Realistically how brutal does Erik Ten Hag need to be?

If he comes in and just like all the other previous managers decides to give all the dross a clean slate then he will have dug his own grave. If he's a smart man he will have closely followed what has unfolded the during recent months and instantly get rid of all the ones who are not good enough. Ruthless and determined.

The sooner he gets his own players in the quickly he can start working towards his plan.
 
This is the time to be brutal. No attachments and players can save face as they’re just not his cup of tea and weren’t given a chance
 
BlueHaze said:
If he comes in and just like all the other previous managers decides to give all the dross a clean slate then he will have dug his own grave. If he's a smart man he will have closely followed what has unfolded the during recent months and instantly get rid of all the ones who are not good enough. Ruthless and determined.

The sooner he gets his own players in the quickly he can start working towards his plan.
Click to expand...
Totally agree. Clean slate my ass. Your prior effort and quality will be judged and taken into account as to whether you will be good going forward. It’s called reality.
 
I hope he comes in and works them until they drop. As soon as the "injuries" start happening tell them there aren't any trips to Dubai or South America while recovering. They can enjoy Carrington everyday.
 
Memento28 said:
If what you said does happen then I am afraid nothing is going to change at United, the board has to be realistic and set realistic targets for ETH, if the board has such a short-term vision it's like they are shooting themselves in the foot again like they have been doing since SAF left. It's high time the fans also realise it's going to take time and effort for United to get back to the top and start playing good football (like an actual team), there's no point in making the manager the scapegoat again and again.
Click to expand...
IT works both ways, though: idiotic decision to give Ole a new three-year contract when they did, when it was blatantly obvious things weren't working and never would
 
Don't think he has to be brutal at all. Work with the players he buys & retains, get them to buy into his system and adjust it to suit what he has available to him. All pretty simple. Toxic fans wanting to scapegoat different players on a daily basis and drive them out of the club isn't a way forward.
 
On his first day he should say the training at 12pm has been moved forward by 2 hours. All those who show up at 10 can stay, all those who come at 2 will be sold.
 
Mourinho inherited a much weaker squad & still managed to finish 2nd & win 3 trophies. With appropriate coaching, this MU squad is not as toxic as people describe.
 
The benefit for ETH is that some decisions are already made for him:

Pogba, Lingard, Cavani, Matic are already gone through natural attrition. The wage saving on these alone are significant - especially considering what we got out of them this season.

Bailey and Phil Jones and possibly Henderson all making noises about leaving and I reckon 2 of these will go.

Martial, Amad, Pereira, Williams, Garner coming back from loan. Possibly one of these will also leave.

There are already lots of movements taking place. Bring 3/4 players in and already you have a big squad change.

Other players will be assessed next season and we will see what happens after that. The biggest problems with moving players on at Utd are the ridiculous salaries we have given them.

As much as everyone would like to see others go, realistically the club will only have so much bandwidth and that needs to be focused on bringing the new faces in.

Also, let’s assume that we put a decent holding CDM in the team - that will immediately improve the defence. Some decent structural defensive coaching and players like Maguire may actually return to some form.

The key is how quickly we get the new faces in and start preseason with those new faces so that all those staying start together. This is the only season I can remember when everyone will be returning at the same time. No summer national tournaments.

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks the internal restructuring continues, the target transfers are lined up and worked on so that everything is in place for ETH to hit the ground running. Im confident of a considerable uptick for next season. Rome wasn’t built in a day but any green shoots of recovery next season will be grasped at by our exasperated fan base.
 
I think a pure DM can really make a difference to the team. If we are to buy 4 players then I will definitely look at a DM, RW, ST and maybe CB/RB like Timber. Next season, we will get a LB and GK.
 
r0663664 said:
I think a pure DM can really make a difference to the team. If we are to buy 4 players then I will definitely look at a DM, RW, ST and maybe CB/RB like Timber. Next season, we will get a LB and GK.
Click to expand...
Do we play Telles as LB. ? I think a LB is more needed than a Rb with Shae always being injured
 
USREDEVIL said:
Totally agree. Clean slate my ass. Your prior effort and quality will be judged and taken into account as to whether you will be good going forward. It’s called reality.
Click to expand...
Hope he will be smart enough to think like this.
 
He needs to break their back and make them humble
 
Over the course of the next two transfer windows we need to change about 7 of the starting 11. For now I would rely on Varane, Sancho, Bruno and Ronaldo if he stays, all other places are up for grabs either from players returning from loan, VDB, Laird, Garner etc or from new signings. Hopefully 4 new signings in the summer, Centre half, DM, right wing to replace Greenwood and a full back. In January we need another striker as cover for Ronaldo, probably another full back and centre midfielder.
The order of these signings may vary depending on who is available when but by February 1st 2023 I would like 10-12 players out and 7 new signings plus loan players returning and youth players being promoted. United ahs been way too comfortable for too many players for too long. I remember Fergie selling Ince, Hughes and Kanchelskis in one summer and they were all league and cup winners and established internationals. If you let players relax they fail to perform, keep them worrying about their next contract, make them earn them.
 
