Mitchell van der Gaag…

I watched Mitchell's body language in the first season and there's no doubt in my mind it changed in the second season. He seemed miserable throughout and it could be part explanation for the chaotic results. Something must've happened during last summer. Perhaps he wanted a raise or was blocked from a management role. He has a great reputation, so it's possible he was approached. We just don't know right now. Erik met with van Persie and Ruud in the last six months - I always felt that was more than just close friends catching up.

Anyway, a thanks to Mitchell for all the hard work. I'm pleased he's left, only because it was clear he was unhappy.
 
He is supposedly an excellent defensive coach but there has been little evidence of that at United. I don't think it's a huge loss for us, best of luck to him.
 
Blood Mage said:
He is supposedly an excellent defensive coach but there has been little evidence of that at United. I don't think it's a huge loss for us, best of luck to him.
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This is what I don't get, we have Steve McLaren on the staff. Scholes and Neville both said he was excellent at working with the defence when they worked with him back in 1999 - 2001. So why isn't he working with our defenders? Scholes has said he doesn't see any of McLaren's fingerprints/methods on our defenders? Why?
 
dinostar77 said:
This is what I don't get, we have Steve McLaren on the staff. Scholes and Neville both said he was excellent at working with the defence when they worked with him back in 1999 - 2001. So why isn't he working with our defenders? Scholes has said he doesn't see any of McLaren's fingerprints/methods on our defenders? Why?
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McLaren might have known some things 30 years ago. Not now in a modern setup.
 
dinostar77 said:
This is what I don't get, we have Steve McLaren on the staff. Scholes and Neville both said he was excellent at working with the defence when they worked with him back in 1999 - 2001. So why isn't he working with our defenders? Scholes has said he doesn't see any of McLaren's fingerprints/methods on our defenders? Why?
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Because it was 25 years ago?
 
Mickson said:
McLaren might have known some things 30 years ago. Not now in a modern setup.
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Why the certainty that his thinking can’t evolve? He was excellent at setting up a defence 25 years ago to respond to the threats posed at the time. Why can’t he set up a defence now to counter different threats? It’s pretty limited thinking to assume that just because someone was good a long time ago, that they can’t be good now. Yes, the game has moved on, but people also move on, evolve and change.
 
simonhch said:
Why the certainty that his thinking can’t evolve? He was excellent at setting up a defence 25 years ago to respond to the threats posed at the time. Why can’t he set up a defence now to counter different threats? It’s pretty limited thinking to assume that just because someone was good a long time ago, that they can’t be good now. Yes, the game has moved on, but people also move on, evolve and change.
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Based on that he doesn't work with tactics much. His role has been more social (according to The Athletic). See Mike Phelan, being a cool guy at the pitch who the players can joke around with. Also, he hasn't coached since 2018 before he took this job in 2022. I think it's fair to say that he is a little bit outdated regarding tactics, certainly at the highest level.
 
cyril C said:
Did we need any insider in recruiting VDB and Antony?
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Both can be explained quite easily though. VdB had had a great season and a lot of clubs wanted him, he wasn’t that expensive but we signed him without much of a plan in how he’d be used. He’s then sat on a bench or physio table since.

Antony wasn’t our first choice from reports and we turned him down at a lower fee earlier in the summer, only to then fail to bring in anyone else and go back, cap in hand, to get rinsed by Ajax.

Ineos already seem (let’s see when the window closes what we have) far more targeted and aggressive. There just needs to be some kind of a plan, before it’s been ‘we need a CM’ and then we just sign a big name without a thought for their skillset.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
Both can be explained quite easily though. VdB had had a great season and a lot of clubs wanted him, he wasn’t that expensive but we signed him without much of a plan in how he’d be used. He’s then sat on a bench or physio table since.

Antony wasn’t our first choice from reports and we turned him down at a lower fee earlier in the summer, only to then fail to bring in anyone else and go back, cap in hand, to get rinsed by Ajax.

Ineos already seem (let’s see when the window closes what we have) far more targeted and aggressive. There just needs to be some kind of a plan, before it’s been ‘we need a CM’ and then we just sign a big name without a thought for their skillset.
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What you just described, applied to Mata, Fellaini, Sanchez, Kagawa, and the list can go on and on. Of course they all had wonderful season, we just had to shop first think afterwards, on where to put them. No offence, but this is woman shopping.
 
cyril C said:
What you just described, applied to Mata, Fellaini, Sanchez, Kagawa, and the list can go on and on. Of course they all had wonderful season, we just had to shop first think afterwards, on where to put them. No offence, but this is woman shopping.
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That’s literally how we recruited in the past.
 
Good luck to Mitchell, no doubt he is off to some great future.

Super excited about this trio:

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