Based on today? I think it was more to play Amad right
Erik ten Hag interview with AD.nl | " [Last season] was by far the toughest season I have ever experienced as a coach"
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"Rangnick was absolutely right"
-I mean, yeah, he really was, it's amazing some people refused to see that, regardless of him having a horrible time here as a manager.
-I mean, yeah, he really was, it's amazing some people refused to see that, regardless of him having a horrible time here as a manager.
He says that in his interview.
Mason Greenwood seemed to be an important candidate for that position, right winger. We had virtually no one else there. Jadon Sancho can possibly play on the right, but his most natural position is originally on the left wing.
Surprised he said many things publicly, however even with everything so open it was pretty boring interview. I seriously struggle to understand why people find him interesting, he doesn't strike me as intelligent or likeable person at all. I thought he is struggling in English, but he doesn't sound more interesting translated from Dutch either, despite saying a lot.
Not being involved in transfers us obvious lie he will say to keep himself looking better.
Not being involved in transfers us obvious lie he will say to keep himself looking better.
Last season was a mess for pretty much every department at the club. But I tend to always side on supporting the managers over certain players.
I feel with the backroom team now in place, it will be easier/fairer to judge/assess EtH's performance as his role will be a lot more focused from now on.
Which does mean less excuses can be made for the manager, but at the same time I feel very optimistic about the coming season.
I feel with the backroom team now in place, it will be easier/fairer to judge/assess EtH's performance as his role will be a lot more focused from now on.
Which does mean less excuses can be made for the manager, but at the same time I feel very optimistic about the coming season.
Based on that interview yeah, he actually says MG had the RW position and then we needed to sign another attacker when MG was suspended - and on the clubs list was Antony as number 1, which he then supported as he’s worked with Antony.
It’s interesting because I’m sure there were stories which said our scouts deemed Antony not good enough (“too one footed”) for the PL but EtH pushed for it. I think I recall reading those articles. So someone’s lying or it could’ve been the previous regime leaking stories to cover their own arses?
Also good to hear Zirkzee & de Ligt links all came from the new structure and not EtH.
Sancho was the one who said he is left wing (according to the Athletic anyway)
Hasn't there been a recent quote that he's less involved in transfers this Summer? If he wasn't involved last four windows then how is he even less involved now?
Not really. We have a shit load of scouts and I find it hard to believe that all of them are always in agreement with each other.
The more worrying reports were the ones from The Athletic suggesting that the club had no alternative to Antony as a left-footed right winger. That seems to be how we got where we did.
Aargh good point re scouts in disagreement. Just found it odd that such information found its way to the press - to almost discredit EtH even though Antony was the clubs #1 person for that position (and to your point, possibly even the only option). Mind blowing if true.
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They’re literally still posting it in here right now as criticism
‘I know he wasn’t really responsible for transfers, but I’m still going to hold him accountable for transfers and criticise him for it anyway’
we needed to bin them, mate. Coaching them was clearly not an option. Some players were either washed up or loved to sniff their fart.
Glazers were toxic element, they allowed this culture at Man United. That why's Rangsnick encouraged club to sign hungry players, not those that looking for their last mega contract.
We can talk politics all we want but first thing to fix any issue is admitting you got the fecking issue, which many can't comprehend. You never going to solve shit without that mentality.
Actually, Ten Hag said he wanted both. He was planning to play them together.
It was pretty clear throughout that whole summer that we were only getting the one marquee midfielder, if even that. What Ten Hag said once Casemiro was already through the door probably needs to be taken with several spoonfuls of salt.
Tactical set up needs to be backed up by hard work and good performance; it would not have mattered in many of the games we played poorly.
I don’t love how some think our issues can be solved by a different formation or tactics. What stood out in the FA cup final was the performance and commitment of the players.
He literally said he wanted to play both together. We had the funds for both, although maybe the club did not want to spend it. In any case, we couldn’t get Frenkie to come here.
Then we blew the money on Antony a little while later.
I didn't dispute what he said. I disputed why it was said.
A candid interview that reveals a man who takes no personal accountability for the failures of last season. Presumably INEOS know what they are getting themselves into, because I don’t read that and see someone self reflective and able to grow.
There are far too many points to pick up on and analyse each. I’ll just say that I found myself increasingly grimacing during that interview and thinking what a nightmare he’d be to work with.
All I can hope is that it works on the pitch. And that’s the only place he should be judged. His interview is a version of events that is filtered through his own personal lens, given his lack of personal accountability, I find fit hard to take much of it as gospel. I am comforted that he now has a much better structure to work under and that there are evidently better controls on hos actions and influence. I was certainly in favour of his dismissal, but said when he was extended that we should all get behind a fresh start. Interviews like this don’t help, but hopefully it was cathartic for him and we can move forwards positively.
