Life after ETH — the next United manager

If we sack ten Hag who would you want as manager?

  • Massimiliano Allegri

    Votes: 18 1.8%

  • Rúben Amorim

    Votes: 109 10.7%

  • Michael Carrick

    Votes: 17 1.7%

  • Roberto de Zerbi

    Votes: 15 1.5%

  • Thomas Frank

    Votes: 47 4.6%

  • Sebastian Hoeneß

    Votes: 44 4.3%

  • Eddie Howe

    Votes: 6 0.6%

  • Simone Inzaghi

    Votes: 57 5.6%

  • Andoni Iraola

    Votes: 27 2.6%

  • Thiago Motta

    Votes: 6 0.6%

  • Julian Nagelsmann

    Votes: 175 17.2%

  • Graham Potter

    Votes: 22 2.2%

  • Ruud van Nistelrooy

    Votes: 21 2.1%

  • Marco Silva

    Votes: 9 0.9%

  • Thomas Tuchel

    Votes: 127 12.5%

  • Xabi Alonso

    Votes: 174 17.1%

  • Xavi

    Votes: 28 2.7%

  • Kieran McKenna

    Votes: 64 6.3%

  • Unai Emery

    Votes: 53 5.2%

  • Fabian Hürzeler

    Votes: 1 0.1%
  • Total voters
    1,020
  • This poll will close: .
Tbh and imo, the only manager who I think could just come in and make "everything right" immediately (who isn't Klopp, even Pep would need time and his players) is Ancelotti.

He seems to be a great man manager and demands immediate respect from his players, not to mention that he seems to know exactly how he should use the players he has at his disposal. But this is probably just a dream.

Would not mind Zidane either, I actually think he could do really well, leading our team to greatness(probably not PL or CL wins, but much, much better than what ETH is doing). Would probably have us challenging in a convincing way(not like Mourinho or OGS). But this is just my opinion off course.
 
Tom Van Persie said:
They've never been in real danger of going down in three seasons which to me is impressive.
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It's impressive and he seems to be a good manager. But keeping a team away from relegation danger isn't something I'd consider high on my priorities when hiring a manager for a club I want to see title challenge in the next 2-4 years.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
His name keeps coming up but I really don't see it. I'd understand it more if he was getting them near the CL places.
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They are not big enough to challenge with the really big teams though. He’s done a brilliant job at Brentford on a fraction of the £600m EtH has had. He would clearly be a big step up from Erik. Would he get us challenging again - who knows. But he is probably ready for a bigger club and bigger challenge. We need somebody to stop the rot here first and foremost. A 2+1 contract might be worth a go.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
His name keeps coming up but I really don't see it. I'd understand it more if he was getting them near the CL places.
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They really missed Toney last season and his return was pretty poor when he eventually came back but they were 2 points off Europe the year before. He’s done a magnificent job with them.
 
ShinjiNinja26 said:
Frank will know a win on Saturday could clinch him the job, he’ll have Brentford right up for this.
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I'd be very surprised if we replace Ten Hag with anyone who's currently employed, regardless of the result on Saturday.

Frank has a bit under 3 years on his deal and I doubt Brentford will make it easy for us barring some kind of existing agreement. He's reportedly on £4.5m a year, so without that, you're looking at buying out a contract worth about £11m on top of everything else.
 
Frank should have been brought in this summer. If ETH gets sacked I don’t believe Frank would be the best option at all.

If we are going that root get Marco Silva.
 
Berbaclass said:
They really missed Toney last season and his return was pretty poor when he eventually came back but they were 2 points off Europe the year before. He’s done a magnificent job with them.
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I don’t disagree but similar to as I said to @Tom Van Persie if your stated ambition is to win the league in the next few years, has he done enough to warrant that task?

