Life after ETH — the next United manager

[Damo Kanchelskis & Giggs]

We desperately need a manager with a fire in his belly who is eager to take their career up a notch. Ideally, we would get Big Ange, Emery or Howe but it is hard to see any of them swapping their current plight for the mess that our club finds itself in. Therefore I think the best candidates for the job are currently Iraola, Frank or Silva. The attitude of thinking we are above signing these type of names is a terribly arrogant one to have. This arrogance is also reflected in our business in the transfer market. We're always looking for the finished article instead of putting the effort in to finding and coaching the next best thing. Just look at the way Arsenal, Villa and Newcastle have made progress over the last few seasons. Nothing drastic - just very good solid football managers with experience who get the best out of their players and are able to identify and improve players as part of a settled and identifiable system of play. Arsenal signing Arteta, Odegaard and Saliba before they had become world class is the type of business we should be looking to do. If we had signed Eddie Howe or Emery at the same time they had joined their respective clubs I am quite sure our club would be on a much steadier footing with a much better squad. I don't think either would have wasted millions on absolute rubbish and we would have an attractive and pragmatic style of play. We need to accept where we are and start going about things in a sensible and steady way. Iraola or Frank for me but I also think Silva has done a great job at Fulham and would do very well with better players and us supporters behind him. All three managers command respect and have taken their teams forward. Give them a chance - it can't be any worse than what we have got. I'm currently having nightmares about Southgate taking over. If that happens, it shows INEOS haven't got a clue and we're in an even bigger mess than we ever thought we were. Ten Hag has to go - and I never thought I would say it but the best thing to do would be to put Olé into until the end of the season. Bring some excitement and confidence back and get us scoring some goals.

 

[Ayoba]

Is Diego Simeone an average manager?

I never really watched Athletico Madrid but I noticed how he was nearly making them compete with Barcelona & even a peak Real Madrid.

I always find it a bit surprising that his name is not even mentioned as a possibility.

Is he that bad?

I've always wanted Simeome, he's a big character and that's what we need. I think his style of football puts people off, but I couldn't care less if he gets us competing again.

 

[MadDogg]

Is Diego Simeone an average manager?

I never really watched Athletico Madrid but I noticed how he was nearly making them compete with Barcelona & even a peak Real Madrid.

I always find it a bit surprising that his name is not even mentioned as a possibility.

Is he that bad?

He's a great manager, but with tactics and playstyle which I don't think many Utd fans would want us to play. Very negative and defensive, with lots of aggravating niggly fouls and such.

 

[redcucumber]

I don’t fully disagree. But it sure was fun, at least. Maybe I value enjoyable football a little too much.

Yeh, getting spanked by Watford was great. Proper football purist you are.

 

[ShinjiNinja26]

He's a great manager, but with tactics and playstyle which I don't think many Utd fans would want us to play. Very negative and defensive, with lots of aggravating niggly fouls and such.

I’m at the point now where I’d be willing to put up with his style of football for a few seasons if he could get us seriously competing for a title again.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Simeone would be the perfect manager to take over if only his football was alot less rancid.

 

[FrankDrebin]

I’m at the point now where I’d be willing to put up with his style of football for a few seasons if he could get us seriously competing for a title again.

Honestly you really wouldn't.

 

[Leethal]

Yeh, getting spanked by Watford was great. Proper football purist you are.

Ah yes, let’s pick out one isolated game and use that as the benchmark!

For every Watford, there’s a 9-0 Southampton.

If you’re going to try to argue, at least make a valid argument. 1/10. Tries hard; must do better.

 

[Damo Kanchelskis & Giggs]

I've always wanted Simeome, he's a big character and that's what we need. I think his style of football puts people off, but I couldn't care less if he gets us competing again.

He's a great manager, but with tactics and playstyle which I don't think many Utd fans would want us to play. Very negative and defensive, with lots of aggravating niggly fouls and such.

I think that we are deluding ourselves as fans if we think that Simeone would be joining us for any other reason than a big payday. Simeone wouldn't be in for the long haul and it's at least 5 years before we can even think about challenging for the title again. We have so much dead wood in the squad that we need to get rid of. The only world beater out there with a fire in his belly who looks like he can turn water into wine is Alonso. I'm not sure he would want to come as he will have much better options so we need to look for a smaller up and coming manager with the ambition to be the best in the world. I think Iraola could be that man.

 

[redcucumber]

Ah yes, let’s pick out one isolated game and use that as the benchmark!

For every Watford, there’s a 9-0 Southampton.

If you’re going to try to argue, at least make a valid argument. 1/10. Tries hard; must do better.

One isolated game? Were you alive and well during Ole-ball? Battered by Mourinho's Spurs, battered by Liverpool, battered by RB Leipzig when the pressure was on and wilted like school children. How have people forgotten how rancid the results and performances were in the main under Ole? The guy is an absolute legend and United hero, but he isn't a serious manager. Christ on a cross. How is this discussion even a thing?!

