Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager

[el3mel]

I think @kouroux is one of those fans who moans about every single manager after a bad performance or string of poor results.

We can't keep sacking managers. Ten Hag will be snapped up by Barca/Chelsea/etc if we get rid of him and then go on to be a great whilst we watch over the fence, crying because we've got Roy Keane in for the passion & memories.

No one suggests sacking him but nice of people to keep on switching goalposts of every single discussion about Ten Hag possible mistakes into discussions about sacking him or not when no one even mentioned that.

For some of you questioning the manager = wants him fired. It's impossible to have a proper discussion about United manager here because if you aren't religiously praising him, anything you post is interpreted as you wanting him sacked.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Feck sake

This is why we don't deserve nice things. Our fans have zero patience.

Arteta was given time to mould a squad in his image. Ten Hag is still hindered by shit owners, a Burnley striker and injuries/suspensions.

We can sack our lovely bald manager but then what? Get in that weirdo Nagelsmann? We will still encounter the same issues until the Glazers feck off and we can actually sign strength in depth.

Literally nobody here is calling for his sacking.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

I do think we were trending upwards in terms of controlling games, but we've just been poor since the cup final and the heavy defeat to Liverpool was simply inexecusable.

He still has plenty of work to do. Still have faith in him, but his game management lately has been poor.

He should have minimal say in terms of incoming players IMO. The board should be able to veto him at times. His decision to bring in Weghorst is simply indefensible.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

He has been poor for a while now.

Our fans are such babies.

Doesn’t take Bruno off : He can’t play every 90 minutes!!
Takes Bruno off : why would you even do that!?

 

[sepulturite]

"Subtly hints" isn't an answer to the question you were asked.

I was being a bit sarcastic there really, it's fairly obvious from some of the posts on here that some have basically said in a roundabout way that they want him gone, you'd have to be a blind man not to see that in some of the posts over the past weeks.

 

[Primex]

So if we beat Sevilla next week,all this mourning will stop ?
If we drop out of the Europa,then he's a over hyped dumb coach ?
After dragging us from last season shitshow,making us look like something in a very long while.
Coaching isn't as easy as it seems,he could have left this players in and we would have even possibly lost... bad days happen.
Stop looking at the battle but at the war.
We still in contention for top 4 ? Yes.
We won a silverware? Yes
Are we still in the Europa league? Yes
FA cup ? Yes
But the doom patrol makes things look like the end of the world,I wish most of you here were Chelsea fans,then you could hoof and poof all day.

 

[Baneofthegame]

Our fans are such babies.

Doesn’t take Bruno off : He can’t play every 90 minutes!!
Takes Bruno off : why would you even do that!?

Basically 90% of our fans in a nutshell, the perfect hindsight managers who know every decision after the fact.

 

[sglowrider]

With regards to ETH, I've yet to be fully convinced by him. I try not to say too much these days as I don't want to piss on everyone's chips, but I've had niggling doubts about certain things all season.

Obviously there's squad management, or lack of. We've gone full strength against some really poor sides. Often when he does change it up, he still doesn't get the balance right. Like tonight. Fergie was a master of it, he knew how many players we could carry, who were out of form or inexperienced, and made it work. ETH doesn't seem to have a handle on that at all. Tonight he enabled an already shockingly complacent team by making subs that reflected their apparent attitude towards the game.

But in general, my other gripes are that I don't think our football is actually that good at all. It's an amalgamation of LVGs slow, laboured passing, mixed with Ole's counter attacking game, with a bit of his own flavour. I remember him being lauded for playing Weghorst at no.10 and I absolutely hated it. It was and is anti football to me. Something Jose was killed for, even though he played a much better Fellaini there. I just find him pragmatic, and whilst we generally get results, I think we're boring to watch and we can't control a game of football to save our lives.

I've seen very little of this pressing game that posters on here claimed we would get. Often we have some sort of mid to low block, where we spring counters from. And I see even less of the Pep comparisons, as his football is possession based but far more progressive and adventurous. I've spent most of this season trying to figure out exactly what we are but I still don't really know. Sometimes we are one thing, but then you don't see it again for weeks or months.

We strangely have a good defensive record but it feels like, in most games, we give the opposition countless opportunities to create chances, often we luckily go unpunished. But then our goal difference tells a story in itself. I don't even buy into the idea that we don't have fire power either, it's just that we have failed to get a tune out of the likes of Sancho, Antony, Bruno and others this season.

Agree to a varying degree with all your points.

