Life after ETH — the next United manager

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

  • Massimiliano Allegri

    Votes: 24 1.7%

  • Rúben Amorim

    Votes: 290 21.1%

  • Michael Carrick

    Votes: 33 2.4%

  • Roberto de Zerbi

    Votes: 18 1.3%

  • Thomas Frank

    Votes: 70 5.1%

  • Sebastian Hoeneß

    Votes: 59 4.3%

  • Eddie Howe

    Votes: 6 0.4%

  • Simone Inzaghi

    Votes: 66 4.8%

  • Andoni Iraola

    Votes: 36 2.6%

  • Thiago Motta

    Votes: 8 0.6%

  • Julian Nagelsmann

    Votes: 255 18.5%

  • Graham Potter

    Votes: 26 1.9%

  • Ruud van Nistelrooy

    Votes: 30 2.2%

  • Marco Silva

    Votes: 8 0.6%

  • Xabi Alonso

    Votes: 217 15.8%

  • Xavi

    Votes: 58 4.2%

  • Kieran McKenna

    Votes: 81 5.9%

  • Unai Emery

    Votes: 90 6.5%

  • Fabian Hürzeler

    Votes: 1 0.1%
  • Total voters
    1,376
SomeRandomPerson said:
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.
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Interestingly, there was a discussion on Twitter about this exact style of play taking shape more and more in the premier league. The Pep version of football that people have come to accept over the past decade was that a top team needs to defend with the ball and ball retention is generally something to aim for. But this is only true if there is a significant gulf in quality between the top sides and the bottom sides and that's not the case in the PL.







I think it's a good trend to pay attention to when hiring the next coach and I agree with your take that the De Zerbi style bait and bypass press is a good fit for these players.
 


Do we have a list of candidates who haven't turned us down over the last 6 months? :lol::(

Tbf to Alonso, he also turned down Bayern but that makes about all my top candidates who've either turned us down or taken other jobs.

The only one left of my preferred optipns that I don't know whether we actually approached him or not is Amorim and he turned down Liverpool over the summer so I figure the answer would be the similar if we did/have approached him.
 
Rolaholic said:
Do we have a list of candidates who haven't turned us down over the last 6 months? :lol::(
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At least they talked to all the right people and seem to know what's up. I was briefly worried about the Southgate links no matter how flimsy they were.
 
There was never really any chance of Alonso joining us, but if you're a top club looking for a manager you have to take a shot at convincing him I suppose.

Will be interesting to see who we ultimately end up with, because there really is no obvious choice.
 
Rolaholic said:


Do we have a list of candidates who haven't turned us down over the last 6 months? :lol::(

Tbf to Alonso, he also turned down Bayern but that makes about all my top candidates who've either turned us down or taken other jobs.

The only one left of my preferred optipns that I don't know whether we actually approached him or not is Amorim and he turned down Liverpool over the summer so I figure the answer would be the similar if we did/have approached him.
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Yeah it's certainly not a good look for the club to keep being turned down by managers
 
Rolaholic said:
Do we have a list of candidates who haven't turned us down over the last 6 months? :lol::(
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At least this shows that we are being proactive and talking to other managers. I've seen so many posts on here slagging off INEOS and the new upper management team because EtH is still here - as if they think they are happy with how it's going and are confident he's doing a good job. They're clearly not happy and are looking elsewhere.

I honestly believe the only reason EtH is still in a job is because the right candidate isn't available right now. The upper management are just waiting on the right timing to get rid of him.
 
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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We don't have the players for that style of play, otherwise would be watching ETH Ajax ball on a weekly basis.
 
My hunch is that we will go for a manager who is unemployed right now. Clearly we are being financially prudent and if it continues to go south under ETH, we're going to have to pay out quite a bit to get rid, and we won't want to also pay a club to release their manager.

With that in mind, these are the unemployed options:
  • Massimiliano Allegri
  • Graham Potter
  • Ruud van Nistelrooy (employed but by us)
  • Xavi
  • Gareth Southgate
I have to say, not that inspiring. My guess is that if these are the options, we would it probably give it Ruud till the end of the season, and see if a manager we want frees up by then.
 
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Who's Kissing Cameras? said:
So would you be in favour to keep Erik this season if we came 10th but won the League Cup?