I wouldn’t be overly moved if he went to Liverpool, city, Arsenal
 
soapythecat said:
If the structure at the club now is as good as they say (I don’t think it is), then why does it have to be an elite manager? Why not follow the Brighton model and trust the structure around a young manager with personality and good playing style? Ireola is one in the PL who springs to mind. But there must be a few out there, operating under the radar who would suit our players and get them playing to their strengths (they are all capable of playing so much better). Given expectations beyond our fan base are the lowest since the PL began, cheers Erik, then the opportunity to make this appointment is now. We don’t need Anchelotti or another expensive option - we need to be bold and trust this structure. We aren’t going to win the league in the next 20 years and probably won’t make top 4 for a good few years so why not?
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Ahem...



Get on the Seb Hoeness train, comrade. His team are really good at quick, short passes, even against Real Madrid in the Champions League -



Stuttgart did lose this game 3-1 though. But still. They're quite fun to watch. And had Real on the ropes in the first half. It just turns out having your entire team parked in the oposition half while you're outplaying them is not always a good strategy if the other team has Mbappe, Vinicius and Rodrygo as a front 3.

But in possession, they're one of the best attacking sides in Europe this season -



But they're quite high risk out of possession, though.



But have the most intense pressing in the Bundesliga.
 
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Judas said:
Eh? You’d have taken him a couple of months ago but not now? What’s changed?
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Options change as time goes on. In the summer Amorim; Hoeness and Xabi Alonso were less attainable and you could say more green.

Why would you miss that opportunity to now get Frank. I mentioned Silva as for that level of manager he’s the better option.
 
SomeRandomPerson said:
Ahem...



Get on the Seb Hoeness train, comrade. His team are really good at quick, short passes, even against Real Madrid in the Champions League -



Stuttgart did lose this game 3-1 though. But still. They're quite fun to watch. And had Real on the ropes in the first half. It just turns out having your entire team parked in the oposition half while you're outplaying them is not always a good strategy if the other team has Mbappe, Vinicius and Rodrygo as a front 3.

But in possession, they're one of the best attacking sides in Europe this season -



But they're quite high risk out of possession, though.



But have the most intense pressing in the Bundesliga.
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I totally am mate. He’d be my ideal replacement but I’m aware he turned down a job this summer to stay and do a CL campaign with Stuttgart. But he is the type and mould of manager that I feel we should be targeting.
 
golden_blunder said:
But when you say have patience , but on the other hand you would prefer an interim over keeping ETH, I’m struggling to match those 2 up
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I think the club should appoint a professional interim. Much like Chelsea did with Gus Hiddink. Not just go for an inexperienced caretaker for ease.

More problematic, sure, but I feel with so much of the season left it would be worth the extra money. The squad needs a leader and communicator who has done it at the highest level. Possibly someone in an international job who can split it for a time?

It’s tough and that’s why I’m not for going wild on INEOS for pulling the plug this week as it needs planning.
 
golden_blunder said:
But the difference is that Clearlake have absolutely no football people making those choices, Americans who knew nothing about soccer just chucking money around.
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Not entirely true. Tuchel firing and Potter hire was definitely exactly as you describe. We had sporting directors in place soon after Potter was hired though. They fired Potter, hired Poch, fired Poch and hired Maresca.

I agree with both you and @TheReligion though. United do need to move on from Ten Hag, but the way Chelsea have gone about things post takeover should also serve as a cautionary tale. You want to get the next appointment right, so the balance between not throwing the season away by waiting too long and not rushing the decision to try and save the season is very fine.
 
WeePat said:
Not entirely true. Tuchel firing and Potter hire was definitely exactly as you describe. We had sporting directors in place soon after Potter was hired though. They fired Potter, hired Poch, fired Poch and hired Maresca.

I agree with both you and @TheReligion though. United do need to move on from Ten Hag, but the way Chelsea have gone about things post takeover should also serve as a cautionary tale. You want to get the next appointment right, so the balance between not throwing the season away by waiting too long and not rushing the decision to try and save the season is very fine.
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Yeah it’s really tough.

I also understand why they have given Ten Hag a chance, much like you did with Tuchel.

