Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager

roseguy64

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Of course you can.

Ancelotti signed a 3-year deal with Real Madrid that expired this summer. He entered the season without having renewed the contract. Real Madrid only met with him to renew the contract in December, and announced the renewal in December 2023. The club waited to see how the season was playing out, liked what they saw.
Real Madrid are currently a better club so we can't compare really. They have high standards at that club.

So we'll just have to wait to reach that level again.
 

theatreofdreams777

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Not really sure what to make of this tbh but can't help but feel like we're still an indecisive club and act slowly, not ruthless enough etc. I can't be happy just because it's not Southgate or Potter or another underwhelming name as they shouldn't even be in consideration in the first place.

I got nothing against Erik and wanted him to succeed here, I was happy when we appointed him 2 years ago as I thought and still think he's a very good coach but last year was a complete disaster, we still don't have a viable playing style and if things go south a couple of months into the season what will happen? Do we sack him or be patient with him?

The biggest question will be about the playing style. Is he gonna revert back to first year's more pragmatic approach or keep the suicidal tactics? What will be our playing style? Are we gonna be a transitional team or a more on the front foot team? I'm fed up watching United playing counter attacking football like a lower table team after spending all that money tbh. It should definitely be much more dominant and assertive than what we saw in the last couple of years imo.

What happens now if we perform awfully in the league again, scrape some results getting battered week in week out, still don't have a clear playing style, finish 5th/6th etc. but win the Europa League and go to CL? That'll once again put us in a difficult position to decide on him imo.

Also what that means for some of the awful signings he made? Like Amrabat, Onana etc. Do they stay now or do they go regardless? What kind of players we'll be signing in terms of playing style? I hope he's not involved in transfers this time.

And contract extension feels a bit like a joke too. After the season we had, he doesn't deserve an extension and it's the kind of move Woodward would make. Like he did with Jose & Ole. Other clubs let contracts run down and why can't we? If he fails next season and we sack him we'll pay compensation this time.

I don't want to judge too soon but INEOS certainly have the possibility to be an even bigger joke than Woodward/Glazers. I'll see how they do in the transfer market and how ruthless they really are when getting rid of long time underperforming players like Lindelöf, Maguire, AWB etc. You can't really expect anything different when you keep the same personnel (manager & players) in place.
 

MadMike

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I don't agree with letting him stay on, but the talk of a new contract is beyond insane. Even if you believe he deserves another season you cannot possibly believe he deserves a contract extension at this point.

Let him manage the team at least until January and if we're having a good season, then by all means offer him an extension. If not, then start looking for a replacement while running his contract down. It's not like anyone will snatch him from our hands or something.
 

roseguy64

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He has 1 year left on his contract. No manager of an elite club should be going into the season in the final year of his contract.

Also, the club will be changing his contract to specify him not having free reign of transfer choices and other stuff due to the new set up.
Ancelotti at Madrid last season and Pep at City this current season?
 

bringbackbebe

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And to the people complaining about a new contract, what difference does extending his deal by an extra year make?
The new contract is a statement that he's not here because they could find no other proper alternatives but because they trust him and fully back him. Well played by INEOS.
 

Redplane

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I'm just glad this saga is over atm. Though I have my doubts about whether this was wise - if the rumors are to be believed ETH will have a lot less say in the transfers and focus more on the pitch performance than I'm willing to have some optimism for next season. There appear to be a plethora of other things to fix at the club first and until that is complete - I am truly done believing any manager alone can make the difference to get us back into contention. It takes a village and all that.
 

iato89

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Some of the comments in this thread by so called fans are utter ridiculous. Support our manager ffs.
With all due respect it is difficult to support the manager after that horrendous season! Also it is quite obvious he is still there by default. As soon as there will be a bad patch there will be blood form fans and media
 

MHS81

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I don't agree with letting him stay on, but the talk of a new contract is beyond insane. Even if you believe he deserves another season you cannot possibly believe he deserves a contract extension at this point.

Let him manage the team at least until January and if we're having a good season, then by all means offer him an extension. If not, then start looking for a replacement while running his contract down. It's not like anyone will snatch him from our hands or something.
Like others have said, it'll be to remove the veto. Basically he will be head coach and wont have an over-riding say in transfers etc. Ashworth, Wilcox and Berada will create a style of play, identify the players needed and Ten Hag will coach them. If he fails then someone else will come in and coach to the set plan. No more restarting from scratch every time a manager fails to cut the mustard.
 

Chumpsbechumps

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Its Newcastle and we are supposedly "biggest" club in the world.
In footballing terms United hasn’t been a big, serious club since SAF retired.

People throw around the word “standards” with absolutely no context or understanding of what standards means.