There are far too many points to pick up on and analyse each. I’ll just say that I found myself increasingly grimacing during that interview and thinking what a nightmare he’d be to work with.
All I can hope is that it works on the pitch. And that’s the only place he should be judged. His interview is a version of events that is filtered through his own personal lens, given his lack of personal accountability, I find fit hard to take much of it as gospel. I am comforted that he now has a much better structure to work under and that there are evidently better controls on hos actions and influence. I was certainly in favour of his dismissal, but said when he was extended that we should all get behind a fresh start. Interviews like this don’t help, but hopefully it was cathartic for him and we can move forwards positively.
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I dispute disputing what he said because I believe it indisputable. There is no other reason for him to say it unless it is true.
The ‚Casemiro is a replacement for not getting Frenkie‘ myth has been repeated much but just isn‘t true. They are very different players as well
What I dispute is the bolded. You don't tell a journalist that the guy you signed was a consolation prize when you need that player going forward. That's a pretty compelling reason to say that he'd like to have both playing together. Hell, he probably would have liked to have both. He'd probably have liked the club to have signed De Jong, Casemiro, Caicedo, Rabiot, and Rice in the same window if only the finances and logistics allowed.I dispute disputing what he said because I believe it indisputable. There is no other reason for him to say it unless it is true.
The ‚Casemiro is a replacement for not getting Frenkie‘ myth has been repeated much but just isn‘t true. They are very different players as well
But they didn't. And ultimately we would not have signed Casemiro had we been able to sign De Jong. I think that's more or less indisputable, no?
It's from this interview:
But can you say that there was too much on your plate in the past two years? In the sense that players were referred by you more often than you would have liked?
"That basis has now been greatly strengthened, yes. A lot has been taken away from me in the field of scouting and recruitment. That is also necessary. Especially at this large club you need to have a very strong structure in the field of scouting and transfer policy. I can only be happy that I now have Dan Ashworth (sporting director), Jason Wilcox (technical director) and Christopher Vivell (scouting and transfers) at my side. The club has thus acquired incredible know-how and knowledge of the football market. Knowledge that helps and supports me.”
It used to often be his job to identify players, now a lot of that has been taken away from him.
The point about Mount is that
(a) ETH is bad at transfers and
(b) we don't really know if Mount was an example of that because he was injured so much (except in so much as he was a bad buy for that reason alone)
He's trying to say only Ten Hag wanted Mount and the not necessarily the club.
I know that but who cares? Mount is a good player.
Well he put me on ignore because I asked how Mount was a personal ten hag signing.
I am not in any disagreement that Ten Hag liked Mount but there was an insinuation that he strong armed the club to buy him.
If you're Ten Hag, coming into a new club having no idea which players to sell or leep, Ragnick's loud mouth is not something you'd be comfortable with.
The FA cup will not plaster over the horrific football that was served last season. Eth has no excuses left now, it's deliver or walk by Christmas. I really hope he's successful and turns it around, self reflection is important and to learn from mistakes. We weren't ready for start of last campaign, we better be this time.
Mount may not be a bad player but it was a bad transfer because we spent £60m on a player who plays the same position as Bruno Fernandes, who never gets dropped, when he only had 12 months left to run of his contract at Chelsea.
That money could have been spent in a much more effective way (we're literally scraping around for money to sign a starting midfielder right now) and instead we have a really expensive squad player to show for it. It was a complete misuse of club finances for a luxury signing.
Who's fault is that?
I agree and I think he's a fairly mediocre player as well, who should never go for that kind of fee. Pure Glazernomics.
It depends I guess on which side of the argument you are. If the player is good, then it's Ten Hag's eye for talent, if the player is bad then it's not Ten Hag's fault by the looks of it.
Um, no. Ten Hag wanting both and the club sanctioning one transfer are two different things. We don‘t know whether we would have gotten both or not if Frenkie transfer had been successful.
Casemiro was bought as a dm and the replacement of Frenkie was going to be developed from the academy (Mainoo). That‘s undisputable.
Based on our finances at the time (and since), as well as reliable reports that we were only ever signing one marquee midfielder, along with how that entire summer played out, there is far too much evidence against any claim that we would have signed both Casemiro and De Jong in that window for me to take seriously.
Weird that you're pointing to Mainoo as the FDJ replacement during a season in which he played barely two games, and calling that undisputable, but the world needs eccentrics or it would be very dull indeed.
Ten Hag said we would develop a press-resistant midfielder to make up for not getting Frenkie, and that‘s what we did.
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Nice interview. Good insight at the life of a manager.
Yeah doesn't come across well at all. Everything is someone else's fault. There's only so much of that INEOS will take.