Squad development and management have not been optimum for sure. But I think ETH is also on a learning curve -- I dont think he realised how intense the PL is and how many matches we have to play every week. I am guessing that he has never managed this many games in a season before.
Hopefully, he spends a bit more time developing the kids and playing them in the less competitive matches.

 

[mariko48]

With regards to ETH, I've yet to be fully convinced by him. I try not to say too much these days as I don't want to piss on everyone's chips, but I've had niggling doubts about certain things all season.

Obviously there's squad management, or lack of. We've gone full strength against some really poor sides. Often when he does change it up, he still doesn't get the balance right. Like tonight. Fergie was a master of it, he knew how many players we could carry, who were out of form or inexperienced, and made it work. ETH doesn't seem to have a handle on that at all. Tonight he enabled an already shockingly complacent team by making subs that reflected their apparent attitude towards the game.

But in general, my other gripes are that I don't think our football is actually that good at all. It's an amalgamation of LVGs slow, laboured passing, mixed with Ole's counter attacking game, with a bit of his own flavour. I remember him being lauded for playing Weghorst at no.10 and I absolutely hated it. It was and is anti football to me. Something Jose was killed for, even though he played a much better Fellaini there. I just find him pragmatic, and whilst we generally get results, I think we're boring to watch and we can't control a game of football to save our lives.

I've seen very little of this pressing game that posters on here claimed we would get. Often we have some sort of mid to low block, where we spring counters from. And I see even less of the Pep comparisons, as his football is possession based but far more progressive and adventurous. I've spent most of this season trying to figure out exactly what we are but I still don't really know. Sometimes we are one thing, but then you don't see it again for weeks or months.

We strangely have a good defensive record but it feels like, in most games, we give the opposition countless opportunities to create chances, often we luckily go unpunished. But then our goal difference tells a story in itself. I don't even buy into the idea that we don't have fire power either, it's just that we have failed to get a tune out of the likes of Sancho, Antony, Bruno and others this season.

What do you want then? You want him to play perfectly beautiful football when losing his most important midfielders for like 10 matches in a row? When he's only here for like 10 months? He didn't even get his most important target last summer and most of the squads are not even his choice. If all Arsenal fans were like you then Arteta would get the boot 2 years ago.

 

[kouroux]

Feck sake

This is why we don't deserve nice things. Our fans have zero patience.

Arteta was given time to mould a squad in his image. Ten Hag is still hindered by shit own

ers, a Burnley striker and injuries/suspensions.

We can sack our lovely bald manager but then what? Get in that weirdo Nagelsmann? We will still encounter the same issues until the Glazers feck off and we can actually sign strength in depth.

Zero patience for what ? I don't ask for anything, I don't call for anything. I simply don't blindly trust every single one of his decisions.
That's all this is so pump your brakes.

I think @kouroux is one of those fans who moans about every single manager after a bad performance or string of poor results.

We can't keep sacking managers. Ten Hag will be snapped up by Barca/Chelsea/etc if we get rid of him and then go on to be a great whilst we watch over the fence, crying because we've got Roy Keane in for the passion & memories.

You don't know anything. I hate this stupid generation of fans on the caf where basically making a criticism= asking for a sacking.
I don't know where this insecurity comes from.
It's either you follow the manager and you shut your mouth or you're a hater calling for his head. Nothing in between.

 

[kouroux]

Sancho wasn't playing well and Elanga plays left wing?

Martial was only ever going to be able to play 60mins or so.

Elanga barely plays anyway, he barely is a footballer. A truly average player who brings nothing to the team. I'd trust Pellestri on the LW than him tbh

 

[Shakesy]

You don't know anything. I hate this stupid generation of fans on the caf where basically making a criticism= asking for a sacking.
I don't know where this insecurity comes from.
It's either you follow the manager and you shut your mouth or you're a hater calling for his head. Nothing in between.

That's the way of the Dark Side.

 

[kouroux]

Literally nobody here is calling for his sacking.

ETH seems to have a truly insecure set of fanbois. The criticism can be called idiotic and dismantled for sure, it would never bother me but to equal that to a sacking ? That's childish now

Probably one of those fans that still thinks Poch would do a better job...

Point where I hinted for his sack. Poch really ? Based on what ?

That's the way of the Stupid Side.

Corrected

 

[gajender]

ETH seems to have a truly insecure set of fanbois. The criticism can be called idiotic and dismantled for sure, it would never bother me but to equal that to a sacking ? That's childish now

Which one of our Manager didn't honestly it's strange cultish behaviour where even constructive criticism is somehow taken as an unwarranted attack on their Messiah .