Supposedly sacking a manager fast is the main standard people think makes a club great. That’s works at clubs who have all the other parts working well and most importantly these clubs don’t need complete squad rebuilds. They could hire and fire managers every year and their squads would and should be able to adapt quite well.

United is a big name club but small time actual team. We have been closer to Spurs than City in terms of actually challanging for the two big trophies. So winning FA cup and Europa are big things for United the last 11 years. And yet people act like we have been this massive club nipping at city and Madrids heels all this time.

Standards look like they are finally being addressed. Standards within the club from top Down. Not just “sack the manager” standards. This season was always gonna to be some sort of learning curve with or without ETH.

Regardless of how ETH does , I’d expect the club to be able to better adapt to a replacement and I would expect the squad to not need entire overhauls. Speaking with other managers, if indeed they were, would have given INEOs an idea of what modern managers will or will not accept . They’ve possibly already interviewed the man they see as ETH replacement if it doesn’t work out, one who will fit in with their longer term goals.

This “we better hit the ground at start of season” target is Kind of trying to set up a fail. My expectations for next season are none of the chaos and demoralising defeats we’ve seen. Better in game management (but he needs fit/new players). And by end of season we look on an upward trajectory, like you can really see momentum building.
 

Licha-Vidic

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The downside is


What will happen for him to be sacked in the future ?
Can we go low below where we were last season?
Should they sack him if he finishes 5,6,7th again?

Or they let him see off the contract amicably?

A precedent has been set, if they sack him before he wins PL title then this will be a massive failure, why..


Because why sack him at position 2 or 3, when he stayed at while at position 8
 

Sarni

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The downside is


What will happen for him to be sacked in the future ?
Can we go low below where we were last season?
Should they sack him if he finishes 5,6,7th again?

Or they let him see off the contract amicably?

A precedent has been set, if they sack him before he wins PL title then this will be a massive failure, why..


Because why sack him at position 2 or 3, when he stayed at while at position 8
I think he gets 2 seasons to fix things where next season expectation is just to not get worse than we were last year (maybe some small improvement / positive signs), and he will be expected to deliver top 4 in 2025-26 (barring injury crisis / mitigating circumstances). There's no way he's getting fired next year for finishing 5th or 6th let alone top 4.
 

Lrf

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Who's a Southgate fan in here? Because I see none
Some people have such red-colored glasses that if someone else doesn't blindly support and are positive about all the decisions the club makes, they are against the club and not a true fan. I hope INEOS is correct and that ETH is the right man, but based on everything we've seen over the past 15 months, I believe they are wrong, and I fear we will end up discussing who should replace him in October.

I also see many pointing out that "we are only 8 points behind top 4." That's luck. Looking at the performance, we would more often end up in twelfth place than eighth place playing like we have.

Have no belief going into the next season now, and this made me feel pretty bummed out.
 

Yagami

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It's the reality unless we have an all-timer transfer window.
I don't agree with "an all-timer transfer window" but I do agree with the general point. That's why I don't get those being condescending to the so-called pessimists. Until we see us have a good transfer window, which we're still yet to do, it's only logical to expect a poor season because it's happened with every manager post Fergie.

This isn't only a ten Hag issue because, had we replaced him, I think any other manager would struggle this upcoming season with another poor transfer window, too.
will Sancho apology? Or will he rather build his carrier on fifa (playstation)
Sancho needs to go regardless. Even if he gave an apology, he's just not good enough.
 

Red Royal

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Given the poor quality of alternative options out there I think a good decision has been made.
What EtH needs to do now though (or whoever decides this) is surround himself with better coaches. I am not sure what Maclaren and van der Gaag do. I believe Macarthy has gone.
With hindsight we need more McKenna/Carrick type coaches who the players can hopefully work with better.
 

Doracle

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Real Madrid are currently a better club so we can't compare really. They have high standards at that club.

So we'll just have to wait to reach that level again.
Well, yes they are a better run club, so wouldn’t we be sensible to follow some of the approaches they take? They don’t renew a manager who finished 2nd in the league until he shows better form the following season. Shock of shocks, he doesn’t find only having a year on his contract some insurmountable obstacle and his contract is renewed with them top of the table.

In contrast, we finish 8th and decide that’s the time to renew. On here, it’s being portrayed as though it’s impossible to do anything else because poor Ten Hag will simply be incapable of managing a team unless he’s got a safety blanket of a higher payout in the event that he’s awful and sacked.
 

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Given the poor quality of alternative options out there I think a good decision has been made.
What EtH needs to do now though (or whoever decides this) is surround himself with better coaches. I am not sure what Maclaren and van der Gaag do. I believe Macarthy has gone.
With hindsight we need more McKenna/Carrick type coaches who the players can hopefully work with better.
What is this assertion based on?
 

