Who's going to turn a corner under ETH?

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A sign of any good manager is the ability to improve players and make them reach their full potential. With United it seems that pretty much all the players we had hoped would be world class ended up declining instead with various degrees. The following players specially come to mind:
  • Rashford
  • Martial
  • VDB
  • Maguire
  • AWB
  • Shaw
  • Bruno & Sancho (to a lesser degree)
There are others of course with room for improvement, but I don't think we've ever expected the likes of Fred, McTominay, Telles, or Dalto to be world class. Do you think with proper coaching some of those players might still turn a corner?

For me obviously Sancho and Bruno are still showing signs of brilliance so I'm hopeful that they could reach their potential under ETH, but the rest seem to have just collapsed, but if we're to succeed next season, we can't afford just giving up on everyone.

Who's in your opinion most likely to make it?
 
Shaw, Sancho, Amad, Fred, VDB. Laird, Garnacho, Garner, Pellestri and Alvaro will hopefully break through as squad members as well.
 
Ali Dia said:
In a much more hard working side I bet Fred is our POTS next season.
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How to put it politely if Fred is United's POTS next season then Ten Hag would have done Underwhelming job even against such low expectations .
 
Asides the obvious workrate any player with poor football IQ, poor technique or doesn't do well under defined instructions (by habit, stubbornness or all of the above) will probably be out of the first team in the first 6 months and the club within 2 years. I'm certain AWB has no chance. It doesn't actually get easier in a more complex system so the idea of many of our players miraculously turning it around under ETH probably needs to die. I can see one or two exceptions at best, that is from the chronic underperformers.

Letting Ole park the bus for 3 years was a huge mistake. We now have all these defenders that struggle in space and attackers that struggle without. Huge squad makeover needed to fix.
 
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Bruno has a lot of goodwill in his locker, simply because he has carried us on his back for 1.5 seasons and he single handedly changed our fortunes when he arrived.
VDB will likely be a top player for us, but the rest can leave.

Guys, we need a hard reset. If we keep hold of the current players who are playing like relegation fodder, what chance do we have if we are trying to move forward?
The vast majority don't have the mentality. I realise it's hard to let go, but we must let go.
 
Van de Beek the obvious choice. Seems a good player that we've had no idea how to use. I have high hopes for Sancho too. I think Lindelof could surprise people, suspect there's a very good player there just waiting for a good system and coach
 
We aren’t a few signings away. Ralf has worked with this lot for months & has called it. We need to stop shoehorning players in, EtH can only do so much & fundamentally too many players aren’t good enough technically or mentally. A number of players we have aren’t title winners on their best day so instead of becoming sentimental about serial underachievers we need to let EtH get rid of anyone he wants instead of expecting them to become players we know they’re not.
 
Fred & Mc T, maybe Sancho and VdB. Rashy I have no idea what's going on. In a working system Ronaldo will bang in 30+
 
I hope they will all leave except for Bruno and Sancho. They is no corner for them to turn.
 
Shaw and Rashford are the two who 'should' be a lot better than they are, so I'm hopeful they can turn it around. Shaw especially; Rashford it's more of a forlorn hope. Sancho is an obvious one who I expect will be much better when actually given movement and organisation around him.

Bruno will be the interesting one, whether he will actually be able to play smarter and more consistently to fit into a proper system instead of just giving the ball away constantly.
 
Tap said:
I hope they will all leave except for Bruno and Sancho. They is no corner for them to turn.
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As much as we all want, we can't have everybody leaving in the summer. If we're to succeed we need some of those players to do well.
 
if we can get shaw maguire rashford and bruno back to the level they achieved under ole that would be great. sancho back to his dortmund level. I think these 5 are the most important. Varane has been stop start so it is all about staying fit, DDG needs to play very well too.

players like fred & dalot you mentioned have never hit any kind of height at the club so that would be a big win.

diallo and pellistri have that potential of course, as well as garner, elanga, laird and mejbri etc.

I think McTom has shown good form at times but might not be a player that suits ETH, i dont know. AWB probably is not either as his full backs seem to be play makers.

then my guess is there will be 4-5 new players that have yet to reach their peak that he has to develop.

