What can we expect from Erik in the few 5 years?

First season - top 6, with clear demonstration of specific football style we wanted to play
2nd season - top 4, and becoming a possession team
3rd season - top 3, with display of good football
4th season - top 3 plus a cup trophy
5th season - title challenge plus cup trophy(s)
 
Open book for me, meaning I don't know what to expect.

Have my hopes of course.

1st season I'd take a recognisable system of play developing and getting closer to top 4 if not top actually getting there. Bonus -= domestic cup win/Europa League.

2nd season = top 4.

3rd = comfortable top 4.

4th and beyond -= title challenge.

Can't say I've followed him much and even if I had it's still a different task for him moving from the Dutch League to the Premier League. It's a case of wait and see really but I'll support him if/until he shows I shouldn't d. Just hoping for the best.
 
Even Klopp didn’t finish top 4 in his 1st season in a less competitive PL.

I’d say lower your expectations.
 
I don't know if I'm overrating his stint in Ajax too much, but I think it takes a really world class coach to virtually win the league 4 years straight despite having to replace half the team. And considering Ajax weren't winning before he came makes it a bigger achievement.

Ole probably wouldn't make it and he still took us back to back top 4 finishes.

Poch wouldn't make it as shown he wasn't able to do it in PSG.

Conte maybe could but he probably wouldn't last 4 years having to reinvent a whole team.

I have great expectations for him and I hope in 3 years we are competing toe to toe for the league.
 
He gets a season to establish his style and needs a top 4 finish with competitive showings against City and the scousers

He needs to challenge on all fronts in season 2

Needs a trophy season 3 latest
 
Year 1 - Top 4 with a good football and decent cup finishes. (Trophy a bonus but looks unlikely)
Year 2 - Top 4 but with a better squad and try to get more points than last season and win a trophy
Year 3 - Improvement continues but this time top 3, our football should be like on of the best, 1 trophy and try to make a deep run into the UCL
Year 4 - Contend for the title.
Year 5 - Should be playing like one of the best teams in Europe, a SERIOUS title charge, hopefully winning it. Try to win multiple trophies.

This is if everything goes well, but even if they are not met, we should trust and back him, we know he's a great manager and can make the sun shine on us again.
 
Honestly as much of a shambles as we have been this season I think the board and the fans will be expecting (or demanding) at the very least a top four finish.

We are already seeing speculation that some players don't want to join us since we won't be in the champions league and the financial aspect is huge too.

Year 1 to 3 - Top four, clear the deadwood, implement his style of play and start integrating the best youngsters into the first team. Maybe win a domestic cup or two.

Year 3 to 4 - Start challenging or at least being in the race for the title and winning domestic cups and getting to later rounds in Europe.

Year 5 - Hopefully get a league title and maybe even champions league win

This would be a good scenario for me however we also need to consider we are miles behind City and Liverpool and it doesn't look like they will stop advancing. Also a lot will depend on how much the board will back ETH and give him freedom to make the choices he needs
 
bosnian_red said:
  1. Implement play style, teething issues, some great performances and some bad ones, but a clear sign of growth as the year goes showing improvement the more we get used to each other and he gets used to the league. Aim to win Europa League, aim for top 4 but there is decent competition there. Either get CL through Europa or top 4.
  2. Make adjustments to overcome premier league issues. Make signings to address players holding us back from performing as he wants. Shouldn't be any significant holes in the team, though not necessarily that everyone is "good enough for a title competitor". Comfortable top 4 finish, showing a good level and style in the big games, showing that we can compete with anyone on our day but lacking consistency to challenge Pep or Klopp. Not be drastically outplayed by anyone. Be seen as a tier 2 club, the tier below the best in Europe.
  3. Sign the players required to make the step up to serious competitors and by the end of the season, be seen as one of the top 5 elite teams.
Step 1 should be season 1, step 2 might be season 2 and 3, step 3 either season 3/4/5. It's hard to say "expect a title win" or "expect a PL win" and flop otherwise, Klopp has been a huge success but only has 1 title win and 1 CL win in 7 years. Hard to guarantee when up against other great teams, but you should target being part of the group. And then luck/stuff out of your control does the rest.
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Exactly. They both might have a lackluster season at the same time (like 20/21). We should be ready to take advantage of that if it happens. But to do this, we need to be capable of winning 7-8 matches on the trot twice a season. Even in bad years, City and Liverpool will easily go on multiple winning runs of about 8-10 games if not more (they've both done 18 I think at some point!). We need to show ourselves capable of that whether or not we're in a title challenge over the next two years. That way, when it really matters, the players know that they can put together a winning run to either take charge of a title race or bring it home on the finish straight.
 