I think it’s likely quite rare new owners/management come in and retain the current coach as they aren’t their pick, but under the circumstances I can fully get why they did it.
 
SomeRandomPerson said:
Ahem...



Get on the Seb Hoeness train, comrade. His team are really good at quick, short passes, even against Real Madrid in the Champions League -



Stuttgart did lose this game 3-1 though. But still. They're quite fun to watch. And had Real on the ropes in the first half. It just turns out having your entire team parked in the oposition half while you're outplaying them is not always a good strategy if the other team has Mbappe, Vinicius and Rodrygo as a front 3.

But in possession, they're one of the best attacking sides in Europe this season -



But they're quite high risk out of possession, though.



But have the most intense pressing in the Bundesliga.
Click to expand...


He doesn't want to come though. What can you do?
 
TheReligion said:
I think the club should appoint a professional interim. Much like Chelsea did with Gus Hiddink. Not just go for an inexperienced caretaker for ease.

More problematic, sure, but I feel with so much of the season left it would be worth the extra money. The squad needs a leader and communicator who has done it at the highest level. Possibly someone in an international job who can split it for a time?

It’s tough and that’s why I’m not for going wild on INEOS for pulling the plug this week as it needs planning.
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Ok get ya.
 
golden_blunder said:
Afraid of having to build a cohesive team than walking into a ready made scenario like Madrid. He will end up back there when Carlo is done
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A likelier bet is that he'll be managing France after the next World Cup.

Alonso looks earmarked for Madrid once Carlo steps down
 
golden_blunder said:
I guess it depends on who they could get as an interim. Someone with the expert also comfortable to know that it is interim only
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I suggested a NT manager who doesn't have a tournament this year previously, but I dunno if the bigger FAs would be willing to have their managers seen to be splitting focus. Hiddink being at Russia gave Abramovic's Chelsea a bit of a unique opening there, thinking about it.
 
soapythecat said:
I totally am mate. He’d be my ideal replacement but I’m aware he turned down a job this summer to stay and do a CL campaign with Stuttgart. But he is the type and mould of manager that I feel we should be targeting.
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Teja said:
He doesn't want to come though. What can you do?
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He didn't want to come in the summer because he wanted to do a season in the Champions League with Stuttgart. Which is fair enough. Last season was really his first big season. He also turned down Bayern.

Doesn't mean he won't be willing to join next summer.

And if he isn't, fair play you just move on to the next target. As @soapythecat noted, the whole point of the football structure is to support the new manager so that he doesn't have to be a Fergie type, just a good coach will do. And there's plenty of those. I would have a lot of time for Iraola or McKenna. Bournemouth have been good for over a year now and I've been really impressed with how Ipswich play out from the back (they don't have the quality in attack to hurt a Premier League level defence but are clearly well coached).

Even a relatively established manager like Inzaghi is just a coach who has no say over the recruitment at Inter.

Point should be to hire a proper training ground coach. Preferably one whose style fits our existing squad - we have players who are good playing short passing sequences, a back 4 + keeper who are good playing it out from the back, and attackers (Bruno, Rashford, Garnacho) who should be lethal in transition. Doing the De Zerbi type baiting the opposition press and playing through them with synchronized short passing to create transitions should be a very workable system for this group. And luckily, McKenna, Hurzeler, Hoeness, Inzaghi, Iraola and even Arne Slot (obviously unavailable to us) do some version of the patient at the back, direct in attack style.

So just hire a coach and judge them on their ability to impose a style. We should be able to see a clear style from the off. Obviously with some limitations because the squad is not title challenging quality. But as long as there is a clear style, it makes the job of Ashworth/Vivell easier in terms of recruitment to bridge the quality gaps. But a discernable style should be visible. It is with Postecoglou, De Zerbi, Hurzeler, even Slot. No more 'he doesn't have his players, you can't expect the team to have an identity till we've replaced everyone in the starting XI' type deal. You are a coach, earn your paycheck.
 
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