Unless we have a peak Scholes or peak Keane, we aren’t going to control the game with ten men. Bruno is alone in the middle of the pitch and he doesn’t have the ability to control games because he gives away passes too often. McT is mainly a destroyer and to provide the extra body in midfield when he came on. I don’t blame Erik for that
Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager
- Thread starter sewey89
- Start date
Tinkering in the sense of playing players in new or out of position
Agreed. The red card turned the game into a true 50/50 contest. However, I think it's disappointing that it swung to such an extent and I'm not so sure certain other sides would suffer to that extreme. Completely take your point on the lack of personnel and I am a big fan of ten Hag. I look forward to us reaching the stage of our evolution where we can suffocate teams consistently.
Good to hear he’s questioned the officials. Sick of being fecked over every other week.
I assume he'll get fined soon enough.
As did Arsenal. The fact that we were down to 10 doesn't speak to the fact that we were uninspiringly languid when we were at full strength. That's two straight league fixtures without a goal as well.
We also played in awful conditions.
Disappointed with EtH today.
abandoned the short distribution from GK, but took Weghorst off for Sancho at the #9. Puzzles me what he was attempting to do… if Rashford had gone #9 then that would’ve made more sense, running channels on the last shoulder. But the Sancho switch was really ineffective
abandoned the short distribution from GK, but took Weghorst off for Sancho at the #9. Puzzles me what he was attempting to do… if Rashford had gone #9 then that would’ve made more sense, running channels on the last shoulder. But the Sancho switch was really ineffective
Do you really need me to tell you the difference between Arsenal and us?
What are they ? Squad depth ? Better manager ?
Arsenal were not playing with 10 men though.
Ten Hag doesn’t have a particularly good squad in most areas. I wouldn’t worry. We were never supposed to win the league this season.
Finishing 3rd is an achievement btw considering we are just the best of the rest right now in England. City and Arsenal are the two world class sides.
Finishing 3rd is an achievement btw considering we are just the best of the rest right now in England. City and Arsenal are the two world class sides.
I addressed that in my post. We were equally ineffective when we had 11 today. In fact, our best chance at a goal (Bruno's near miss) transpired after we were down to 10.
This is when we find out how good a coach/manager ETH is.
Better first 11, and after a good Jan better squad depth. (All credit to them)
Manager has more time with his team.
We have played 5 games more than them.
I don't think we were ineffective. Rashford should have scored with his chance and then had a poor first touch subsequently where he was one on one. Our passing I would say was poor but we weren't that bad. The red card happened at the worst possible time when we were growing in the game. To play with 10 men for 60 minutes after playing Thursday is not easy.
They definitely don't have a better first 11 than us. Our guys have a few more CLs and World Cups than theirs, who probably don't have any. Spare one or two, they are generally a squad of anonymous players who are punching well above their collective weight because of the manager. ETH has done a terrific job so far in navigating through the perilous waters of pressure to succeed, a pointless winter WC that disrupted the season, the Ronaldo saga, and key injuries to the likes of Eriksen and Martial. He just needs to find a way to get through this period by finding ways to generate goals at a time when his central striker doesn't score any. That is the main obstacle at the moment imo. If Rashford doesn't score, we don't have a striker who can mitigate the loss of goals.
What does that even mean? We only find out now that Casemiro’s got a ban? He’s already been banned this season. What’s your point?
I take it you agree about the 2nd and 3rd points then.
Coming back to better first 11, we don't have a striker, they do. Thier star attacker (Saka) is as good as ours (Rashford). Their other forward is better than Antony. Their RB is better and of course GK too.
Our CLs and World cups are shared between 3 players, not like the entire team has ton of trophies.
Anyway the most important difference is the time the manager has with the squad to get them playing like he wants, not to mention the time to get the players he wants.
Get past Betis on Thursday and Fulham it's Europa league back on the 13th April I think and FA cup semi 22nd April? I could be wrong it's there or thereabouts.
ETH can rotate a bit before those. Casimero is out for 4 games 3 at home 1 away , this is when ETH has to earn his corn, hopefully Martial comes back Garnacho is OK. CM will have to bring one of the kids in for few games. Fulham in cup is a game that takes you to a Semi final anything can happen after that.
ETH can rotate a bit before those. Casimero is out for 4 games 3 at home 1 away , this is when ETH has to earn his corn, hopefully Martial comes back Garnacho is OK. CM will have to bring one of the kids in for few games. Fulham in cup is a game that takes you to a Semi final anything can happen after that.
