Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager

[Jev]

If we had 160m to spend we would have signed Antony in June. We have maybe 75m left to spend and De Jong is out of reach.

We were clearly prepared to pay 50 million for Martinez, 75 for De Jong and 15 million for Malacia, at the very least. That's 140 million. And reason to believe we would have spent more.

I just don't understand how people can keep saying we have no money when we spend so, so much. Incompetence, not poverty, is the problem.

 

[estel_manutd]

I can sense a lot of online fans including some on this forum turning on ETH if he loses the next two games (very real possibility). How sad is that!

 

[Jev]

But we know for sure he wanted Nunes and Anthony but didn't have the budget

If the money wasn't an issue why isn't Antony at United? We want Sesko but don't want to pay the fee either.

It's been reported by pretty much everyone that our budget is around 100m-120m. Seems like they have realized FDJ isn't happening else why wouldn't they bid for these players months ago? Rabiot has been openly on the transfer market since June.

Rabiot 15m
Arnatovic 15m
Eriksen free
Martinez 55m
Malacia 12m
=92m and we need a RB and sub keeper with the rest

That will be our summer window and its disgusting.

Again, biggest net spend in Europe in the last 10 years. 50 million for a centre back we didn't need. It's not like we're cheapskates. Antony was clearly overpriced. Just because you have money doesn't mean you should toss them around. Arguably that's what got us here in the first place.

How do we know we didn't have the budget for Nunez? We never had a chance there with Liverpool interested and willing to pay.

 

[pjaya]

Unless these players is what ETH wanted then I suppose it’s ok otherwise for ETH sake, I hope he will walk away from UTD
The club has lost it with these clown

 

[el3mel]

But we have seen in the past how managers have been thrown under the bus by the same board. Why would it be any different this time?

Also, if rabiot was part of the plan and so was arnautovic, why wait for this long, why not sign beforehand. Surely getting these two wouldn't be such a hassle.

Point is another manager is being thrown under the bus and fans continue to buy the theory that the manager wants these players. Happened with Lvg, Happened with Jose , Happened with Ole and now with eth.

Because his signings have his name all over them ? None one of these are players I would have expected us to sign for any other manager. Why would United out of nowhere start signing Dutch players and players from Eredivisie when he just arrived ?

I didn't say they were part of the plan, they're desperate signings but he clearly had an opinion in them. Why would United target Arnautovic out of all possible strikers in the world ? A 33 years old below average player, who worked previously under the current manager and his assistant. No brainer whose opinion to sign him.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

This is exactly what LVG said. He asked for players that he wanted but instead given 3rd or 4th choice by the club.

 

[Castia]

Again, biggest net spend in Europe in the last 10 years. 50 million for a centre back we didn't need. It's not like we're cheapskates. Antony was clearly overpriced. Just because you have money doesn't mean you should toss them around. Arguably that's what got us here in the first place.

How do we know we didn't have the budget for Nunez? We never had a chance there with Liverpool interested and willing to pay.

I know that pal. We have also spent 180m+ on CB's in the past 3 summer windows, I'm well aware of how easy we spunk money away.

This summer they obviously briefed a lower budget, for what reason I do not know. Lets hope it's because they're preparing to sell.

 

[romufc]

Unless these players is what ETH wanted then I suppose it’s ok otherwise for ETH sake, I hope he will walk away from UTD
The club has lost it with these clown

This football club is very very good at doing this.

First appoint a manager, promise things to the manager and "act" as if they are trying to get deals done. Antony, De Jong, Sesko.

Give the manager McFred as the only 2 CM's and then when we lose games, panic sets in and then tell the manager, oh btw the players you wanted, we cannot get.

What can the manager do? apart from walk?

The club then says, oh how about Rabiot?

Just like some fans the manager is there thinking..... anything is better than McFred and I need options.

The club are very very good at cornering a manager into taking their signings.

 

[bond19821982]

This is exactly what LVG said. He asked for players that he wanted but instead given 3rd or 4th choice by the club.

Ofcourse Neymar and Muller was realistic .

 

[Bebestation]

This is exactly what LVG said. He asked for players that he wanted but instead given 3rd or 4th choice by the club.

