There are advantages and disadvantages to be fair. Think of Bruno for example, I clearly remember talks of the club scouts not convinced by him because he seemed to lose a lot of passes but Ole's scout kept pushing for him.
Erik ten Hag | Currently unemployed
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Risk it for a biscuit.
A faction at the club wanted to maintain the United way with the manager still have lot of authority, and FD is nor his boss.
I seriously don’t get why you care about what Gaz, Scholesy, Keano and Wazza say about United on pitch and management any more than you do about what Carra, Souness and Merson does.
They’re not in the studio because they have a clue about how to run a club, which they mostly don’t, but because they are celebs and interedtimg faces able to provoke som reactions now and again.
Paul Scholes could teach anyone of us how to hit a silver coin with a 50 yrd pass and to get Oldham relegated. They don’t really follow the details of 21st century football development, which is evident when they in-depth analyze anything on a pitch.
A board trying to appease the camp fire mutterers knows nothing about football. Fortunately, we now have people fairly knowledgeble about modern football involved in these decisions.
The team was up and running in 2018, and i'm not sure why the board didn't select a head of football operations after Mourinho was sacked. But from reading reports they put that on the back burner and were attempting to prise Pochettino away from Spurs, who like Brendan Rodgers wants to control the whole football side of the club. But as it transpired, Ole got the job and the board allowed him to have his own personal recruitment staff. The Liverpool board were doing the same thing and they almost repeated that mistake with Klopp, but they got lucky because Klopp understood the DoF/head coach model, and Klopp reportedly asked Mike Gordon to introduce him to the person heading the recruitment department. Klopp then after meeting Michael Edwards asked the Liverpool board to appoint Edwards as the Sporting director.
I'll be happy if Rangnick stays, but for me it's not a big deal if he doesn't. And the reason for that is simple, because the concept is very simple, which is to align recruitment towards the vision of the head coach. And for me if ten Hag is the head coach, then i'd personally be more interested to see the two Dutch guys (Bout and de Regt) work closely with ten Hag due to their understanding of positional play, which ten Hag will look to implement.
Rangnick might even stay on as assistant coach to ten Hag, as was reported a while back. But we don't need Rangnick to go upstairs to tell the scouting departments to align recruitment, he can do that as a consultant. I've followed the development of his RB Leipzig team when he was at the club. And the amount of material i've sifted through learning about the structural processes at Leipzig over the years is ridiculous and it made me release how such a simple concept can be so effective.
So for me we've finally got to the stage where the recruitment department will appoint the head coach when it comes down to the identification and interview process. And that for me is a big change and a step in the right direction.
Do you really believe that?
You've more faith in our collective than most of our fans if you do.
I am sick and tired of the majority of these players and gutting and replacing as many of them as possible per window is more desirable than giving them the chance to prove themselves, sadly enough.
If ten Hag can get a tune out of what we have, he'll be hailed a messiah and given all the time needed to turn us around, imo. It would speak volumes not just on him as a coach, but a man-manager. It would be seriously impressive.
Have you ever had a whole squad of players at Bayern where only handful any one fan wanted to keep, and if yes, were they turned around by any single manager in the way you're believing/proclaiming ten Hag can do for us?
Yes. I believe that players, also your players, actually want to do well and be successful. All that "spoiled", "lazy", "downed tools", "this lot got Ole the sack" talk is just a byproduct of lack of success in face of expectations. When faced with a manager that can get them there, the players will know to be on board instantly, and when faced with a few great performances, the fans will be too.
That there will have to be changes and additions to the squad, too, and not every game will be won, is a matter of course.
Director of football really isn't rocket science, align recruitment, data analysis and coaching with a common philosophy and vision, utilize the best people for the job from youth team all the way to first team.
Have a strict policy regarding recruitment, awarding contracts and ensure everyone stick to the principles of the club, with the resources available at united watch everything blossom.
Do you really think ex pros from the highest level don't understand football today but you do?
Another making the same mistake about Fletcher
Why the need to bring the ladies team closer to the mens team unless it’s to observe each other’s training methods? I mean it’s not as if they will swap players
what I would like to see is ETH, if it is indeed him, take a serious look at some of the young players with a view to more chances. He would talk to Darren Fletcher about that
As for that second bolded part, the difference in how our players have done under capable management or without is massive.
Under Kovac, Müller looked like he was finished and was on his way out of the club. A textbook professional and one of the club's greatest players in history, it got to the point where his wife was complaining about him being subbed on Instagram, something like that never happened before and never happened since, he was booted out of the NT, he was poor in form. Look how Müller has been again since the second Kovac was out and Flick took over, he's been a top 5 attacker in the world, integrative leader on the pitch and in the dressing room. Kovac frustrated the shit out of players.
In the 00s we were a patchy, disjointed, in parts poor squad. The impact of Van Gaal who brought a coherent playing style was massive (even if he was too flawed himself to be really successful, as you guys are aware, and even if the squad building was a long and winding road; van Gaal for example was against buying Neuer, the absolute buffoon). But we didn't row backwards after him to hire Mourinho, we hired Heynckes who explicitly said at the time that he doesn't have to change the fundamentals of van Gaal's imprint, just the balance and add pressing (and not being a narcissist stubborn twat like Van Gaal helped, too). Contrary to Mourinho claiming he needs to coach the Van Gaal stuff out of the squad. Our club doubled down on a possession based style and Sammer as DoF in line with the board worked to implement it all across the club (hiring Ten Hag for 2nd team, for example). When Kovac was critized by the board for his work, publicly, it was not due to results but due to abandoning the principle of dominant, attacking football that led to poor results.