 

[ti vu]

I believe subbing on Elanga, Weghorst and Pellistri is one sub too many. All 3 are not even standard squad player. Already losing the outlet with Elanga and Weghorst subs. It's however, not a good sub losing Antony defensive & ball retention contribution too. Fred for Antony last sub should be better. Just move Eriksen to the right wing.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Hasn’t he won the most points this season with his subs?

 

[kouroux]

Which one of our Manager didn't honestly it's strange cultish behaviour where even constructive criticism is somehow taken as an unwarranted attack on their Messiah .

Tbh, you're right. It comes with the territory and the team having done well, it is my mistake for being surprised about this recurring thing.

 

[Seij]

I think he's done a good job and I fully trust him as the manager, with that said, everyone makes mistakes and he screwed up yesterday.

That triple substitution was very strange. When fans ask for Bruno to be rested, we mean give him a break in the 2nd half of the league cup during the 2nd game against Forest when the tie is 3-0 or 4-0, not during the first tie of the Europa League quarterfinal against a Spanish team notorious for conjuring BS dark arts in this tournament and having won it a record number.

 

[pocco]

What do you want then? You want him to play perfectly beautiful football when losing his most important midfielders for like 10 matches in a row? When he's only here for like 10 months? He didn't even get his most important target last summer and most of the squads are not even his choice. If all Arsenal fans were like you then Arteta would get the boot 2 years ago.

When I watch us play, I see a team set up to get exactly what we are showing. I don't think he intends on pressing like other teams, it we would see that. Look at Klopp when he arrived, he got slaughtered for his pressing game when they kept tiring and leaking goals, but he stuck with it and it was there to see. Perhaps he simply wants us to be a team that true to create quick transition moments etc. But I definitely don't see pretty football, I see pragmatic and opportunistic football with the way we try to exploit teams. My overarching feeling has been that ETH will do a good job and maybe win us some big silverware if we back him heavily, but I think somebody else will take the reigns in the future, bring more excitement to our game and really make us click.

Re Arteta, funnily enough I defended him for those two years and said I could see what he was trying to do and thought we should have took the same approach. So it's kind of apt if you to bring that up. Their football is really good to watch and the signs were always there.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Knives well and truly out

 

[justboy68]

I still think we will somehow make it to the CL for next season but let's say for arguments sake we don't and we blow it. When the club is sold do the new owners stick with him if we come 5th and drop out of Europe next week?

I'd like to think the would give him the benefit of the doubt but I wouldn't be shocked if they didn't.

It is so so vital we get back in the CL. I'd say now we have a cup in the bag it's more important than the FA cup. A lot more actually.

There's no excuse for missing out on top 4 in a season where both Liverpool and Chelsea shit the bed. But I'm pretty sure with our fixtures we'll be fine.

 

[crossy1686]

There's quite a few posts if you go back over the last few pages that subtly hint towards it.

Absolutely no one wants Ten Hag sacked or wants him to fail. People have every right after performances like last night to question things or criticise, it's healthy and it's the hallmark of a big club, this is also a forum where we discuss all things United and the manager isn't some hallowed ground we're not allowed to question.

I said a couple of weeks back that Ten Hag's insistence on fighting on all fronts with the same 11 players will cost us a top 4 spot and leave us with nothing but the league cup come the end of the season. It's beggars belief the manager of Manchester United can't see this, doesn't care or is too arrogant to do something about it, the games are too intense and they're coming thick and fast, not to mention we're playing badly and have done for months now.

 

[A-man]

He didn't really say that, did he ?

And yeah, he's right.

Ten Hag has been awful in managing the team since the Liverpool debacle. He needs to recover and needs to do this fast.

He has been to much about developing the first xi imo. Even after the Liverpool game he insisted on playing the next game with the same players to bounce hem back. You can imagine what that what doing to the morale for the squad players. Not even after a disaster performance of historical measures did they get the opportunity. We have also seen this thinking in other matches. I believe this is an area where he needs to improve if he wants a large healthy and capable squad

 

[Leftback99]

I was being a bit sarcastic there really, it's fairly obvious from some of the posts on here that some have basically said in a roundabout way that they want him gone, you'd have to be a blind man not to see that in some of the posts over the past weeks.

Nope it's all in your head.

Some of us questioned whether everything was as perfect as others were making out. Despite being called 'haters' and accused of 'having an agenda' it seems we were correct to have concerns.

