Erik ten Hag | 2024/25

[Sarni]

I've already seen backers claim that our football is slightly better than last season. They'll use last season which was our worst in my lifetime as a comparison to say he's doing alright, even if it's just 1% better. Progress.

That's why his job is becoming easier and easier as time passes, the bar for improvement is gradually decreasing so it's not hard to see him being here for another couple of years while still performing horribly.

 

[Judas]

No news of him being sacked over the international break. What a shame, guess we want to throw this season too

To be honest that isn’t throwing the season. He could stick around till November, top 4 would still be doable as long as we haven’t properly properly lost the plot. Not that I want him to.

 

[Sarni]

The manager isn't Harry Potter so Ugarte won't play it seems.

Needs weeks if not months to bed in new signings. Can only start judging him in 2025, if there are no injuries. Don't forget we also don't have Shaw, Yoro and Hojlund now, amidst the worst injury crisis in history of football.

 

[roonster09]

His tactical set ups are so bad, we always end up giving 4v2 counter attacks. He is just not good enough, cup wins masked how poor he is. His teams can't attack, can't control the game and can't defend.

To make it worse, his post match comments are just poor. 0 responsibility, it's all players and their mistakes.

Negative GD in 1 and half seasons show how shit we are.

 

[Kaos]

He's the anti-pep in the sense that you could give him a blank chequebook to sign whoever he wanted, and he'd still have us looking like a disjointed mess on the pitch. Getting really tired listening to the barrage of creative excuses he uses to justify every loss, blaming everyone and everything but himself, while smugly reminding us of his two trophies, while we average a negative GD and get routinely turned over by teams big and small.

Don't see the point in giving him until Christmas. Feels like we're just waiting for the inevitable and the season would have been over for us by then. INEOS need to be ruthless and bin him while there's still a chance to salvage this campaign.

 

[BorisManUtd]

He can't have until December after having whole of the last season. He'll have September with some easier and tougher opponents. Shaw, Mount and Hojlund coming back, Ugarte coming in. If we're still shite, bye.

 

[Ayush_reddevil]

Don’t think anyone really knows how long he will be here for, if we lose the next couple of games then I can see them pulling the trigger in September itself

 

[DonkeyChops]

You throwing Ten Hag under a bus, never thought I’d see the day.

Nobody is throwing Ten Hag under the bus. He was driving the bus himself, plonked a brick on the accelerator pedal, jumped out of the door, run ahead and threw himself in front of it.

As it trundles over him, his mangled remains will gasp "we bounce back and stick to the plan".

 

[pocco]

What did he say?

 

[saik]

They triggered the extension because he wouldn't agree to the new terms they had offered him, which presumably reduced his input and made it easier to sack him. After doing a tour of Europe to find his replacement and coming up with nothing, they had to trigger the extension for the sake of appearances.

Interesting, you have a source for this? If INEOS really went ahead to discuss terms with other candidates I doubt they would offer ETH an entirely new contract. Triggering that option makes more sense as a new contract means ETH can demand for another 3 years on it.

 

[Someone]

I gave him a pretty generous benefit of the doubt at the end of the season as I thought the FA cup win and the way was accomplished looked like progress. In the tactical sense anyway, I thought we played that game really well and was intrigued to see what might happen going forward.

That was a mistake and probably let my emotions get the better of me in all honesty.

I thought at the time he deserved a crack under INEOS and the new structure and I was wrong. No shame in admitting that.

There has been no progress and his arrogance and constant refusal to acknowledge this has just worn me down.

I don't see any scenario where he makes it to Christmas at the moment.

Honestly think if INEOS had anything about them and were ruthless he'd be gone today as he embarrassed us and himself yesterday with both the performance and the bizarrre comments afterwards.

Same here. I thought the cup win combined with a good summer window and better luck with Injuries would spark something new. I was wrong.

The truth is, really good managers can have an instant impact on their teams. Emery took over the same squad Gerrard had and made some magic out of it. Ange for all his flaws also managed to implement a good positive style immediately. Patience is needed yes, and even Klopp and Pep didn't succeed right away, but you could see signs, you could see what they wanted to do.

It's staggering that in his 3rd year, we've never had a game where we managed to destroy anyone, not a single team. It's always a hard earned and difficult win.

You can't even say players have improved under him. Apart from Dalot, all the remaining players he has inherited or bought are either much worse or slightly below their level. Maino and Garna were nice surprises but give them enough time and they'll join the rest. Bruno, Rashford, Cas, Antony, Onana, and Eriksen, even Martinez looks shaky these days.

Add to that the complete lack of charisma, and the strange delusional comments about progress that he keeps coming up with. I just can't anymore.

He's a dead man walking, the sooner we fix this mistake the better.

 

[pocco]

His success was built on Potter's defence, which he made much more vulnerable, and his style of play couldn't cope with Europe. And we haven't touched on whether anyone in the dressing room would pay any attention to him.

