Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager

[Fortitude]

It's the exact opposite of what you say. He's overestimated it and his pragmatism is costing him the only thing that made his coaching desirable. We hired him for the football he displayed in Holland. He's far too pragmatic to achieve it when he's indulging in players like McTominay, and refusing to not start Rashford and Bruno. Any sign of trouble and his courage is found wanting.

Yep. He's absolutely lost his way, and he isn't at all good at the other methods he's making up as he goes along.

He's ruining his chance by not even trying to go for it on his own terms. He wasn't supposed to come here and play this dross to the satisfaction of absolutely nobody.

 

[robinrooney]

Persisting with Bruno and Rashford will also cost him his job.

And Antony (although I know he didn't start yesterday)

 

[Overhaul FC]

In no situation can you start Maguire, Evans or Lindelof ahead of Varane. He's won more trophies than they have ever dreamed of.

He's surely going to lose the rest of the reading room now.

Varane when fit should be the Captain of this club and he now has to deal with being benched for Maguire and Jonny Evans. Ten Hag lost me on this one.

I think City must have got so much confidence when the teams were announced. They were so patient with the ball because they knew it would be a matter of time before they got their goals. Even our own players had no belief we could win yesterday.

Ten Hag has to qualify for the next stage of the Champs League and be very close to the top 4 by the end of the year. That's the only thing that can convince me he can be the manager we need.

I'll not change my goalposts and if he's not there early next year then I'd probably shift into the Ten Hag out camp. He's got enough of his signings in this team to be playing better football than this. The attacking play is poor.

 

[Paul778]

Can anyone name a player who has played well as an 8 this season?

The only one i can think of that comes even close is Hannibal and yet as soon as Mount and all the other dross became available Hannibal gets zero playing time.

We have so many players that offer nothing right now

 

[JPB]

So now Ten Hag says we are never going to see United play like Ten Hag let Ajax play? But he has to play United the United way. Who decides that then? The United way leaves us behind the way teams like Arsenal, City and Liverpool play.

And it also is because he doesn’t have the players to play like he let Ajax play. Who buys this players then for 400 million? I just don’t understand what he says here, it’s the beginning of the end for him I think.

Did he really say this? I'm speechless. That is exactly the reason he was brought in for because he impressed with his Ajax team and the way that they played. That's what everyone wanted to see from him. fecking hell.

 

[Godfather]

And Antony (although I know he didn't start yesterday)

Not really. He hardly played this season and we've been fecking shit even without him. Probably even worse.

 

[stefan92]

It doesn't, it just means we'll have to fire two people when that ultimately fails also because the manager isn't doing his job and the DOF picked the manager. A DOF isn't always the answer, Arsenal haven't had one since Sven Mislintat, Brighton don't have one, Tottenham don't have one, Liverpool didn't have one since Edwards left. We just need a manager that isn't shit and most of this stuff will work itself out.

It's not about what you call that exact position, it is about splitting responsibilities. And usually you wouldn't fire both at once. Fire the DOF when the squad turns to shit, fire the manager when the team underperforms - that is the usual rule. Rarely a DOF has to go for multiple bad managers in a row, but that's rare.

Anyway I stand by my point that the current leadership has proves that they are terrible at selecting and properly supporting managers (no, just giving them money to waste is not backing a manager,it is just stupidity).

 

[Laurencio]

Did he really say this? I'm speechless. That is exactly the reason he was brought in for because he impressed with his Ajax team and the way that they played. That's what everyone wanted to see from him. fecking hell.

It's also an absurd take on the Man Utd DNA - which is about hard work, team over individual, winning mentality and fighting for a win until the last second of the match. We're nowhere near his playing style or our DNA.

 

[Amsterdam Devil]

Did he really say this? I'm speechless. That is exactly the reason he was brought in for because he impressed with his Ajax team and the way that they played. That's what everyone wanted to see from him. fecking hell.

Yes he said this in a Dutch interview with Viaplay after the game yesterday.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Yep. He's absolutely lost his way, and he isn't at all good at the other methods he's making up as he goes along.

He's ruining his chance by not even trying to go for it on his own terms. He wasn't supposed to come here and play this dross to the satisfaction of absolutely nobody.

I always said he should have stuck to his principles his 1st season and just bedded in his ideas to the max.

The fact he's confirmed he's thrown that out the window is shocking.

We've been sold a dud.

 

[VorZakone]

Spot on. In my country there is a saying 'if the chair of a manager seat has four legs the players have three of those'.

That's a cool saying.

 

[GreatDane]

I genuinely can’t believe he started Maguire and Jonny Evans against Erling Haaland…

Wtf is he doing!?

It's like he knows that the sack is coming so he's fast forwarding to it.

 

[flappyjay]

It's like he knows that the sack is coming so he's fast forwarding to it.

Well to be fair to him the Ajax job looks like it will be available soon again.

 

[JPB]

Yes he said this in a Dutch interview with Viaplay after the game yesterday.

Wow. It's the worst thing I've heard him say since joining us. Absolutely fecking bizzare.

 

[AndySmith1990]

His comments remind me of David Moyes ' days here. Small time, as if we're the plucky underdog unable to compete with the big boys. It's just not the mentality you expect from a United manager

 

[RedStarUnited]

"I have the feeling United are coming back, finally United is coming back. I've seen it on Thursday, against Chelsea the first half. I said I like what I see of United right now." Pep this time last year.