EDIT: obviously donny, id imagine he will be a staple in CM alongside bruno and probably. holding midfielder
 
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The 'high profile' players mentioned in this thread such as Maguire and Rashford are never going to be good enough to win the highest honours regardless of who is their manager. So if we set the bar low that by 'turning on a corner' we mean looking a shade less incompetent then perhaps that is a little more realistic.
 
A lot will depend on what style ETH will adapt, if its to be a 'pass and move' style then obviously DVB would be back in favour, especially with a proper game plan in his head.
As for the rest I am not sure, I have been disappointed with Sancho, seemed to take a while to recognise how much faster the game was to German football and now is becoming a preferred ' cut inside' merchant on the wing, just like Martial and like Rashford; however he might respond better to ETH.
Bruno will always be Bruno, capable of splendid moments and also moments of 'schoolboy errors' all in a matter of minutes, if ETH can harness his undoubted visionary skills, then maybe Bruno will last.
Might see more of Lindelof going forward, especially if paired with Varane (fitness permitting), as for the rest not particularly hopeful.
The much maligned Maguire might do much better with a decent midfield especially a proper DM in front of him and a 'keeper sweeper' behind.
Playing ten yards further up the pitch Fred has shown a different level of talent, but he still has the talent for losing the ball at the wrong time and in the wrong place, can't see ETH accepting that, especially when it happens far too often.
As for the rest they have all had their chances and on odd occasions risen to the levels we want, but they still don't fill you with confidence and will probably depart.
 
Someone said:
As much as we all want, we can't have everybody leaving in the summer. If we're to succeed we need some of those players to do well.
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Yep that’s true. The best we can do is to let go of those whose contracts are expiring this summer while not offering the rest new contracts and relegating them to be squad players where possible.
 
We have no style whatsoever this year.

The moment we put a style I belive everyone's performances will improve.
 
VDB. He will be key and thrive. Now other players will realise that when you pass to him and he passes back, it is for you to pass to another player while he runs into space. Because all the players will now play to this system.
 
Martial because, let's be real, you guys are not getting rid of him for the next 3 years, so you have to get a tune out of him unless you're cool paying someone 250K/week to rot on the bench for 3 years because no one will take him and the salary he'd be offered would probably not even be half of what he earns now, so I don't see him leaving. Given how poor he's been, turning a corner can't be that hard for him, he might crash and burn after that turn but at least he'll have made a turn since his career's been turn, crash, turn, crash, turn, crash, crash.

Second would be VDB for obvious reasons.
 
My guess is Sancho and VDB.



Let's face it, ETH plays attacking possession football with lots of tiki taka short pass, so I am not sure the following players would suit his style of play at all, regardless of their form:

Bruno - not a possession type of playmaker, tend to loss possession easily, not good at link top play, suit better for individual counter attack system with his visionary final balls

Rashford - counter attack type of player, individualist, tend to take risky run and loss possession cheaply, can't pass, not good in link up play

Maguire - too slow, not suit to play high defence line attacking football, tends to drag and slow things down

AWB - bad at attacking, can't make good overlapping runs which is important for modern attacking football

McFred - they are good pressing machine and add intensity in midfield play, which ETH may like, but they simply can't pass, which is fatal for tiki taka possession football which requires midfielder to be the best passer in the team




I mean seriously, do you lot think our current players are suit to play this kind of football? One touch short pass with lots of build up and movements?

Only Sancho and VDB suit this type of play, I feel.
 
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Probably Shaw because we're going to play possession based game under Ten Hag, he'll be most influential.
 
Sayros said:
Martial because, let's be real, you guys are not getting rid of him for the next 3 years, so you have to get a tune out of him unless you're cool paying someone 250K/week to rot on the bench for 3 years because no one will take him and the salary he'd be offered would probably not even be half of what he earns now, so I don't see him leaving. Given how poor he's been, turning a corner can't be that hard for him, he might crash and burn after that turn but at least he'll have made a turn since his career's been turn, crash, turn, crash, turn, crash, crash.

Second would be VDB for obvious reasons.
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Well we're buying a ST so unless Ronaldo leaves he will have to go because there will be no space for him.
Obviously we can't find someone willing to buy permanently now but finding a team willing to gamble on a loan deal won't be that hard but we'd have to pay part of his wages which is better than letting him rot on the bench.
Also he's contract expires in 2024 so he won't last beyond 2yrs max
 
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