OK, so he coached a completely different way of playing, changed the shape, changed how they build from the back, but it's all down to Potter? Either a) bollocks, or b) let's hire Potter then. There's two options for you right there.

But you don't think their huge injury list and lacklustre backup had anything to do with it no? Just a coincidence was it? He even started last season well, but when the injuries came, they tailed off. Was that all just a coincidence, as it was actually just the players forgetting what Potter had taught them?

 

[MrTon]

Its so frustrating that we clearly try to build up from the back, but are not able to keep possession and execute. Our midfielders continuously lose the ball in very dangerous spots, and Rashford + Garnacho attempt a low percentage dribble or pass. And then we are outnumbered at the back again for the counter attack. No chemistry between fullback and wingers, no bodies in midfield. We are unable to counter attack AND unable to play from possession.

I honestly believe ETH has retooled our squad for the better, its tactics and execution that keep us from winning. That's up to ETH to fix. And keep Casemiro out of the starting lineup if he plays like that, he cost us the game.

 

[George The Best]

I’d like to know what the rest of the coaching staff are doing. Surely at least one of them must be able to see that the tactics and formation is wrong. Do they not talk to each other?

 

[crossy1686]

Interesting, you have a source for this? If INEOS really went ahead to discuss terms with other candidates I doubt they would offer ETH an entirely new contract. Triggering that option makes more sense as a new contract means ETH can demand for another 3 years on it.

From the Dutchman's mouth himself. It took a while to come to an agreement, and in the end it was just extended.

Ten Hag was informed by the Ineos-led football board last week that he would not be fired as manager after winning the FA Cup, despite the team's eighth-place finish in the league.

But having agreed to retain the former Ajax coach, sources told ESPN that Ineos are ready to extend Ten Hag's contract beyond the final 12 months of his existing deal.

Ten Hag has now said, however, that further talks are needed with United, who confirmed to him that they had spoken to former Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel about replacing him.

"Manchester United and I still have to find an agreement for the new contract," Ten Hag told Dutch broadcaster NOS. "This isn't easily done, we are still going to have to talk about this.

"United have told me that they spoke with Tuchel, but they eventually came to the conclusion that they already have the best manager."

Ten Hag, who joined United in 2022, said he met club officials on holiday on the Spanish island of Ibiza to resolve his future.

"Manchester United disturbed my holiday, they suddenly stood at my doorstep," he said. "They flew to me in Ibiza.

"Ineos took their time. They are new in football, it's normal to reflect the season. It's no secret that they talked with multiple candidates.

"Here in Holland this is 'not done,' in fact, it's not even allowed here. But in England they have different rules and laws.

"As in any organisation, and that seems very sensible to me, there is an evaluation. Conclusions were drawn from there. The new leadership is playing football for the first time."

 

[croadyman]

Irrespective of our thoughts, he'll get until Xmas at least. If they didn't replace the coaching staff around him they'd probably be more ruthless. But with a new backroom team and open commitment to Ten Hag with a year extension, I think they'll give it a while longer. Of course poor play and poor results is not sustainable now.

Jeez another nearly 4 months of this

 

[troylocker]

That clip from the post match presser.....what a delusional, delusional, delusional man (yes, worth the 3 x delusional)
Wow!

 

[RedRocket9908]

Has he gone?

 

[TsuWave]

To be fair, letting him stay after finishing 8th, extending his contract, bringing him new coaching staff, letting him do pre-season, and then sacking him after 3 games of the season does sound pretty stupid.

I guess the stupid decisions were made during the summer though, and we're probably going to compound that by waiting till we're 8th in December before we take action.

Rectifying an error could never be stupid to me. Sunk cost fallacy however

 

[NinjaZombie]

I think that post matcher flipped it all for me. I’m sorry too Erik, but if you think winning 2 Cup trophies in 2 years means we’re second to only Man City from a squad quality / tactical setup up view…man just get out. That’s delusion.

That actually annoyed me.

I'm the same as you. For me, him talking about two domestic trophies when his team clearly can't find any consistently good performances is his Jose "football heritage" moment.

He's lost my support with that. I'd have been placated had he said something along the lines of a 0-3 beating to our rivals at home was "unacceptable" and "they're trying to sort it out."

 

[crossy1686]

Has he gone?

The Dutch like straight talk, I would suggest this is his opinion more than anything. Also pretty sure we heard this a few times last season but Teflon Ten Hag got away with it.

 

[RedSky]

Jeez another nearly 4 months of this

Never happening. They aren't fools. If our form doesn't immediately change he'll be gone by October.

 

[croadyman]

I think he will have some slack whilst the new signings bed in. We are without our only out and out striker, our two natural LBs are injured and the only DM we've got has only just signed. But if things don't click soon it will get ugly for him. Shame it didn't work out after a decent first campaign but his football is dogshit, he's thoroughly uninspiring and we could well enter a situation where a number of gettable options are easily preferable.

