Erik Ten Hag appreciation thread

quadrant said:
Speaking for myself, I don't think anything will beat LVG for how boring the games were.
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Yeah they were excruciating. Although it was made a lot worse by us still having fresh memories of United as an exciting, attacking team. We’ve been so bad for so long now we don’t get as triggered by matches which are a poor spectacle. So it’s not impossible that ETH ball is almost as bad as what we endured under Van Gaal.

EDIT: Just checked and we actually scored nearly 10 fewer goals in Van Gaal’s second season than we did last season. My God that was dire.
 
2 cups in 2 years and for a very short period of time seemed to have found a superb style, beating all the big teams. Alas very short lived.
 
Got two titles.
Renewed the squad.
Had to face several issues from both squad players and the club's management.
Got some really heavy losses.

I think he overstayed his welcome. If he had left after the FA Cup final the fans sentiment would be very different. If the overhauling of the squad ends up meaning a more succesful future for United then his tenure will be a little more valued in the future. We'll see.
 
That first season was probably the best I've seen from us since the Ole interim period, and he at least beat City in the cup final.

His tactical set up was what I think held him back. Hopefully the squad can progress from here with a proper tactical set up.
 
Go back 2 years, and probably most of the people clamoring for his head now were thinking we're in a title race.

I think he tried to be ruthless, Ronaldo/Sancho spats came at a good time for him, when he was on the up. I firmly believe, he would've tried to keep the trend, perhaps, with Rashford eventually, but alas, the results were going against him, pressure was ever so mounting, so he couldn't really make it any more toxic for himself, so had to hope to ride it out.

Up until his eventual sacking, I was hoping he can work out, but it was never meant to be. He never improved on big away game results, as I think with a lot of people here, that was the step forward everyone wanted to see after his 1st season, but that never happened.

Like him or not, this group of players has scythed another one down
 
He won two trophies, he dealt with Ronaldo (and Sancho) correctly, did seem to bring through Mainoo and Garnacho.

Didn’t seem like a particularly nice man, and his football was pretty atrocious for the last 18 months.

Think that sums it up well
 
Will need to let some time pass before I reflect on his tenure, but my immediate feeling is that he's almost tied with Moyes on being our worst manager since SAF, predominantly for the extended period in which we were just god-awful and how it felt like there was no end in sight.

I will give him that he never seemed to lose the players though, and isn't leaving us with a completely fractured dressing room as has been the case before. Of course the two trophies were great too.
 
P-Nut said:
That first season was probably the best I've seen from us since the Ole interim period, and he at least beat City in the cup final.

His tactical set up was what I think held him back. Hopefully the squad can progress from here with a proper tactical set up.
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He could set us up right at home, under the right circumstances. Away from home in the league, it didn't matter who we played, he just couldn't set us up, it was catastrophic. It outlined a deep misunderstanding of how the league works. He never learned from his mistakes past a certain point.
 
I remember that Spurs game at Old Trafford that we won 2-0 in his first season.
I thought yeh this is the way we should be playing, think we had a crazy number of shots and corners inside the first 20 mins and we were all over them.

Not sure why we didn’t stick to that.
 
I wanted him to succeed but he adopted pragmatism a little early, got some success and then eventually tied himself into knots by trying to marry options from different approaches all at once while confusing his players all the same. The trophies were great but they were lowest of lows even in the midst of his highest of highs. The league cup win was quickly followed by an absolute hammering at Liverpool, which would have cost him the job at a club like real, Barcelona or Bayern. In the end, you cannot argue against metrics like a negative goal difference after two full seasons. That is virtually unheard of even in our post Ferguson malaise.
 
Very average manager who replaced dead wood with Ajax players who are not that great and not PL ready. During his reign, Man Utd had historic losses - loses that will stay in history books forever. FA cup win against Man City is a highlight, I will give him that.
 
Crostien said:
Harsh on him to be sacked. Deserved perhaps, but 54 and in his biggest job to date. Sacked, in spite of his two trophy wins, after two and a bit seasons.

Tough for him to take.

Anyway, now he's out of the job, his harshest critics will start to reassess his reign for a cheap shot at United. Especially if Amorim fails.