Your managerial appointments were both underwhelming and poorly conceived. You also had bad luck of timing with available candidates. This can all change with Ten Hag.
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The best players often make the worst pundits
nearly every ex liverpool & United legend of the last 40 years, players who won everything, have terrible takes week after week in the studio
interestingly few made good managers too
The tv money is easy
Bloody hell. Wayne Ballooney
Now the rumor mill is going that some players are worried about ETH. Just for that I hope he gets the job and cleanses these attitudes out. ETH seems to be an organisational genius and we need something with a strong philosophy and backing. Botchetino seem to be supported by old players enclave spinning on overdrive.
Well, when you heard those pros talking, do you think they have fast knowledge of football way more than posters on the Caf?
@Fortitude Agreed with you. If being watched live by 70k of people on the stadium and millions on TV couldn't make these players motivated to work harder, there's nothing one manager can do to change that.
Exactly, it's a simple concept.
They probably do, because the vast majority of the latter group are also morons
Probably. Although i gain more football knowledge in here instead of listening to those proes.
Lets be honest here, Wayne doesn't even know who Ten Hag is.
He is saying Pochettinho purely because he's been in the PL before and 'knows it'. Doesn't even say 1 word about ETH.
While experience of the league can obviously be helpful, it really doesn't make much difference as proven with other managers in the past.
PL proven angle is bullshit as well.
If the players dont want ETH, then he is the man for the job.
From what I've gathered, a lot of them have seen Poch close up and they've been impressed with his work. Poch isn't my choice but it's a lot closer than many would like to believe. They've both got negatives...it's not like we're hiring Klopp.
Even Klopp was losing finals left, right and center before he finally won one with Liverpool. He also relegated Mainz. No one is perfect
Amen. Just like politics, if the left don't like it then it's probably a good thing.
You really think the Ajax team doesn't have egos? They're professional footballers who piss the league and got to a CL semi final a few years ago. Maybe there are no Ronaldos but the idea that they're a bunch of humble good lads is silly. Every squad will have egos and players that are harder to manage
Strong lack of tweets
This is also essentially what Ferdinand said after meeting Poch. I've no idea if Poch is an enthusiast, has some miracle charm or something in his personality that gets him favour among others but the problem is as fans we can only judge by the results on the pitch and while I think Poch did a very good job at Spurs his appointment to some extent does feel underwhelming and it's probably the lack of momentum in his career at the moment that gives this feeling.
What the hell does that mean.
A lot of the problems started with the Moyes team, those players were determined that it was not going to work. There were stories coming out back then about unrest, he's not good enough, his coaching staff is rubbish, no ketchup. That started the rot. Yet those same players are now pundits and have the cheek to criticise players attitudes. Yes they were in a successful team, but if they had buckled down it may have carried on. Moyes created a problem with being given the keys to the vault, but then not being able to decide who the hell he wanted, but the players didn't help. Then it just spiraled out of control from then on in. The managers might not have been right, but each time the players involved in each squad spat their dummies out.
Yeah he wouldn’t know who Ten Hag was if he fell over him
I really don’t agree here - Liverpool have a fan base that were desperate but they’ve also always been completely deluded with where they are as a team. The media love is the usual reward for success and charisma, it’s not unique. Jose when he came to Chelsea for example was media darling way beyond why Klopp is.
The ex United players are also a sword that cuts both ways, they protected Ole beyond anything I’ve ever seen but also pile into the players and create issues - mainly because they are all long out of touch with modern football if we’re being completely honest.
I don’t get your point about VVD, he’s a world class CB but he’s not really what made the difference for Pool individually. No single player does that. They’re a very good team all round but the key signings which came right before the major trophy wins were Alisson and Fabinho if we’re being picky. VVD being injured was a big blow but it was more they had their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices out at the same time which then moved Fabinho into CB.
The state of this thread with the countless insinuations that a person could not possibly think Mauricio fecking Pochettino - who has spent the last 5 years being courted by Real Madrid, Manchester United and PSG - could perhaps be a good manager. It’s some sort of ‘the players must want him because he’s a cuddly toy’ or ‘ex-players clearly don’t know who Ten Hag is’. It’s a nonsense. Ten Hag is a successful Ajax manager, of whom there have been many over the years and it did not automatically make them the most sought after manager in the game.
Objectively speaking, it is entirely possible and feasible that Pochettino is simply a better manager than Ten Hag. The conversation has descended to almost playground levels at times.
Objectively speaking, it is entirely possible and feasible that Pochettino is simply a better manager than Ten Hag. The conversation has descended to almost playground levels at times.
Yeah I’d be happy with either one tbh. I don’t think one is streets ahead of the other.
I mean that's an odd take but ok.
Most of us would rather take a chance on ETH. His football is more entertaining, objectively speaking. It is for that reason that he is more sought after.
What a wild way to say you’re racist unprovoked
Weird take, guess equality isn't for everyone