Lentwood said:
I reckon we should run some kind of sweepstake on which game-week we see the first poster calling for him to be sacked.

Personally I think we'll see 10/20% of this forum wanting him out by end of October/early November
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No way will it be anything near 20%, but there will be a vocal minority.

There will be four constituent groups:
  1. Jose fans, the quantity of whom on here never ceases to depress me.
  2. Fans of certain players who will blame the manager for not getting their darling playing like the superstar he obviously should be under the right management.
  3. A handful of people who moan regardless.
  4. A tiny number of fans of other managers. The Enrique one has so far been a lot more subtle than the Poch fan.
 
Lentwood said:
I reckon we should run some kind of sweepstake on which game-week we see the first poster calling for him to be sacked.

Personally I think we'll see 10/20% of this forum wanting him out by end of October/early November
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The fact that you're thinking this way means you're predicting us to be shit comes October/November and are already thinking about how you're going to excuse this and reply on whoever will criticize the manager. This, on its own, is an enough sign to worry about the upcoming season.

All I see is people putting excuses left, right and center before a ball is even kicked. Everyone seems to be expecting a shit season despite a new manager coming and the first thought is how to defend the manager when this happens.

But then we're told to be optimistic after such posts. Ridiculous.
 
OleTheGreat said:
Why would you say that? I know u r saying this judging by the pattern in the last decade but a lot of things have changed even in the background and I hope u can a bit more optimistic about the upcoming season and ETG of course.
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I thought that text speak was banned here.
 
sglowrider said:
But at least they stayed loyal to the players and club albeit delusional at times.
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Staying loyal to the club is good. But to the players? Not necessarily. They have to deliver the goods too.
 
tenpoless said:
Sacked and another 5 years rebuild.
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A plaisible scenario that cannot be discounted given the way things have unfolded in the past decade. Sure things are changing but unless they translate to on-field results, doubts and cynicism will rightfully remain.
 
History suggests he’s unlikely to last 5 years. I predict an up and down first season where we compete for 4th and end up either just making it or missing it. I predict a solid start to the second season that peters out towards the end and ends with us 2nd/3rd.

The question then becomes can ETH buck the trend of horrible starts in the 3rd season that both Ole and Jose faced? I hope he does, but more likely than not we start bad and he ends up getting the sack by Christmas and we’re back to square one.
 
Tap said:
Staying loyal to the club is good. But to the players? Not necessarily. They have to deliver the goods too.
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What's a club without people, it's only a logo. People are what make an organisation. When you look back at the club's history, we always think of the players. Not the badge but players helping win the silverware.

The problem here is that people think the players are some FIFA manager robots.

They are just people with weaknesses and strengths and not perfect human beings or heroes. When we accept that then we are more tolerant of their weaknesses and their fallibilities.

Anyone who has played the game at even a Sunday league level knows near impossible it is to get to their level and to play that quality of football consistently -- will appreciate and be more tolerant of their jobs.
 
In his first game, if players don't play the way he instructs, they will be dropped for the next game automatically. Youth team/first teamers come in to do the job. If I see this, I will have hope. At the end of the day, we cannot depend on signings to improve us. They could get injured and then what? We need a manager who can raise the level of all our players.
 
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If he can get us playing like his Ajax teams, then I’ll be delighted. Honestly feel this is the biggest signing we’ve made since SAF retired.
 
Klopp got a champions league final in his third season, winder if we could one up that.
 
A lot will depend on finances and how much he's backed. Utd aren't exactly in the top tier anymore of being able to afford or persuade the elite players to come to Utd.

That in itself is a major hurdle to compete for the PL title, or even get top 4. When you also think much of this current decade is going to be blighted by recessions, financial concerns etc, this will impact utd more as they rely on revenue to compete with the oil teams who have no such concerns.

So even if ETH is a top coach, he's only as good as the players at his disposal. People saying what he achieved at Ajax etc, but the Dutch league isn't comparable with the PL. Heck, Steve McClaren won a league title there and yet never really achieved much as a manager in England.