 

[GDaly95]

I really don't want it to be Ruud. It just seems like the lazy thing to do. You give it to Ruud and if he does an alright job in the midst of a honeymoon phase, it suddenly feels like too much effort not to make him permanent.

Rigorous work should be ongoing behind the scenes to find a successor to Ten Hag. Given what we've seen from the new hierarchy so far, I do believe that that has been happening.

 

[Leethal]

One isolated game? Were you alive and well during Ole-ball? Battered by Mourinho's Spurs, battered by Liverpool, battered by RB Leipzig when the pressure was on and wilted like school children. How have people forgotten how rancid the results and performances were in the main under Ole? The guy is an absolute legend and United hero, but he isn't a serious manager. Christ on a cross. How is this discussion even a thing?!

Like I said, for every one of those games, there was PSG away, etc. etc.

I said he played enjoyable football, of which he did. We get battered now by shite also, and we barely even offset it with enjoyable games.

 

[Florida Man]

Is Diego Simeone an average manager?

I never really watched Athletico Madrid but I noticed how he was nearly making them compete with Barcelona & even a peak Real Madrid.

I always find it a bit surprising that his name is not even mentioned as a possibility.

Is he that bad?

Not a bad manager, but a completely different kind of style than what we are seemingly aiming for judging by our recruiting. He’s insistent on the low block, pragmatic defensively-sound approach, and counter attacking.

What we’ve been building towards is a modern progressive attack-oriented approach with some focus on possession and tactical flexibility. For whatever reason, we have Ten Hag coming short in the flexibility part with our squad, and it’s taken too long to sort that out.

We’ll need to build on what Ten Hag has done, and I think an attack-minded manager who prefers the vertical game over heavy possession is more suitable to our squad and club ethos in general. Manager will also need to make significant tactical adjustments based on our opponents, our starting squad, and who we bring on as subs.

For these reasons, I think Nagelsmann is the ideal and logical next step. More direct and aggressive, but also willingness for flexibility. Would be a good fresh start in the new regime. Similarly, Tuchel would be a good next step, but more pragmatic. We have the players for aggressive pressing and direct play. Squad selection and subs will be key, i.e. not making subs that crumble our setup or refusing to adjust the setup enough based on the subs we bring on.

 

[Florida Man]

Like I said, for every one of those games, there was PSG away, etc. etc.

I said he played enjoyable football, of which he did. We get battered now by shite also, and we barely even offset it with enjoyable games.

I get the sentiment, but this is Manchester United, and our standards need to be higher than bringing back Ole. Enjoyable football is nice, but it’s nicer when paired with big trophies. For the latter, we’d have to aim higher.

 

[VP89]

I like Nagelsmann but worry his style is too open to consistently win games for this league. Out of all options he'd be the top choice anyway for me, his style is fun to watch and he makes a team look better than the sum of their parts.

 

[Florida Man]

I like Nagelsmann but worry his style is too open to consistently win games for this league. Out of all options he'd be the top choice anyway for me, his style is fun to watch and he makes a team look better than the sum of their parts.

Despite me singing his praises, that’s my biggest concern too, as that was a big problem for us last year (injury woes considered) and this year especially against Liverpool. I’d like to think he’d have been willing to adapt to Liverpool in a way where they didn’t constantly play us through the middle and having us run back and forth all game.

 

[pocco]

I don’t fully disagree. But it sure was fun, at least. Maybe I value enjoyable football a little too much.

I don't blame you for that, I don't enjoy the football at all under ETH even on our better days. I just think that it's been so long since we've had both exciting football and football that gets results consistently, that we're getting used to just having one or the other (although the former to a lesser degree). I do believe that there's coaches out there who could do both. Or at least take us in the right direction until we can land the next generational talent in management.

 

[pocco]

I'm hoping De Zerbi can win Marseille the league and force himself into the equation. Currently joint top and unbeaten, having finished 8th last season.

 

[VP89]

I'm hoping De Zerbi can win Marseille the league and force himself into the equation. Currently joint top and unbeaten, having finished 8th last season.

New manager bounce and all that. He fizzled out at Brighton

 

[Bobade]

We desperately need a manager with a fire in his belly who is eager to take their career up a notch. Ideally, we would get Big Ange, Emery or Howe but it is hard to see any of them swapping their current plight for the mess that our club finds itself in. Therefore I think the best candidates for the job are currently Iraola, Frank or Silva. The attitude of thinking we are above signing these type of names is a terribly arrogant one to have. This arrogance is also reflected in our business in the transfer market. We're always looking for the finished article instead of putting the effort in to finding and coaching the next best thing. Just look at the way Arsenal, Villa and Newcastle have made progress over the last few seasons. Nothing drastic - just very good solid football managers with experience who get the best out of their players and are able to identify and improve players as part of a settled and identifiable system of play. Arsenal signing Arteta, Odegaard and Saliba before they had become world class is the type of business we should be looking to do.