A bit like how McTominay is Europe's greatest midfielder or Sancho 'tearing it up' despite recently being dropped.
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Not to derail the thread but Sancho being "dropped" has nothing to do with performance. He doesn't play over the weekend against United so Pedro got the start against Newcastle whiles he gets midweek against Newcastle again, with Pedro coming back for the United game.
 
The more time passes, I think he'll rise in people's estimations.

He has basically been what I thought Ragnick would be, a taskmaster who will take on the egos and leave the club in a better position because of it. he's basically been fighting fires in the dressing room, media and ownership since he arrived and we've limped along and picked up 2 decent trophies. It won't be a period we look back on fondly (hopefully) but he won things and i think the rehaul of the squad has been largely very good given the ages of the players now making up much of our XI.
 
Andycoleno9 said:
1. Won two trophies after 6 years trophy drought
2. Beating City in FA was amazing moment
3. Got rid most of deadwood
4. Fully promoted Mainoo and Garnacho
5. Left more or less good squad (especially regarding age) to next manager
6. He never disrespected club in any way.
7. Seemed as a nice guy.

Thank you, Erik.
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Well said

in the end I wanted him gone. He unfortunately just wasn’t the right one.

I certainly don’t think however anyone can argue any of the points you’ve suggested.
 
I agree with the OP. I do also feel that despite some poor transfers and still some obvious voids at left back and up front, the incoming manager will have a better squad than ten hag got, and also one with a better attitude. I think people forget just how toxic things had become at the end of Rangnick's spell - personally I think ten hag in many ways inherited the worst situation since post Moyes.

I am surprised at how low the lows got - I dont doubt he's a good coach, and think he'll probably do well in another team, but losing 7-0 to Liverpool and never really looking consistently capable in games against big sides was a huge red flag that I probably ignored for too long.

All of this said, I can't understand the levels of venom he seemed to get from many, and if you take Summer 2022-Summer 2027 as a sort of five year rebuild model, then I think he's contributed a good part to improving the squad, blooding young players like Mainoo, Hojlund and Garnacho who we will hopefully reap rewards of, and he has signed some players with good attitudes that we sorely lacked - I would happily see Onana, De Ligt, Martinez, Mazraoui, Ugarte, Hojlund be a part of the team going forward.

Best of luck, Erik.
 
i appreciate that he showed 2022-2024 wasn’t the time to bring the turtleneck back.
 
Shark said:
He could never rise in my estimation after last season, and this one so far. I judge Manchester United managers on their ability to perform and get results mainly in the Premier League and in Europe. Domestically he achieved something, but two domestic cups alone is not ultimately not what a United manager should be judged on. If he won an FA Cup, along with challenging for the title, or having a real go at the Champions League he'd be higher in my estimations.
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Good to see you are open to your opinion changing over time
 
Don’t get why theirs so much hate on a manager that ended our 6 year trophy drought. Yes we needed to move on we finally have but no need to hate on a manager because we thought he wasn’t a good fit for us and wasn’t taking us to the next level. Just appreciate that he’s another one that tried and failed. A nice enough guy but in the end it didn’t work out. Best of luck Erik.
 
I wanted him to succeed here, and felt he deserved a shot this season with a squad that was his, but he wasn't able to address the vulnerability we showed throughout his whole tenure, and ultimately that's what cost him his job.

I think he did an awful lot of good in his first season here, when he joined we were in disarray, taking over a dressing room who were split into camps and in full mutiny. He's leaving us a dressing room that are on the same page and clearly still behind the manager.

The well deserved FA Cup win against City was brilliant too.

I think he'll be a relatively successful manager elsewhere, wish him all the best, except against us of course.
 
Won more than Arsenal but ultimately we need to win leagues not just do cup runs.
 
He was destined to fail, as were all the managers we had post Fergie. No direction from above, had to have their own list of targets generated themselves - or the easy options the agents we were in bed with flogged us to make their latest few million in deals.

So you do what you always do, find faith in players you trusted previously. Unfortunately for Erik the players he picked were not good enough at all, often poorer than the ones they replaced. It is just a domino effect, snowballed into bigger and bigger issues.

The club was (and still really is) rotten to the core. Whether Jim and Ineos can bring it back remains to be seen, but it hasn't started well at all.