Interested to hear your POV on this.
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Of course. Guaranteed Europe next year (which isn’t looking likely at this stage of the season), another trophy in the cabinet, stopping likely one of our closest rivals winning another trophy.

If the question however is 10th + league cup but we stick with ETH going into next season too then that’s a tougher question. Probably not. Would get him out, let the new manager have a “reset” season with no Europe, more time on the grass drilling a new system, more rest, less injuries, trim more deadwood, leaner squad, and really focus on league performance. We’ve seen teams like Chelsea have such seasons in the past and instantly bounce back to top 4 / challenging again.
 
I wouldn’t even say the standards are in the gutter. They are well below that level when fans suggest that they would take 10th and a trophy.
 
Now Tuchel and Poch are off the market I’m (horrifyingly, even to myself) warming to the idea of Southgate for a couple of years.

There is zero point in hiring a manager who plays beautiful football at his current club when we don’t have the players to make it work, we’ll just see a continuation of the same problems.

We need pragmatism for two years while we sort out the squad and rebuild confidence and morale.

Half the forum will hate me for it but Ole would be my top choice, at least for a year or so while we correct course. He’s got the experience of steering this ship and repairing a team whatever his limitations as a coach.
 
sugar_kane said:
Half the forum will hate me for it but Ole would be my top choice, at least for a year or so while we correct course. He’s got the experience of steering this ship and repairing a team whatever his limitations as a coach.
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I'd argue that Ole actually doesn't have relevant experience. When he came in after Mourinho, he had a dressing room that was drilled by a great tactician, but that was just mentally broken down. He didn't really need to fix big tactical issues, but he needed to fix the morale of the squad. It appears to be the exactly opposite situation right now. His limitations as a coach which ended his first stint as United manager would be a problem from the first day on now. This would be a disaster.
 
Squeaky_Bum_Time said:
My hunch is that we will go for a manager who is unemployed right now. Clearly we are being financially prudent and if it continues to go south under ETH, we're going to have to pay out quite a bit to get rid, and we won't want to also pay a club to release their manager.

With that in mind, these are the unemployed options:
  • Massimiliano Allegri
  • Graham Potter
  • Ruud van Nistelrooy (employed but by us)
  • Xavi
  • Gareth Southgate
I have to say, not that inspiring. My guess is that if these are the options, we would it probably give it Ruud till the end of the season, and see if a manager we want frees up by then.
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Well I voted for Xavi. Even as a short term appointment it'd be good to see, would need to jettison half the squad though.
 
daba said:
Of course. Guaranteed Europe next year (which isn’t looking likely at this stage of the season), another trophy in the cabinet, stopping likely one of our closest rivals winning another trophy.

If the question however is 10th + league cup but we stick with ETH going into next season too then that’s a tougher question. Probably not. Would get him out, let the new manager have a “reset” season with no Europe, more time on the grass drilling a new system, more rest, less injuries, trim more deadwood, leaner squad, and really focus on league performance. We’ve seen teams like Chelsea have such seasons in the past and instantly bounce back to top 4 / challenging again.
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That would mean that you are entirely comfortable with two back to back disastrous league campaigns? 8th and 10th? If we react sooner, the season is still salvageable.
 
Thomas Frank would be an excellent choice. Great football, Brentford constantly punching above their weight, great man management skills.
 
Squeaky_Bum_Time said:
My hunch is that we will go for a manager who is unemployed right now. Clearly we are being financially prudent and if it continues to go south under ETH, we're going to have to pay out quite a bit to get rid, and we won't want to also pay a club to release their manager.

With that in mind, these are the unemployed options:
  • Massimiliano Allegri
  • Graham Potter
  • Ruud van Nistelrooy (employed but by us)
  • Xavi
  • Gareth Southgate
I have to say, not that inspiring. My guess is that if these are the options, we would it probably give it Ruud till the end of the season, and see if a manager we want frees up by then.
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There is also Sérgio Conceição and Sarri as well
 
stefan92 said:
I'd argue that Ole actually doesn't have relevant experience. When he came in after Mourinho, he had a dressing room that was drilled by a great tactician, but that was just mentally broken down. He didn't really need to fix big tactical issues, but he needed to fix the morale of the squad. It appears to be the exactly opposite situation right now. His limitations as a coach which ended his first stint as United manager would be a problem from the first day on now. This would be a disaster.
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Even though I have said that I'd happily take Ole back just as an interim, you actually are correct here. I expect we'd still see some improvement based on the fact that even ETH tends to get his best results when he goes back to a similar style as Ole used, so you'd expect Ole would play similar to that all the time. But the post-Mourinho and post-ETH situations are very different, with Ole's strengths and weaknesses fitting the former much more than the latter.
 