But we already are doing this? We have signed a nice mix of up and coming players and established ones recently. If anything you could argue that we should have signed a more established forward.

 

[Zed 101]

We need somebody who isn't trying to emulate Pep, god I hate Pep and ticca-tacca (football is a lot more boring these days) but the man is a genius, I would say the greatest manager I have seen, and that includes SAF, but just like SAF he is a one off, we need a manager who has their own ideas not some Pep light wannabe, I like Thomas Frank but think he would struggle to step it up, I would love us to poach Nagelsmann but doubt that will happen, Amorim seems a possibility, but I doubt we will get any of those, an outside chance of Carrick, who I would be actually quite keen on despite Boros current position, I think the likelihood will be RVN temp and if he gets them working he will see it out until the end of the season, that or they will find a compromise with Tuchel

 

[Rolaholic]

Inzaghi isn't really a flavour of the month candidate. He's got legitimate pedigree for his record in Italy.

McKenna is flavour of the month.

Yes he's got the highest winning percentage and is the 3rd most decorated manager in their history, he's genuinely one of the better quality managers in Europe right now.

 

[Andersonson]

Splash the cash and get Simone

 

[Ish]

We desperately need a manager with a fire in his belly who is eager to take their career up a notch. Ideally, we would get Big Ange, Emery or Howe but it is hard to see any of them swapping their current plight for the mess that our club finds itself in. Therefore I think the best candidates for the job are currently Iraola, Frank or Silva. The attitude of thinking we are above signing these type of names is a terribly arrogant one to have. This arrogance is also reflected in our business in the transfer market. We're always looking for the finished article instead of putting the effort in to finding and coaching the next best thing. Just look at the way Arsenal, Villa and Newcastle have made progress over the last few seasons. Nothing drastic - just very good solid football managers with experience who get the best out of their players and are able to identify and improve players as part of a settled and identifiable system of play. Arsenal signing Arteta, Odegaard and Saliba before they had become world class is the type of business we should be looking to do. If we had signed Eddie Howe or Emery at the same time they had joined their respective clubs I am quite sure our club would be on a much steadier footing with a much better squad. I don't think either would have wasted millions on absolute rubbish and we would have an attractive and pragmatic style of play. We need to accept where we are and start going about things in a sensible and steady way. Iraola or Frank for me but I also think Silva has done a great job at Fulham and would do very well with better players and us supporters behind him. All three managers command respect and have taken their teams forward. Give them a chance - it can't be any worse than what we have got. I'm currently having nightmares about Southgate taking over. If that happens, it shows INEOS haven't got a clue and we're in an even bigger mess than we ever thought we were. Ten Hag has to go - and I never thought I would say it but the best thing to do would be to put Olé into until the end of the season. Bring some excitement and confidence back and get us scoring some goals.

I'm not sure I would want Howe here anyway. Has previous conflict with Ashworth also due to transfer power (apparently) and it's not like he's been flying high with Newcastle. They've also sort of been grinding out wins etc. and not really been playing mindblowing football IMO.

The rest are intriguing choices for a variety of different reasons (minus Silva who I also don't rate albeit I agree that he's done well with Fulham). I also think we're a more attractive proposition then we have been for a good while now. Squad is in decent shape. There's competent people now supporting the coach/manager....with a few more decent signings we can have a really competitive squad - with the right guy at the helm of course. On paper, we should be better then a team like Villa - but our manager has us way off the pace.

My 2 preferred candidates would be Alonso or Nagelsmann, but I'm not convinced that we'd be able to attract either.

 

[FromTheBench]

Splash the cash and get Simone

Defensive football.

 

[Mainoonited]

Do you reckon Zidane would work for us? I kind of think most people would have done amazing with the Real Madrid side he had access too.

 

[Rolaholic]

Haven't mentioned Alonso because I highly doubt we'll ever get a crack due to his Madrid and Liverpool ties

That's as nailed on an Ancelotti successor as there is

 

[Uncle Mainoo]

I wonder how long the next manager will get before the toxic fans* decide he is shit and not up to the job?

The current timescale for judging players seems to be 1 game or less.

*online

The same amount of time of any normal club when they realise it’s not working.

I highly doubt West Ham will give their manager 3 years just because if results continue on the same path; and that’s West Ham.

 

[redcucumber]

New manager bounce and all that. He fizzled out at Brighton

What does this mean? Brighton finishing 11th is still one of their best PL performances - it's Brighton, not Aston Villa (and for the people that love to bleat on about our injury woes last season, Brighton were twice as fecked and permanently lost Mac Allister, Caicedo, Dunk, Sanchez etc). If Marseilles remaining competitive throughout the season, we should go all out for him.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Taking into account of INEO's recent moves, who do you think they'll replace ETH with ?