Not one single person could come in and run this ship on their own, Erik had to do it for 2 and a bit years and the inevitable happens.

He of course hasn't helped himself, stuck in his ways and didn't pivot based on the squad at his disposal, but the failure was inevitable.

Wish him the best though, I think he will work far better at a club that already has the correct hierarchy from top of the chain to youth setup (e.g the Brightons of the world quickly off the top of the head) - equally where the decisions are not all on his call which it has been here - a club of our magnitude setup like that is/was appalling.
 
Nice guy who generally conducted himself well. The FA Cup win won't soon be forgotten.
 
r0663664 said:
Who create this thread? I don't appreciate ETH for many reasons:

- Favoritism.
- Spending funds on wrong transfer target.
- Too many excuses when we win or draw.
- Negative GD.
- Getting bully at home by top teams in EPL.
- Standing getting from bad to worst year on year.
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Probably the guy whos post is first. Just a guess. What a plonker he is.
 
Appreciate the two trophies and handling of the terrible Ronaldo signing.
 
Erik tried hard and personally acquitted himself well. I wish him the best in all his future endeavors.
 
Andycoleno9 said:
1. Won two trophies after 6 years trophy drought
2. Beating City in FA was amazing moment
3. Got rid most of deadwood
4. Fully promoted Mainoo and Garnacho
5. Left more or less good squad (especially regarding age) to next manager
6. He never disrespected club in any way.
7. Seemed as a nice guy.

Thank you, Erik.
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Its all gone Shane Long said:
9. stood up to Ronaldo and Sancho. The former maybe was right but had a SAF feel to it as in “nobody bigger than the club” I’ll respect him for stamping his foot and applying his authority which is what we wanted and probably still need, the two trophies also as well. But we all know it was time to go.
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Agreed on these points. I don't think Ronaldo was right at all, though. Threw a hissy fit because no CL club wanted him in the summer, and then knew what to say to Piers Morgan that will get lapped up by a large section of United fans. He was never concerned about United being a shadow of their former selves as a club. He was only concerned about being stuck at the club with no CL.
 
I think Swansea and Wigan talked less about their cup wins than this guy. Only Moyes was worse post-Fergie.

Made the right decision regarding Ronaldo, De Gea and probably Sancho, although the latter two could have been handled a lot better.
 
VP89 said:
It's obvious I wanted him to work out, beyond all reason and rationale. It didn't work and I wish him all the best.

I probably have some bias toward backing a manager because I've been very defensive of all of our coaches bar Ole. I will probably do the same with the next guy.

I grew up with the SAF reign and it might have affected how I view the game and the anchoring probably won't change much. No hard feelings toward @crossy1686 @TsuWave @Valencia Shin Crosses @stevoc and the many other posters I would debated with on that.
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No worries at all mate. We all want what's best for the club, which is winning league titles again. We just disagree on the best way yo get there.

For what it's worth I used to think similarly. I also thought another long term manager was the way to go. I thought Jose was that guy then for a period I thought Ole could develop into that. But the last decade has changed my mind on it.
 
I especially like how he handled the Sancho and Ronaldo drama.

Best of luck Erik.
 
Wish him all the best. Never disliked him like I did Moyes. Appreciate the cup wins.

He's a better manager than he's shown here. But his inability to adapt cost him in the end. He probably also doesn't have the personality or the communication skills to succeed at a club the size of United.

I imagine he'll do well somewhere else with less pressure and expectations.
 
I really liked when we played spurs of the pitch at home in his first season.
He finally grew the balls to put Ronaldo on the bench and the team was purring like a cat.
A mystery we only scored 2 goals.
 
The FA cup final was special. I’ll always remember that fondly. He so tried to promote young players.

Maybe the overwhelming bad will fade in memory over time…Depending on his arrogance/attitude towards the club in the years to come
 
he came, he was backed financially, he was given time, but it ultimately didn't work out. Football is ruthless and he had to go. Stubbornness is trait all the great managers have, but for some reason, it seemed like it held him back at times. I think he knew his time was up, some of his decisions of late were almost 2 fingers to the board . Mazraoui at 10, not playing Ugarte. Grateful for the cups he brought us. He should have went sooner though, but maybe that was due to ongoing negations behind the scenes with prospective new managers.
 
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