Arnautovic is not the 4th choice of club.

He is a choice of Ten Hag.

 

[Castia]

Poor bastard

Ajax are a top club, one of the best run clubs in Europe. He must be in shock at the state of this club.

 

[Cathy Ferguson]

We were clearly prepared to pay 50 million for Martinez, 75 for De Jong and 15 million for Malacia, at the very least. That's 140 million. And reason to believe we would have spent more.

I just don't understand how people can keep saying we have no money when we spend so, so much. Incompetence, not poverty, is the problem.

In the past that has been our main problem. Now we have both.

 

[AshRK]

Because his signings have his name all over them ? None one of these are players I would have expected us to sign for any other manager. Why would United out of nowhere start signing Dutch players and players from Eredivisie when he just arrived ?

I didn't say they were part of the plan, they're desperate signings but he clearly had an opinion in them. Why would United target Arnautovic out of all possible strikers in the world ? A 33 years old below average player, who worked previously under the current manager and his assistant. No brainer whose opinion to sign him.

But what option does he have? Either continue playing with Mctominay with zero back up or sign a midfielder. Same with Ronaldo. Do you seriously think a manager with ETH style wants to keep martial and ronaldo. What option does he have when the club will shell out money for antony or Sesko.

 

[hobbers]

Rabiot 15m
Arnatovic 15m
Eriksen free
Martinez 55m
Malacia 12m
=92m and we need a RB and sub keeper with the rest

That will be our summer window and its disgusting.

Worse than even the most depressed cynic could have ever predicted.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

Arnautovic is not the 4th choice of club.

He is a choice of Ten Hag.

I won't believe that Arnautovic is ETH's first choice. If it's ETH's choice it must be very low in the pecking order.

 

[romufc]

I won't believe that Arnautovic is ETH's first choice. If it's ETH's choice it must be very low in the pecking order.

People need to understand.

ETH has been told Arnatouvic or no one.

 

[RuudTom83]

The feel good factor lasted what 15 minutes? hehe it is a real challenge to support this club.

Ralf's 45 minutes against Palace is still the highlight of the last 12 months for me...good memories.

Joking aside poor ETH has hit the panic button and lost faith in the board to deliver any top player, I'm sure he is having flashbacks to his interview listening to all the broken promises he was given.

Best thing to do is try our best to be numb to the results until after the WC.

 

[lex talionis]

Do you really watch football? This is the fourth season we played against them managed by Potter.

Which proves nothing, Sherlock. We gave the game away with poor finishing and horrifying midfield play — McFred, anyone? Rashford and Dalot, utterly disgusting performances. Eriksen as a false 9.

We were playing a club which finished ninth last season, below even us in what was our worst PL season by some distance. Brighton deserved the win and deserved praise, but their performance yesterday was more smash and grab that capitalized on our mistakes than a commanding performance that would have terrified even Arsenal or Spurs.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

Ofcourse Neymar and Muller was realistic .

It's not only Neymar and Muller. He was talking about he can't get majority of the players he wanted. Having said that I understand that LVG was out of his depth and maybe he used that as an excuse.

 

[Cloud7]

At the first sight of a training montage this week, with players looking sternly and steely eyed as they go through drills in slow motion, I’ll let out a monumental “Oh, just feck off”. I know that bringing in top players was always going to be a challenge this season but our options seem to have turned from players who can potentially challenge for the starting line up into backups for McTominay and Martial/Ronaldo.

Our team are shit. It might just be the first game of the season to some but many of these players have been shite for years. Nothing changes. Not even the social media ‘We must do better’ posts after yet another shit performance. I don’t care if ETH sprinkles fairy dust on the players so they start having breathing problems and require inhalers, he can’t work magic on what is fundamentally a group of low energy, low confidence idiots who looked decent in pre-season/crowdless lockdown but buckle as soon as the league games start and there’s something actually at stake.

This season will be a bust, we sort of knew that. ETH needs time to build his squad. But if the new recruits are people like Arnautovic and Rabiot then we’re fecked.

I am going to start reporting the tweets posted by our twitter account trying to pretend everything is going well

 

[AshRK]

People are still in delusion that this board is backing the manager. Then they wonder why every manager fail here. Eth has been absolutely shafted. I won't blame him if he walks away.