Experience or youth ?

 

[Zaphod2319]

New manager bounce and all that. He fizzled out at Brighton

He called out the sporting director and owner for selling their best players and buying kids. He wasn’t wrong, but we all know that never ends well. His football was pretty impressive given the shit he had to tolerate.

 

[cpresc]

Stop it. I wouldn’t want that gobshite anywhere near OT.
A decent manager but over rated as well and the way he conducted himself, no no and no.

Over rated?

Really?

He did it twice with Dortmund and Liverpool, toppled the giant.

If he’d have come to us instead there would have been another 4 titles in our cabinet

 

[Melville Red]

I still think we should go for this chap who is available and the right age. All the experience you want except working in England and he is available.
https://www.transfermarkt.com/massimiliano-allegri/profil/trainer/7671

 

[Livvie]

One isolated game? Were you alive and well during Ole-ball? Battered by Mourinho's Spurs, battered by Liverpool, battered by RB Leipzig when the pressure was on and wilted like school children. How have people forgotten how rancid the results and performances were in the main under Ole? The guy is an absolute legend and United hero, but he isn't a serious manager. Christ on a cross. How is this discussion even a thing?!

It's a thing because whether you like it or not, ETH has made Ole look good - are you saying that we haven't been battered under Ten Hag? At the time Ole was sacked, it seemed like the right thing, and maybe it was - but we had some great times under him and there was a bit of a spark amongst the supporters that we hadn't had since Fergie's last season. Ole's biggest mistake, or one of them, might have been not subbing DDG in the UEFA final - we came so close to winning that, and if we had, Ole's tenure would be viewed differently. As it is, his record is only bettered by Jose, but what Ole can claim is that he is the only manager since Fergie who gave us a bit of belief and many of his games were a bloody sight more entertaining than anything served up by any United boss in the past twelve years.

 

[In Absentia]

I'm hoping De Zerbi can win Marseille the league and force himself into the equation. Currently joint top and unbeaten, having finished 8th last season.

I think he's really good and some silly underrating on here. But I’d go for the balance of Tuchel for a couple of years. By the time he blows up (if he does) some of the potentials will be more clearly ready.

I also think Tuchel still has it in him to play good football. His Dortmund side was very good to watch, and his jobs after that have been at highly political clubs. We are mental, but we still give managers time. United is a dream job for proper coaches.

 

[RuudTom83]

The same amount of time of any normal club when they realise it’s not working.

I highly doubt West Ham will give their manager 3 years just because if results continue on the same path; and that’s West Ham.

Ok, so not 3 years…but how long would be the target for a United manager to win the PL.

I’m not sure what data we have that can give us an answer.

EtH is in his 3 year so his position needs evaluating at the end of the season no matter what happens between now and May.

With Berrada aiming for a PL win by 2028? (I’ve not read the full article) but that is 4 more seasons/attempts.

1 more for EtH
3 for the next manager

Looks about fair to me.

 

[Rooney24]

If we could make it happen Id go for Unai Emery. But I accept it's unlikely.

The Arsenal stint aside he's proven he's a good manager everywhere he's been.

Other than him then I think it will be Tuchel.

 

[redcucumber]

It's a thing because whether you like it or not, ETH has made Ole look good - are you saying that we haven't been battered under Ten Hag? At the time Ole was sacked, it seemed like the right thing, and maybe it was - but we had some great times under him and there was a bit of a spark amongst the supporters that we hadn't had since Fergie's last season. Ole's biggest mistake, or one of them, might have been not subbing DDG in the UEFA final - we came so close to winning that, and if we had, Ole's tenure would be viewed differently. As it is, his record is only bettered by Jose, but what Ole can claim is that he is the only manager since Fergie who gave us a bit of belief and many of his games were a bloody sight more entertaining than anything served up by any United boss in the past twelve years.

Where did I ever say anything about ten Hag? I've been ten Hag out for over a year! ten Hag being incompetent doesn't suddenly mean Ole wasn't also incompetent. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Both were/are shit, and neither were/are good enough for United.

As for the Ole ball being enthralling - I don't agree with this. We had some great periods but it was obvious we didn't have a proper robust plan, and it never felt sustainable. Which it wasn't.

 

[TheBigLewandowski]

Splash the cash and get Simone

Even if he is defensive, i feel like he could be like Jose for Chelsea.

Rashford would be running his socks off whilst De ligt, Ugarte, Martines,garnacho, hojlund etc could play like beasts for us

 

[Rolaholic]

I still think we should go for this chap who is available and the right age. All the experience you want except working in England and he is available.
https://www.transfermarkt.com/massimiliano-allegri/profil/trainer/7671

Absolutely not, his football is dour