaclass]

Why does Gary Neville treat us like some unique entity that’s not like any other football club? Why until Christmas when he’s already had two full seasons and hundreds of millions to spend? No other club operates like this.

Are we supposed to have a collective amnesia after last season as we got beat soundly at home to mid table teams and not carry forward into this season?

There’s been god knows how many clubs that change managers early in the season over the years and go on to have good to even successful seasons. Neville just wants to keep the plane headed toward the mountain and not pull up. Enough with the borderline sanctimonious ‘we back our managers no matter what’ mentality.

Because he's a moron.

 

[spiriticon]

Yeah he should have summoned all the players who were with their international teams back as soon as they were done. That would have been the best

There's an international tournament every 2 years. Does that mean every other year ETH gets a free pass to be a huge screwup? If he cannot manage internationals like his peers can, we probably need a new manager.

 

[Buster15]

What was the reason for you posting this. And what is your opinion on Tuchel?

 

[Berbaclass]

Said this yesterday but I genuinely think we kept him because of PSR. I know it's potentially damaging of course but I think they were just probably really stuck at the time.

Played out like this IMO:

We wanted to sack him
Spoke to other candidates
Realised that PSR would restrict sacking him
Needed to make a decision to be able to move forward in the summer
Triggered the +1 extension in his contract as a short term solution.

 

[FujiVice]

Such an arrogant wanker. This wasnt some Graham Taylor style attack on him. Those points were genuinely well made, and he's just grinning like a twat throughout it.

 

[Berbaclass]

What was the reason for you posting this. And what is your opinion on Tuchel?

The reason is that I think it will happen, I think he'll be sacked.

Tuchel I can get on board with yes.

 

[saik]

They tried to sack him. They literally did a tour of Europe and spoke to the likes of De Zerbi and Tuchel. They even agreed that De Zerbi was the man to take over but Marseille made him a bigger offer so he took that and rejected ours. Then for some reason they felt there was nothing better out there and offered Ten Hag another contract.

They didn't offer him a new contract. They just triggered the +1 option in his existing contract to make it appear that they're backing him. I'm pretty sure they know what they were doing back then.

 

[Berbaclass]

They didn't offer him a new contract. They just triggered the +1 option in his existing contract to make it appear that they're backing him. I'm pretty sure they know what they were doing back then.

Like I've just posted I think it came down to money/PSR restriction at the time.