Reports saying he's ordered the players back early to get going with preseason training. First tick in the brutality column.
 
mitchmouse said:
IT works both ways, though: idiotic decision to give Ole a new three-year contract when they did, when it was blatantly obvious things weren't working and never would
Click to expand...

Ya, when it comes to Rangnick, it's like you give a car with a malfunctioning steering wheel to a person who has driven a car only once or twice in the past year or 2 years and tell him to drive and when he can't drive or says that he can't drive, you call him a bad driver or a fraud while completely ignoring the fact that the car has a malfunctioning steering wheel. The person might be actually a bad driver who becomes an even worse driver because of the steering wheel.
 
lex talionis said:
Yes, it’s the contract offer to Pogba that did for us in the 4-0 yesterday & multiple other drubbings he’s not took part in.

If there were no contract extension offer in front of Pogba as we speak, it would obviously be ridiculous to speak of a contract extension offer that does not exist. But the contract extension offer does exist and although it's true that as it stands right now Pogba will be out of contract on June 30, it's entirely possible that Pogba will not be satisfied with his other options, or lack thereof, and that he'll sign the contract extension offer before ETH takes over.

All I'm suggesting is that ETH be given the maximum flexibility -- even to the point of "brutality" when it comes to rebuilding the squad. We don't know what ETH's thoughts on Pogba are, but it would not be stellar management on the part of the club to have signed a massively expensive contract extension for a player that the incoming manager might not want.

We've seen extremely poor club management over the last decade, have we not?
Click to expand...
If you honestly believe a fellow poster believes a contract [that is papaer with words on it] literally lost us a football game then we’re at an impasse.

As for the rest of your post. We just signed Bruno to a ‘massively expensive contract extension’, that’s an actual albatross for EtH to deal with yet you see a contract offer [that has been on the table for months, unsigned & RR has said he’s not signing] as a more worrying massively expensive contract extension’.

Withdrawing the offer publicly does nothing but appease egos.
 
Short answer. COMPLETELY ruthless!
Time to tidy up and demand respect and some positive attitude.
 
He needs to establish very early on who is and who isn’t willing to fight for him or the club on the pitch.

He then needs to establish of those who are willing, are they actually good enough technically and mentally to impart his tactics.

It will take time to overhaul this squad of the years of neglect, so I don’t envisage we’ll look the finished article for a while, but I would hope to see some positive changes in regards to attitude, tactics, and exciting football.

If the fans can see improvements in these areas it will encourage them to get behind the manager and team. I do feel that fans will allow ETH more time than previous managers, as he’s proven his teams can play the football we want to see.
 
What is required isn't brutal; it's a professional structure where people who aren't performing are moved on.
Six players are leaving out of contract, and possibly another eight would be up for review. ETH is no fool as he is well aware of what needs to be done, and for the first time in years, I can see the clear out happening, maybe not in the one window but over the next 12 months.
ETH will need to bring in his players as soon as possible. It will be exciting to watch who comes in and who leaves.
I'm very confident that things will change for the better, and we'll show real signs of progress very quickly. We may look a million miles from being a challenging team, but this can change quicker than we think.
 
I think EtH is a very analytical person. He will trust himself and make calls fast. Most of them will be right, less of them will not be. In the end, making quick calls are better than waiting it out.

Some of the things he does will obviously be brutal for someone. Players, staff, how things are done today, etc.

I welcome this change. We sure need it.
 
I think with some decent coaching and tactical setup we have enough decent players that will be determined to improve next season

Also he won’t continue to pick underperforming players like RR has this season - there has to be a consequence to a poor performance - the only consequence these days seems to be being offered a new contract!

There will be a significant upturn in effort and performance from the majority. Those that don’t will be sidelined and then hopefully shifted out. We won’t be able to offload all the dross straightaway but I’m pretty certain that they will be loaned out or at least very encouraged to move on. He certainly won’t have the toxic entourage that we currently have.

Im sure he has been given assurances that he can shift out those that are not suited to the plan.

Thankfully we have a good purge naturally this summer. We have great youth prospects and several players returning from loan that should all be given a good look at.

Think it will be very interesting to see what happens over the first couple of months - will be quick to see those that are not in the plan…..

Also - starting from rock bottom as we are - things can only get better, much better.
 
I hope he gets to the bottom of those leaks and moves on the players; That Athletic article about training sessions had such specific details, this needs to stop. Is it really all Jesse!
 
I hope he is fair but ruthless when required. The consensus seems to be that the squad needs to be gutted and while this would be the ideal scenario it is unrealistic as they would get very little of a return on a massive investment on players. The clear out will be a gradual process with the hope that as things improve players can be unloaded and get some value. My only wish for ETH's first season is that the continuous position of UTD at the bottom of the ground covered stats and running stats is changed dramatically. I dont expect our stats next season in this area to match City's or Liverpool's (as we are so far behind) but I do hope we can be top 5 for these areas as it will show the team/squad is finally trying instead of constantly being outworked!!
 