It'll be Xavi Alonso, Frank Nagelsmann or Thomas Amorim if Kieran Rodgers isn't available.

Karlos PFC said:
Thomas Frank would be an excellent choice. Great football, Brentford constantly punching above their weight, great man management skills.
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'Punching above his weight, great management skills' were Moyes spake.

They were.

'Great football' notsomuch, I grant you, but tread carefully.
 
stefan92 said:
I'd argue that Ole actually doesn't have relevant experience. When he came in after Mourinho, he had a dressing room that was drilled by a great tactician, but that was just mentally broken down. He didn't really need to fix big tactical issues, but he needed to fix the morale of the squad. It appears to be the exactly opposite situation right now. His limitations as a coach which ended his first stint as United manager would be a problem from the first day on now. This would be a disaster.
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Are there "big" tactical issues? I think the tactical issues we have might be something of a Gordian knot. Ten Hag is insistent on trying to tweak and tug at this loop or that loop's angle, when we'd probably be better off doing the simple thing.

For the record, I don't think we should bring Ole back because the media and fans already turned on him, and unfortunately that is actually pretty important. Even if he had a really good run, it would still be "here we go again." Plus he'd be coming back without the lieutenants that helped him have the runs he had the first time around, so it'd be a whole different situation.
 
didz said:
Are there "big" tactical issues? I think the tactical issues we have might be something of a Gordian knot. Ten Hag is insistent on trying to tweak and tug at this loop or that loop's angle, when we'd probably be better off doing the simple thing.

For the record, I don't think we should bring Ole back because the media and fans already turned on him, and unfortunately that is actually pretty important. Even if he had a really good run, it would still be "here we go again." Plus he'd be coming back without the lieutenants that helped him have the runs he had the first time around, so it'd be a whole different situation.
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I honestly believe if we didnt sign cr7 second time, mason was a better human being, ole would have achieved a better success here.
My fav game post SAF is the one just before covid lockdown. We beat city with that mctom goal. I have never seen us play with that intensity , right from the start of a match . Pep was blown away with that..
 
shabin_d_great said:
I honestly believe if we didnt sign cr7 second time, mason was a better human being, ole would have achieved a better success here.
My fav game post SAF is the one just before covid lockdown. We beat city with that mctom goal. I have never seen us play with that intensity , right from the start of a match . Pep was blown away with that..
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Great match, great goal, great moment. Ole had a few of those.

I think he ultimately defeated himself though. He told the team to press Liverpool when the team was in no way equipped to do so, which led to that 4-0 defeat that wrecked him. We were quite literally the best counter attacking side in world football, but a combination of naivety and caving to pressure had Solskjaer shoot himself in the foot for that game. He then scrambled around for a solution, found none forthcoming with no confidence in the side, and undid all the work he and his staff had done. Unfortunate, but somewhat always likely to happen eventually.
 
doubleohseven said:
It'll be Xavi Alonso, Frank Nagelsmann or Thomas Amorim if Kieran Rodgers isn't available.



'Punching above his weight, great management skills' were Moyes spake.

They were.

'Great football' notsomuch, I grant you, but tread carefully.
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True, though I'd argue that Frank is tactically astute in comparison to Moyes. We've brought a certain Ole Gunnar here a few years ago that was just romanticizing the old days, vibes and had nothing to do with tactics except sit back and counter, terrible transfers and even not so up to the task man management skills. And he came from fecking Molde.

Also I stand by the great football, let's agree to disagree.
Thomas or Amorim would be nice.