 

[Uniquim]

So much negativity. It was never going to take one game to turn things around. Brighton are a very difficult team to play against, esp. when we have so many players who struggle to deal with intense pressing. Yet people are talking about broken promises, and needing to move on players next summer that haven't even arrived yet.

We lack a striker, we're in the market having approached two of them already, we definitely need midfielders, and we're in the market for two of them. Yet people are moaning that we're trying to sign the players we're trying to sign. It's one game. It'll get better, it'll take time. We're also not going to get all the players we want in one transfer window.

 

[Mr Pigeon]

I am going to start reporting the tweets posted by our twitter account trying to pretend everything is going well

Probably for the best

 

[MrSingh2002]

Horrible signings and horrible characters. So much for this way being better than Rangnicks.

A joke.

 

[romufc]

So much negativity. It was never going to take one game to turn things around. Brighton are a very difficult team to play against, esp. when we have so many players who struggle to deal with intense pressing. Yet people are talking about broken promises, and needing to move on players next summer that haven't even arrived yet.

We lack a striker, we're in the market having approached two of them already, we definitely need midfielders, and we're in the market for two of them. Yet people are moaning that we're trying to sign the players we're trying to sign. It's one game. It'll get better, it'll take time. We're also not going to get all the players we want in one transfer window.

I dont think this is based on one game.

The fans have been saying it for over 2 years that McFred is not a midfield that is even PL standard, let alone compete for top 4 or titles.

We are going into the 3rd season with McFred as starters.

We lack a striker, approached them and they chose somewhere else.

We are in for midfielders, lose out on De Jong and Fabian Ruiz an alternative gone to PSG.

We instead going for a racist 35 year old striker and Rabiot who Juve were willing to pay of to terminate his contract. We are actually paying them for him.

We might not get 7/8 players in a window but we have got 0 first choice signings.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

I dont think this is based on one game.

The fans have been saying it for over 2 years that McFred is not a midfield that is even PL standard, let alone compete for top 4 or titles.

We are going into the 3rd season with McFred as starters.

We lack a striker, approached them and they chose somewhere else.

We are in for midfielders, lose out on De Jong and Fabian Ruiz an alternative gone to PSG.

We instead going for a racist 35 year old striker and Rabiot who Juve were willing to pay of to terminate his contract. We are actually paying them for him.

We might not get 7/8 players in a window but we have got 0 first choice signings.

You shouldn't have bothered quoting that post to be honest

 

[RedRover]

Rabiot isn't a replacement for the FDJ as the guy above said. We're still in FDJ deal.

Arnautovic is someone he and his assistant know quite well from their time at Twente.

These smack of utter desperation, especially Arnautovic. If they really wanted him, why wait until now?

A 33 year old, journeyman ex-PL forward. Is that the best they can do? They want him because we cant get anyone else.

The club is letting the manager down but these types of signing leave a real question mark over what kind of backbone he has. He should be asking why the club can't bring in the players he wants and in my opinion, should be doing so publicly if necessary.

If I were him I'd be very seriously considering whether this was the right move. Nothing to gain walking into a club so poorly ran but with so much pressure and expectation. The only saving grace his he won't shoulder the blame if it doesn't work, if the best the club can do is transfers you'd expect to see an average mid table side make.

 

[Strootman's Finger]

He should walk away from the club, save his career while he still can.

 

[Uniquim]

You shouldn't have bothered quoting that post to be honest

What's your problem? People are allowed to be optimistic too

 

[AshRK]

What's your problem? People are allowed to be optimistic too

Difference between optimism and delusion. Also as @romufc pointed out, it's not one game but has been happening for years now.

 

[clarkydaz]

Didnt he say that Pep underestimated the premier league when he first came? Thats biting him in the arse

 

[Uniquim]

Difference between optimism and delusion. Also as @romufc pointed out, it's not one game but has been happening for years now.

@romufc was replying to my post, and I was talking about how people were getting so negative towards this whole project, and that someone earlier in this thread talked about Ten Hag's interview just will be ending up as a bunch of broken promises. In a thread about Ten Hag.