Wilt

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I don't agree with letting him stay on, but the talk of a new contract is beyond insane. Even if you believe he deserves another season you cannot possibly believe he deserves a contract extension at this point.

Let him manage the team at least until January and if we're having a good season, then by all means offer him an extension. If not, then start looking for a replacement while running his contract down. It's not like anyone will snatch him from our hands or something.
Exactly this …although he’ll need to turn it around big time
 

lex talionis

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It was the right decision, given the alternatives. As for the contract extension, ETH does need to be backed but surely it can’t be a guaranteed 2-3 year extension. No doubt benchmarks will have to be met.
 

NLunited

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You seem to be just judging performances on goals and assists.
No, contributions. In his position he has to have shots, crosses, attempted assists etc.
Something.

He was absolutely great in the Pool game, and better in his games after as well. Before, not so much.
 

Gavinb33

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Why do a lot of poster on this forum have such a hard on for Real Madrid? like you can go support them if you want

Anyway on this news you can have a nuanced view and say it was probably right to sack him if they did and if they kept him also you can see why also, i am ok with him staying i think we'll be better next season based on nothing more than a gut feeling, we need to have good summer recruitment though so hopefully now this has been done we can move on and get some targets in that arent involved in the Euros or Copa so they are ready for the start of pre season training.
 

sunama

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Well, I'm not happy about ETH staying as it shows that it is now acceptable to finish 8th.
HOWEVER, there was a lack of suitable candidates, so I sort of understand where Ineos are coming from.
Anyway, let the transfer window now begin and we must build for next season, so we finish in the top 6.
 

freddie the red

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For what it's worth, I am pleased that the club have finally stood by Erik.
I think it's the right decision, and it would have been hypocritical of Sir Jim, considering the praise that he has given Arsenal for sticking with Arteta through the difficult early years of his reign.

If there was an opportunity to appoint a manager of the established calibre of a Klopp, Ancelotti maybe even Zidane, then OK, I could understand making a change, but what happened to the INEOS mantra "Best in Class for all football roles" when they are looking at Thomas Frank, Graham Potter & Gareth Southgate..?!?
So to me, it made absolutely no sense to appoint any of the managers that we have been linked with, except perhaps Tuchel, considering his CV, but when was the last time he stayed in a job more than 2 years?

Whats the first thing INEOS did when they arrived, they began to sack the old guard of Arnold, Murtough etc, and appointed proper football people into those roles. That tells you, they acknowledge that the football infrastructure & recruitment was crap, and you can't keep blaming managers for that.

We all know that the problems at this club run deep, and they have been allowed to fester for many, many years, so give a decent manager a chance with a competent and capable structure and see how he does.
If it doesn't improve, that's when you sack him, but at least allow him to do his job with the proper support.

Apart from the ridiculous number of injuries that ETH has had to contend with, also don't forget all the off field nonsense that has caused disruption, Greenwood, Sancho, Antony, Ronaldo, Hannibal, and then the poor performances of Rashford & Casemiro to name but two...and the club being up for sale!
These are all contributing factors that shouldn't be forgotten about.

Lets hope we have a great window, clear out some of the 'deadwood' bring in some genuine quality, and are able to look back at last season as a blip.
I'd copy/paste that and claim it as my own if only it wasn't plagiarism :lol:

Excellent points, well made.
 

SuperiorXI

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Well, I'm not happy about ETH staying as it shows that it is now acceptable to finish 8th.
HOWEVER, there was a lack of suitable candidates, so I sort of understand where Ineos are coming from.
Anyway, let the transfer window now begin and we must build for next season, so we finish in the top 6.
Does it? I think if you look at it objectively it doesn't say that at all. You need to consider all the factors when assessing the decision.
 

Longlivekeano

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I think there has been a compromise of sorts.

Erik ten Haag to remain as manager.

his salary is reduced due to poor epl position.

his role is transfers/contracts also diluted
 

romufc

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Well, I'm not happy about ETH staying as it shows that it is now acceptable to finish 8th.
HOWEVER, there was a lack of suitable candidates, so I sort of understand where Ineos are coming from.
Anyway, let the transfer window now begin and we must build for next season, so we finish in the top 6.
The reason there was so much said about his job and this review is because they were not happy with the 8th place finish.

If as you say 8th is acceptable, they would have said he is staying as manager before the final. Its funny how people act as if a trophy doesn't matter...

The reason they took time to review it was because they were not happy. When you look at the circumstances, not just league position and GD, you will realise there is more to it than just that.