None of that means people would even consider a change. It's just discussion of performance.

 

[Ash_G]

I think it's a bit harsh to land the blame with him albeit I don't think he got all the calls right.

Fundamentally even when we made the subs it didn't seem to be that Seville were really pushing and would have been content at keeping it at 2. We as a team then had a great chance to make it 3 which was squandered before we suffered a lot of bad luck re a freak injury which also left us with 10 men and 2 unfortunate OGs, one of which came from an individual player error which you can't plan for.

I also feel for all the doom and gloom that there's no reason we can't go there and beat them. We were comfortably on top of the game when we were focussed and I think there's enough that even without Bruno/Rashford for us to think we don't had a reasonable chance. The frustration again though is it's much harder that it needs to be and another tough game we didn't need.

I do think there are some questions though for ETH. Should we have gotten the third before making the subs, did it make sense to bring in Elanga/Pelistri, players who haven't played much vs Fred/Lindelof to just close the game out- although this is all benefit of hindsight. If we score the third and Martinez doesn't get injured maybe we finish 3-0, or 2-1.

More widely how are we addressing the fact that our players go in and out of the game. It's one thing to put the breaks on and control a game but we just seem to lose focus and get sloppy. That said I would think some of that is more about the players on the pitch keeping each other honest and I would suspect some fatigue in the squad which presumably he will try to action by strengthening in the summer.

Overall I think it's clear that there are things for him to learn- the need for rotation, maybe not trying to be overly clever tactically etc but I do still feel at the moment the overall trend is positive in what has been a tough season given injuries and volume of fixtures we've had to work through.

 

[Sarni]

Absolutely no one wants Ten Hag sacked or wants him to fail. People have every right after performances like last night to question things or criticise, it's healthy and it's the hallmark of a big club, this is also a forum where we discuss all things United and the manager isn't some hallowed ground we're not allowed to question.

I said a couple of weeks back that Ten Hag's insistence on fighting on all fronts with the same 11 players will cost us a top 4 spot and leave us with nothing but the league cup come the end of the season. It's beggars belief the manager of Manchester United can't see this, doesn't care or is too arrogant to do something about it, the games are too intense and they're coming thick and fast, not to mention we're playing badly and have done for months now.

Exactly. Ten Hag has somehow in a very short time become a reverse of Ole in the eyes of many fans, a manager you cannot criticize over any decision or game as he can do no wrong, whereas Ole after a while became a manager that you could not praise for any performance (basically whenever we won it was the players, whenever we lost it was the manager).

He's made multiple questionable decisions, playing virtually the same team every single game during the most condensed period in calendar was the most baffling of them, his in-game management has been questionable too and it's completely fair to raise those points, which does not necessarily mean wanting him gone. It is very important that he irons out those weaknesses as we won't get anywhere without it.

Of course if we fail to finish top 4 then his position will definitely be in question in the eyes of upper management, and so it should as it will be an utter disaster of a season if that happens (I don't think it will).

 

[Floyd]

He never rests Bruno, yet decided to rest him the last 30 mins in a QF in a European Cup when the game was NOT won AND Bruno gets to rest in the return leg anyway.

I'm fully aboard the EtH train, but that was a baffling decision.

 

[Oldyella]

Gets pelters for not resting Rashford and the player picking up an injury in a game we were 2-0 and coasting in.

Gets pelters for resting players in a game we were 2-0 up and coasting in.

 

[wolvored]

The players he bought in 'cold' last summer as he had no experience of the Premier league were going to either be hit or miss. He wasnt backed in Jan, so had to supplement with loan players. This summer he will have a better understanding and can be judged more fairly on who he brings in, depending on ownership. Even Fergie bought shit sometimes. At the beginning of the season if someone said you definitely will be in top 3 race and won at least a cup, you would have snatched their hand off. Hes the only manager to have won silverware for us in his first season. Fergie took 4 seasons. If we win 1 0 in the return leg, he will be hailed as a great again. Shit happens. Judge him over a season.

 

[evil_geko]

We have lots of professional managers on this forum, with some amazing hindsight powers, I wasn't aware, good stuff.

 

[Beaucoup]

He never rests Bruno, yet decided to rest him the last 30 mins in a QF in a European Cup when the game was NOT won AND Bruno gets to rest in the return leg anyway.

I'm fully aboard the EtH train, but that was a baffling decision.