I don't think he's going to succeed in winning or even mounting a title challenge. The demands here are too great and the club is just not run well enough to create the environment for success. Mourinho was the best we've had and even he knew he'd done as much as is possible. I don't think ETH is going to come close and this will end in tears eventually.
 
maximus419 said:
A lot will depend on finances and how much he's backed. Utd aren't exactly in the top tier anymore of being able to afford or persuade the elite players to come to Utd.

That in itself is a major hurdle to compete for the PL title, or even get top 4. When you also think much of this current decade is going to be blighted by recessions, financial concerns etc, this will impact utd more as they rely on revenue to compete with the oil teams who have no such concerns.

So even if ETH is a top coach, he's only as good as the players at his disposal. People saying what he achieved at Ajax etc, but the Dutch league isn't comparable with the PL. Heck, Steve McClaren won a league title there and yet never really achieved much as a manager in England.

I don't think he's going to succeed in winning or even mounting a title challenge. The demands here are too great and the club is just not run well enough to create the environment for success. Mourinho was the best we've had and even he knew he'd done as much as is possible. I don't think ETH is going to come close and this will end in tears eventually.
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I agree. The best thing is for the club to pack up and dissolve. Why even bother?
 
1) Mentality - Bring back the winning mentality and confidence to the team.
2) Squad Ability - Balance in terms of attack and defense. We are too heavy in terms of attack which new signings or the academy might solve it.
3) Formations - Flexibility in terms of formations to adapt to different type of teams.
4) Style of Play - Direct and efficient passing to create chances with players picking up spaces properly. In terms of defense, being compact and more contributions from the midfielders/wing forwards in terms of tracking back and covering spaces.

If the above 4 are realized this coming season, I am confident that trophies will come soon. Ole was good with 1) and 3) and somewhat there with 4), but he lacked luck in terms of winning trophies. ETH can certainly build on this better.
 
Ole's screen said:
I agree. The best thing is for the club to pack up and dissolve. Why even bother?
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You know that's far from what I said. However we have to be realistic and people talking about challenging for the league inside 3 seasons is just ridiculous. Utd have even stated that this is evolution, not revolution. So it's a slow gradual process.

This is more of a restructuring of how the club operates abd a rebuilding of the team over a period of years. ETH has been given a 3 year deal, so people even talking about 5 years is very premature. Sure, I hope and want him to succeed, but success can look different from purely winning the league title.

Success for me is the restructuring of the club and him rebuilding the squad to be able to compete once again for a top 4 finish. At the moment, this current squad is literally mid table at best and results in 2022 show that. With the players that have left and form of the rest of the team, this is a much bigger challenge than some think.
 
maximus419 said:
A lot will depend on finances and how much he's backed. Utd aren't exactly in the top tier anymore of being able to afford or persuade the elite players to come to Utd.

That in itself is a major hurdle to compete for the PL title, or even get top 4. When you also think much of this current decade is going to be blighted by recessions, financial concerns etc, this will impact utd more as they rely on revenue to compete with the oil teams who have no such concerns.

So even if ETH is a top coach, he's only as good as the players at his disposal. People saying what he achieved at Ajax etc, but the Dutch league isn't comparable with the PL. Heck, Steve McClaren won a league title there and yet never really achieved much as a manager in England.

I don't think he's going to succeed in winning or even mounting a title challenge. The demands here are too great and the club is just not run well enough to create the environment for success. Mourinho was the best we've had and even he knew he'd done as much as is possible. I don't think ETH is going to come close and this will end in tears eventually.
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Woodward spend £1.25Billion with little to show for. Its not how much we can spend but how intelligent we are at spending the money -- over a period of time, with an actual strategy. We have been one of the top two spenders in the league with the top 3 wager payers in the last decade.

We can spend. The question is whether we can do it wisely.
 
He will be five years older and have a few new beanies on his hat rack.
 
Still can’t believe how many people are only predicting top 6 this season. Massively low expectations that we can’t even perform better than this shocking campaign.
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
Still can’t believe how many people are only predicting top 6 this season. Massively low expectations that we can’t even perform better than this shocking campaign.
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There are at least 4 better teams than us right now, it's hardly massively low expectations, just realistic.
 
I don’t think he will last that long to be honest.

As proven by recent managers, if we don’t make the Top 4, then they are shown the door.

The immediate focus is getting back in the Champions League and possibly winning something like the League Cup.
 
1st season: quadruple
2nd season: septuple
3rd season: Carabao cup
4th season: quadruple
5th season: sextuple
 
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