Wouldn't give any more time, INEOS fecked up keeping him on so have to put this right before Southampton

 

[Bastian]

Has he gone?

If you read the quotes, it's an opinion. No inside information.

 

[crossy1686]

Jeez another nearly 4 months of this

I don't think I can watch this for another 4 months. I've had issues with the way we've played since we won the League Cup.

 

[Blood Mage]

Has he gone?

No but he will be by the end of September I reckon looking at our fixtures. That's just a journalist offering their opinion though.

 

[Sarni]

He's the anti-pep in the sense that you could give him a blank chequebook to sign whoever he wanted, and he'd still have us looking like a disjointed mess on the pitch. Getting really tired listening to the barrage of creative excuses he uses to justify every loss, blaming everyone and everything but himself, while smugly reminding us of his two trophies, while we average a negative GD and get routinely turned over by teams big and small.

Don't see the point in giving him until Christmas. Feels like we're just waiting for the inevitable and the season would have been over for us by then. INEOS need to be ruthless and bin him while there's still a chance to salvage this campaign.

He's also anti-Pep in that you can give Pep players that look underwhelming on paper, and sometimes make fans wonder why they even go for them in the first place, and he will make use of almost every single one of them. I'm fairly certain the likes of Akanji, Ake, Doku, Stones would by now be considered deadwood under ETH and they all have a role at the best team in the league.

On the other side you can give ETH players who look good on paper, even the ones he specifically asks for, and he will in no time turn them into liabilities. He's literally made everyone except Dalot worse over time. I'm sure he will ruin Mainoo and Garnacho if we let him too.

 

[El Zoido]

Has he gone?

He’s basically saying that Ten Hag has taken United as far as he can.

 

[V.O.]

Has he gone?

Seems to come from this: https://www.telegraaf.nl/sport/8468...-erik-ten-hag-zijn-tijd-bij-united-is-geweest

I don't speak Dutch, but it seems more like a pundit saying "he's finished at United", rather than an actual scoop about him going.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

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

It's true. Another interesting observation is that, despite the cries for patience and more time (plenty on here, too), all four - LvG, Mourinho, Solskjaer and ETH - peaked in their first season and went downhill from there. You can call it childish, knee-jerk or whatever you like, but the underlying stats paint a grim picture of wasted time and of a club not learning from its previous mistakes (which go beyond the manager). The cold, harsh truth is that none of them deserved the amount of trust they were so handsomely given.

 

[Solius]

Getting a bit sick of the trophies line he keeps reeling out.

You can't just use that as a defence for every bad defeat. Surely he knows there's a massive difference between winning one-off cup games and showing consistent form in a league format? He's losing over people who would usually at least sympathise with him.

 

[Daengophile]

Who for instance ?

Maguire has improved

 

[crossy1686]

Getting a bit sick of the trophies line he keeps reeling out.

You can't just use that as a defence for every bad defeat. Surely he knows there's a massive difference between winning one-off cup games and showing consistent form in a league format? He's losing over people who would usually at least sympathise with him.

He's not saying it for anyone's benefit but his own. He's pitching himself to other clubs with that comment because he knows his time here is done.

 

[Daengophile]

Which players has he made better, dalot is the only player I can think of

Maguire

 

[Sarni]

Maguire

Maguire's best season was still the one under Ole, he rehabilitated himself last year but was still not as good as he was in 19/20 (think it was that season?). I don't think he's really improved as a player, just got back to where he had previously been.

 

[JJ12]

He's trying to get us to play toe to toe with the big boys rather than the counter attack stuff we usually see.

He's getting it horribly wrong.

 

[leontas]

Getting a bit sick of the trophies line he keeps reeling out.

You can't just use that as a defence for every bad defeat. Surely he knows there's a massive difference between winning one-off cup games and showing consistent form in a league format? He's losing over people who would usually at least sympathise with him.

Same. Particularly when our cup run last year involved some level of luck. Could’ve easily been knocked out by Coventry in the semis.

 

[croadyman]

So if we get in a manager who insists on possession football does that mean Ugarte is benched?
We still need a passing midfielder and a top winger, as much as a new coach.

Not necessarily, just know that I want a manager who values possession asap. He will probably get until at least next international break due to favourable looking fixtures

 

[Judas]

He's not saying it for anyone's benefit but his own. He's pitching himself to other clubs with that comment because he knows his time here is done.

Yep just like towards the end of the season. Talking himself up quite blatantly.

 

[Solius]

Same. Particularly when our cup run last year involved some level of luck. Could’ve easily been knocked out by Coventry in the semis.

I know we collapsed a bit in that game but I think we often fall into the trap of calling ourselves lucky not to lose whilst also ignoring the luck opposition teams had.

It was a tragic performance after going 3 - 0 up but their second goal was one of the luckiest I've ever seen.