Joe Pesci in Goodfellas level of ruthless please. Our current level of play is no laughing matter.
 
Given how we have a goal difference of +1 and City have a goal difference of +72 (just the casual 71 difference)

I hope he gets rid of all the players except Ronaldo.
 
Don't think he necessarily needs to be brutal, just honest and clear about what he wants..."you are in...you are out, will see all the 'in crowd' at 8.00am at Carrington tomorrow, our journey together starts then..."
 
We're not as bad as we have looked this season, there are a lot of players we'll struggle to find upgrades on. A big part of the job is on the training pitch.
The midfield though need at least two new players, players who are clear improvement on what will be left of our current options, we also need at least one quality attacker joining up, we would have Ronaldo, Sancho, Rashford as senior attacking option, this leaves us with no one as a substitute who can produce a spark off the bench when necessary, ideally you'll need two options for that but hopefully one of our current young ones (Elanga, Amad) will kick on next season.
The center backs am OK with at least for now since the immediate target should be to get back to champions league places, among the fullbacks my biggest concern is with AWB, his skill sets are very different from what I've seen of ETH fullbacks in my opinion, Telles is OK as a back up to Shaw, while Dalot skill set especially in the build up playing as a inverted fullback will be appreciated.
De gea isn't your ideal goalie but we'll have more pressing concerns maybe if we get a good fee if Henderson leaves we could find a suitable goalie to fit this style of play.
 
Reiver said:
Reports saying he's ordered the players back early to get going with preseason training. First tick in the brutality column.
Click to expand...
Cue "players unhappy with training" in 5.......4..........3.........2........1........
 
He needs to be ruthless beyond belief. Murtough is showing the way off the field and now Ten Hag should be given licence to burn this squad to the ground and start again from the ashes.

We are going to finish 6th or 7th, 30 odd points behind the winner, 70 odd goals worse off, knocked out of both domestic cups by the 4th round and Europe in the last 16. All this with the 3rd highest wage bill in world football.

Bar Ronaldo and maybe Sancho, there isn't a player over 20 in the squad who we shouldn't be interested in listening to offers for. Obviously we're not going to get rid of them all, but letting them know that not one of them is safe, will at least stop them assuming Ten Hag is the latest in a long line of patsies they can throw under the bus. Selling a couple of high profile spoofers will drive that point home nicely.
 
He needs to clear the snakepit ie the dressing room. Get rid of the toxic ring leaders, most are already leaving so he only needs to get rid of rashford, shaw and martial.
 
I think that the issue this season has been one of attitude and confidence not of quality, I am not deluded enough to think our squad is good enough to challenge City, Pool or Chelsea, but it is probably still the 3rd best squad on paper if you assess the players as playing at or near their best.

Last season our defence looked ropey at times, yet we strengthened it with Varane, our attacking threat was pretty potent, in the summer clearly something happened to disrupt the squad, maybe Ronaldo, Sancho arrival?? who knows, certainly I think many underestimate the negative impact the mason greenwood situation will have had, following on top of the piledriver results we suffered at the start of the season.

I think one thing the Rangnick appointment has proven is that Solskjaer was not the villain of the piece, however, anyone on here reckon that given this squad, with Klopp, Pep or even Touchel or Conte in charge we would not have been comfortably in the top 4?

I hope that ETH can get Rashford back to form, and bring more out of Sancho, I also hope that he gives a few more youth team players a chance, I do not see him getting rid of any players that are not already leaving at the end of their contracts and could see him bringing back the on loan players for at least 6 months, I think he will focus on shoring up our midfield, again I think many underestimate the effect of a world class midfielder capable of protecting the defence and recycling the ball on this current squad, there are things I love about McT, Fred and Matic but they are not even close to being good enough, imagine swapping them into the City, Chelsea or Pool 1st 11 (and taking their contemporaries out) and those teams would look like a sack of crap too.
 
I think he'll give De Gea one season to adapt to his style ( a footballing keeper), if he doesn't adapt he'll be gone. We may see a goal keeping coach working with young keepers, Bishop and Kovar to become better footballers
 
dutchred said:
I think he'll give De Gea one season to adapt to his style ( a footballing keeper), if he doesn't adapt he'll be gone. We may see a goal keeping coach working with young keepers, Bishop and Kovar to become better footballers
Click to expand...

Whats interesting about this is Eric Steele said DDG had excellent distribution at one stage and it has gone downhill
 
I wish he could read this or otherwise realise that almost the entire fanbase of this club is fed up with the players and will be behind all the coach's decisions next year, especially if they are to the detriment of the players.
I hope he will not try to be a nice guy and win the sympathy of the players, especially the senior players. I don't think a new coach of such a big club has ever had such a free hand (at least from the fans) in his decision making.
He has to be absolutely ruthless
 
You must log in or register to reply here.