Why?
Bruno starting CM instead of McTominay if he wanted to give Fred a rest clearly didn't work.
I don't think anyone would agree that Saka is as good as Rashford, who has been one of the most in form players in the world after the WC. Martinelli has been more effective than Antony, but he's in his fourth year with the club. No one except Ty from Arse FM tv thinks Partay is as good as Casemiro or any of their defenders as good or as accomplished as ours. Their keeper is Aaron Ramsdale.
The main difference between us and them is the manager is in his 4th year and has had a chance to properly gut the squad of its old guard (Bellerin, Lacazette, Auba, Ozil, David Luiz et al) and go through about 7 transfer windows to get the squad how he wants it. Once ETH has another window to build on what he did last summer, I expect us to be significantly better than Arsenal, especially if Arteta fecks off to Madrid as is rumored.
Correct me if I am wrong but 2nd paragraph is where you agree with me.
Coming to the bolded part, it appears you haven't seen them play. Do you think they are playing this high line of defense and controlling type of game with average defenders and GK? Saliba is every bit as good as Varane. I'd take Ramsdale over DDG every time. While I like Shaw a lot, Zinchenko has been sensational. And of course Ben White is better than AWB.
In any case whether they are better or not, they are all playing very very well.
You're missing the point. These are not particularly good players and never have been. They are simply collectively punching above their weight because of Arteta's management, not because the players themselves are that good. That's precisely what Arsenal are at the moment - a squad of players ranging from mildly anonymous to randomly good, who are all excelling because of Arteta's management, not because said players are that good. The only ones I would exclude from that are Saka and possibly Martinelli, who I actually rate.
We have to agree to disagree.
It's hard anyway to say how much is player and how much is manager. For example, Odegaard is playing very very good, a lot of credit goes to Arteta for setting up the team and utilizing him to the best of his abilities. And say you take him and put in our team he won't look as good. But how much should that take away from him cuz at the end of the day he is actually performing on the pitch himself. I am just rambling at this point.
As I said we have to agree to disagree.
Best chance was the Rashford one when 11 v 11 and in his form this season he normally scores.
Not agreeing with the post but I don’t see how it’s unacceptable.
Feck off mate, seriously?
Having a cracking debut season but let himself down today in my opinion. Pretty poor in game management and not a fan of the starting 11.
Find it surprising how some United fans don't realise how hectic of a schedule United have come through and the last thing they needed was play over an hour of today's match with 10 men.
As you say free flowing attacking football can not be expected in current situation. Its a fatigued team whereby errors will be plenty. Between now and the end of the season it's about grinding out as many positive results as possible.
Agreed. Antony shouldn't be the automatic starter and he should've played Casemiro and Fred today. Hindsight though.
I thought before the game if he can play Casemiro, Bruno and Sancho in a three together and make us look balanced then he’s a genius. Unfortunately it definitely didn’t work. Yes we could have scored before the sending off but so could Southampton - we had absolutely no control over the game and that indirectly led to Casemiro having to make the desperate lunge he did to stop yet another dangerous transition.
All out attack approach never works. On paper it looks fantastic but in reality teams which go like that always struggle to dominate.
Tbf, i was always curious about Bruno on no8 position. I always thought that he can do it very well but it seems that he is just too attacking minded for that role.
Tbf, i was always curious about Bruno on no8 position. I always thought that he can do it very well but it seems that he is just too attacking minded for that role.
It’s probably due to the number of games but it all feels a bit unorganised just now, giving me Ole “go out there and show your talent” vibes. Structure and patterns not very apparent. Desperately need more technical players to do what he wants.
This was a game against the 20th. Three days after an important Cup tie... He had every right to try something different and rest one or two players. And we would have won it comfortably with some more competent referring.
Yup. It was one of only a handful of games between now and the end of the season where he can actually take some risks in how he sets up. With our home record up against the worst team in the league if he can’t take some risks today, when can he?!
Yeh the starting 11 thing is just a personal preference. I get why he did it. It was his in game management that was the problem though once we were down to 10.
Hopefully he finally stops trying to play Bruno in midfield. The guy creates issues in front of goal, it is on the manager to make sure, it isn't our own goal. It worked out today, but Bruno had a spell in 2nd half, where he could have damaged us pretty badly on at least two occasions. None of them inavoidable as far as my memory goes.