How does that end up been something that have been happening for years? I would've posted in a different thread if it was about Woodward or past season's approaches. We've made several big changes to recruitment, over the past 1 1/5 years, and our approach in the transfer market have been more efficient this summer (although far from perfect), even if a bunch of players doesn't want to join.

 

[city-puma]

Which proves nothing, Sherlock. We gave the game away with poor finishing and horrifying midfield play — McFred, anyone? Rashford and Dalot, utterly disgusting performances. Eriksen as a false 9.

We were playing a club which finished ninth last season, below even us in what was our worst PL season by some distance. Brighton deserved the win and deserved praise, but their performance yesterday was more smash and grab that capitalized on our mistakes than a commanding performance that would have terrified even Arsenal or Spurs.

I have a problem with what you said they are not even great.
I agree we should not have lose the game but I don’t think it’s easy to win it considering we are only one month under ETH.

 

[VorZakone]

Holy shit, his start has been grim.

 

[Vapor trail]

There cannot be any expectation that we finish top 4 this year there absolutely cannot be I don't see how there could.

Everyone in and around us have strengthened massively and we have lost 8 players and bought 3 I mean how can the target be top 4

I'm predicting an 8-10th place finish. I don't think it's a true reflection on the manager however but rather it taking more than a season to get his ideas across.

 

[Rodgerzzz]

If the rest of the club's hierarchy could even make a passing resemblance of running a football club correctly, this situation would not happen. ETH has been put in a position to be completely exposed by their ineptitude.

It feels like ETH is in the same situation as Ole was when we scrambled around to sign Ighalo that deadline day, the club relying on the managers contacts/knowledge of players they've previously worked with to conjour up potential targets. It's no wonder our targets (or lack of) seem so desperate, ill thought out or underwhelming. The club relies on the first team coach far too heavily to know who's available and so we're in a situation where we're being linked with players ETH either knows of or has worked with already.

It's so blatantly obvious how obnoxiously shite the people that run this football club are, absolute car crash and I can't believe they managed to convince ETH to even join this circus.

 

[DSG]

That’s the difference between a coach who’s been working with a team for years and one who’s been working with them for weeks. Brighton have looked like a well oiled machine ever since they got promoted. We’ve looked like an absolute shambles going back years. It’s going to take a long long time to whip us into shape. Doesn’t help that two of the players who started only joined the rest of the squad one fecking week ago.

I agree with this, but I’m sure video/film analysis would have shown that the tactics they used when they beat us 4-0 last season were the same tactics they used yesterday. McFred are abysmal dealing with the press and not great at ball retention. Once Eriksen moved deep in the 2nd half we were much better at breaking the press. So why did McFred start? Because there are no other options? Furthermore, why did Dalot start? Because there are no other options?

Funny that the two players that just joined, Eriksen and Martinez, were our best performers.

with the news of us trying to bring in Arnautovic, and our other transfer dealings this summer, I do think that Ten Hag has a preference for players he’s worked with. My understanding is that at Ajax, club transfer business was handled by the DOF and CEO. Well, our scouting and transfer team are in shambles… and the result is we are bringing in players that Ten Hag knows, not providing a list of targets that fit our needs.

Sigh. I’m tired of this. I truly hope he can turn us around.

 

[Greck]

We're going to panic and pay FDJ's wages for Barca, aren't we? As projected weeks ago this has gone exactly like Woodward's first summer.

 

[soapythecat]

I don’t believe for one minute, any signing for ETH under the new regime would be made by the club without him fully wanting the player. I’ve been behind his appointment from day 1 and felt he was the guy to bring in change whilst working for a new team at board level.
If we sign Rabiot and the racist, then I’m done with him. These aren’t well scouted players with a proven record to get us back in the top 4. They both have baggage and in MA case, a real history of racial abuse. FML these are as shit signings as they could be for us right now and will make us an absolute bigger laughing stock than yesterday’s performance could ever do.
Fans will be on his back immediately if we sign these players and continue to drop points.
Surly there are better or similar players even that aren’t cnuts?

 

[UnofficialDevil]

It's not about any player, it's about the right player..