He's already explained, he was told by the ref that both Bruno and Antony were close to getting a 2nd yellow, so he had no choice.

 

[M Bison]

I think he’s doing a cracking job personally. If we’d been told at the start of the season we’d get top 4 and win a trophy, most realistic fans would have taken it.

The fact that we’re now seemingly unhappy with that says he’s exceeded expectations.

 

[crossy1686]

I think he’s doing a cracking job personally. If we’d been told at the start of the season we’d get top 4 and win a trophy, most realistic fans would have taken it.

The fact that we’re now seemingly unhappy with that says he’s exceeded expectations.

We haven't got top 4 yet, that's the thing. If we do then it's a good season, if we now don't, it's a disaster considering where we've been all year.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Gets pelters for not resting Rashford and the player picking up an injury in a game we were 2-0 and coasting in.

Gets pelters for resting players in a game we were 2-0 up and coasting in.

Yup.

 

[IRN-BRUno]

Aside from the Bruno sub which made little sense given he's suspended next week anyway I don't really see the problem with any of the others. Martial was never going to play more than an hour on his first start back, especially when we need him again in another 3 days. Sancho was getting worse as the game went on, it was pretty much at the stage where everything he tried went wrong. Clearly not ideal bringing on Weghorst and Elanga as their replacements but there's nobody else at the moment.

Basically they were two fluke own goals, one of which came when we were down to 10. Just bad luck, of which he's had an enormous amount of this season. We've probably had a couple of games where we've had the strongest side available, most of the season spent without a CF, harsh suspensions and some terrible refereeing/VAR decisions on top of having to deal with the Ronaldo situation with the distraction of the club being up for sale.

He's done an incredible job so far given all of that. You can see from the glimpses of Martial that a good striker will completely transform this side, as long as we sign one in the summer I have no doubt we'll see huge improvement next season.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Why are we trying to make a cult around every manager?
Is he doing a very good job? Yes
Is he solution for future? Yes.
Is he a very good and talented manager? Yes
But, lets not pretend that he is flawless and having 10/10 season.

He has some dodgy decisions whole season. Some proved good and some backfired.
He said that he subbed Martial because of fitness. That is perfectly fine. He and Tony know the best about how much Tony can play at this moment without risking injury. Same as with Rashford last game. If your best player is fit, he plays 90 minutes (unless game is settled which against Everton was not). All good there.
But he also said that he subbed Bruno and Antony because of risk of second yellow card. Half an hour left against good side in knockout game where every goal counts you sub two important players because of that? That is bs. You are a manager ffs. Tell them to calm down and be careful.

 

[Member 125398]

Only negative for me is those multi-coloured pens. Haven't checked but hope to god he hasn't got a calculator watch.

 

[evil_geko]

Why are we trying to make a cult around every manager?
Is he doing a very good job? Yes
Is he solution for future? Yes.
Is he a very good and talented manager? Yes
But, lets not pretend that he is flawless and having 10/10 season.

He has some dodgy decisions whole season. Some proved good and some backfired.
He said that he subbed Martial because of fitness. That is perfectly fine. He and Tony know the best about how much Tony can play at this moment without risking injury. Same as with Rashford last game. If your best player is fit, he plays 90 minutes (unless game is settled which against Everton was not). All good there.
But he also said that he subbed Bruno and Antony because of risk of second yellow card. Half an hour left against good side in knockout game where every goal counts you sub two important players because of that? That is bs. You are a manager ffs. Tell them to calm down and be careful.

Tell them to calm down? That ref was giving yellows left and right for most ridiculous things, getting them out was right decision judging by refereeing standard in that game. We conceded two silly own goals ffs, Bruno would do feck all for those. Without Malacia's brainfart to give them wings towards the end, we would finish that game calmly.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Gets pelters for not resting Rashford and the player picking up an injury in a game we were 2-0 and coasting in.

Gets pelters for resting players in a game we were 2-0 up and coasting in.

2:0 is far from game being over. Even with 5 minutes left (so with Rashy he didn't do nothing wrong). Also there is no coasting in in knockout game where every goal counts for second leg. Especially when 30 minutes is left.
And as he said; Bruno and Antony were not subbed because of fitness and resting.

 

[Floyd]

He's already explained, he was told by the ref that both Bruno and Antony were close to getting a 2nd yellow, so he had no choice.

Everybody could see Antony was wound up no end, but Bruno? He was rightly pissed off about the yellow, but did he do anything special after that? Not that I could see. Maybe he was pissing and moaning as usual?