Alonso and Zizou don't want to come here, it's just lazy journalism, let's throw in the pot whomever is unemployed at the moment.
 
didz said:
Are there "big" tactical issues? I think the tactical issues we have might be something of a Gordian knot. Ten Hag is insistent on trying to tweak and tug at this loop or that loop's angle, when we'd probably be better off doing the simple thing.
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That's actually a good point. I'm just not sure if the current squad is suited as well to the simple thing as Ole teached it as Mourinho's squad was. Which is why I think it wouldn't work out as well.
 
Rolaholic said:


Do we have a list of candidates who haven't turned us down over the last 6 months? :lol::(

Tbf to Alonso, he also turned down Bayern but that makes about all my top candidates who've either turned us down or taken other jobs.

The only one left of my preferred optipns that I don't know whether we actually approached him or not is Amorim and he turned down Liverpool over the summer so I figure the answer would be the similar if we did/have approached him.
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croadyman said:
Yeah it's certainly not a good look for the club to keep being turned down by managers
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It's a non story. Alonso turned both Liverpool and Bayern down to stay at Leverkusen. We might have sounded him out (and why wouldn't we) but we were obviously never really in the picture, and neither will we be next summer when Real enter it. It's not even a slight on us, it just confirms what everybody should know, that Alonso is not a viable candidate for us.
 
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daba said:
Of course. Guaranteed Europe next year (which isn’t looking likely at this stage of the season), another trophy in the cabinet, stopping likely one of our closest rivals winning another trophy.

If the question however is 10th + league cup but we stick with ETH going into next season too then that’s a tougher question. Probably not. Would get him out, let the new manager have a “reset” season with no Europe, more time on the grass drilling a new system, more rest, less injuries, trim more deadwood, leaner squad, and really focus on league performance. We’ve seen teams like Chelsea have such seasons in the past and instantly bounce back to top 4 / challenging again.
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But the new manager wouldn't have a reset season with no Europe. We'd be in Europe for winning the League Cup
 
stefan92 said:
I'd argue that Ole actually doesn't have relevant experience. When he came in after Mourinho, he had a dressing room that was drilled by a great tactician, but that was just mentally broken down. He didn't really need to fix big tactical issues, but he needed to fix the morale of the squad. It appears to be the exactly opposite situation right now. His limitations as a coach which ended his first stint as United manager would be a problem from the first day on now. This would be a disaster.
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What are those tactical limitations?
 
Rojofiam said:
What are those tactical limitations?
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In my opinion a lack of control. He's able to at least maintain a great transformation team, but it never felt as if he knew how to move towards a more reliably dominant style. There were talks about him wanting to move the team towards more of a possession style, but that never really happened, which also means he wasn't really able to close the gap to the absolute top teams in the league.

Nonetheless what he did resulted in great entertainment and a bunch of really memorable moments. In that regard football is cruel, I would have liked to see him win some cup or the EL with that style much more than EtH...
 
Karlos PFC said:
True, though I'd argue that Frank is tactically astute in comparison to Moyes. We've brought a certain Ole Gunnar here a few years ago that was just romanticizing the old days, vibes and had nothing to do with tactics except sit back and counter, terrible transfers and even not so up to the task man management skills. And he came from fecking Molde.

Also I stand by the great football, let's agree to disagree.
Thomas or Amorim would be nice.

Alonso and Zizou don't want to come here, it's just lazy journalism, let's throw in the pot whomever is unemployed at the moment.
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Except that we didn't "sit back and counter" at all.
 
Rojofiam said:
Except that we didn't "sit back and counter" at all.
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What? Are you kidding me? Have seen us under Ole? Have you seen us trying to press high under Ole? Where were you those 3 horrible years? A great win here and there but all in all terrible football.

Come on man we all love the guy but he was never up to this level of coaching.

His only tactic was exactly that sit deep and hit on the counter. Oh and vibes, lots of them.

Starting every game (e.g. Burnley, Southampton etc.) like we had to face prime Barca.
 
Of all the coaches in the Premier League, Iraola would be my first choice now. I love how his team presses. They build the play up well but also go long and direct at times, which I think will always suit United, to an extent. Bilbao guys don't take much shit, and I think they are well suited to Manchester. I think he’s got a massive upside. Could we get him out of Bournmouth mid-season? Years back, it would be laughable to think we couldn’t but no one seemed to move mid-season nowadays.
 
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