This was after we played Spurs and Chelsea back to back last year and really pressed well and had good tempo. Apart from injuries, I dont know what happened to us from that period to now.

 

[crossy1686]

I get what he's saying though. Ajax have so much institutional knowledge on how to play possession football. At United we've never been that kind of side.

He could start by fecking teaching it or buying players that know how to do that.

 

[ShoePolish]

Pretty sure that's normal for most teams? Just look at Pep or Klopp's first seasons. Doesn't help that he's got all his big signings wrong. Casemiro is like an anchor, in the literal sense, while other teams around us sign young high energy players. He needs to be released to Saudi Arabia.

Most teams don't need changing half a team. Pep didn't win anything first season, and had 6 first teamers brought in following summer. Klopp wasn't as extreme, but he was shattering transfer records for defender and GK at the time, in order to get the right people in, also getting VVD in January window, while we seem to be restricted to cheap loan deals, and also, fairly sure he wasn't restricted to some magical number, and had windows where he managed to go over 3.

Also both didn't have a situation, where clearly unwanted players stuck around for long, which again, is quite possibly attributed to our 3 player limit, as Glazers would've refused to sanction funds for covers

 

[JPB]

He could start by fecking teaching it or buying players that know how to do that.

Exactly, fecking hell. That was the whole point of getting him. I'm so pissed off by this. If our players don't know how, then teach it. That's why you're here. We could have just kept Ole otherwise.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

I would think about moving him on when the Ratcliffe regime comes in - get a proper fresh start/reset

I like the guy, but I'm not really sure I see us going anywhere under his leadership.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

There were some "knowledgeable posters" foaming at their mouth convincing everyone that if we signed Onana, he will transformed the way ETH want us to play. We will be able to play high line, press high to change our possession, pressing and attacking play. We would become a relentless pressing and attacking team. We were all so excited.

Little did we know that we become worse and ETH played none of that. Instead, we sit deep, can't string 2 passes and Onana just hoof the ball all the time.

 

[Fortitude]

I always said he should have stuck to his principles his 1st season and just bedded in his ideas to the max.

The fact he's confirmed he's thrown that out the window is shocking.

We've been sold a dud.

Absolutely. You just cannot abandon your own principles, especially if you are so rigidly devout to them! He should have forced his will and style onto the team and club and then the process of upgrading the players to play that way can begin and take a few windows, but with what he's done, he has nothing to fall back on, no team that has his core principles hardwired into their play, and in hit and hope fashion, he has created a dependency on flash of brilliance football that means he won't drop any of the players who have been known to provide that in the past.

Meanwhile, he's isolating the remainder of the squad and is uncomfortable using them because they are more suited to functionality.

He's created the worst kind of rod for his own back, and fair enough if we had a stellar roster of brilliant individuals; it might just work more often than not, but we do not - if anything, this bunch of players desperately need a functioning system that shares the load and has them rely on their wits and individualism as little as possible.

I'm really disappointed. He was supposed to modernise us and have us play constructive football and he's bailed on it and exposed himself in the process because he's very ordinary at the generic stuff.

 

[acid_fuji]

On the dutch paper site AD, there are quotes from Ten Hag talking to VIAPLAY saying we will never play like how he played at ajax, that's not why he came here. "The way we played at AJAX, you won't ever see that here." "The player material decides how we play. That's why I can not let this team play the way I did at ajax. I have to, I can't play the same way here. It's also not in the DNA of Manchester United. Ajax football is very specific, here we have to play more direct. We have the type of players for that."

He speaks like at United we do not accept or want Ajax type of football and he is forced to play a different brand... I'm sure many on the caf were dreaming of our team playing like his Ajax team and that it was a big reason many wanted him here for... Is this shit football and his player acquirement strategy just a confused Ten Hag thinking we want hoofball?

But isn’t he a little bit right? My read from this is that he is basically telling everyone that he can’t make the Ajax system here because he doesn’t have a the players for this.

I think this is coming from the squad analysis that they made.

It’s different story that fans were not expecting this.

 

[RedUnited86]

That he thinks Eriksen is capable of playing 90 minutes centrally against City in a midfield two just about sums him up. Out of his depth, out of ideas and throwing huge amounts of shit at the wall in a desperate attempt for something to stick. I've never known someone learn so little from their mistakes. And selecting Evans/Lindelof ahead of Varane/Regulion for tactical reasons? We would have been on a hiding to nothing anyway, but for feck sake at least give us half a chance before you start waving the white flag.

There was a picture posted on here after the Copenhagen game of our build up when in possession. The midfield was non-existent, so there was nothing to play through and build up. It consisted of our defence, of which Dalot was in possession, and then a 50/60 yard gap to the edge of the Copenhagen box where 5 or 6 of our attackers are all lined up alongside each other. How we expect the progress the ball with such a set-up I'll never understand, but there's no way you can tell me that's not under instruction from the manager.

As for the players - if they can't fathom up 90 minutes of hard work in memory of Bobby in front of their own fans, they can all feck off too.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

We have had enough. Let's play the kids next game. They have more fight in them especially Hannibal.

 

[CM]

On the dutch paper site AD, there are quotes from Ten Hag talking to VIAPLAY saying we will never play like how he played at ajax, that's not why he came here. "The way we played at AJAX, you won't ever see that here." "The player material decides how we play. That's why I can not let this team play the way I did at ajax. I have to, I can't play the same way here. It's also not in the DNA of Manchester United. Ajax football is very specific, here we have to play more direct. We have the type of players for that."

He speaks like at United we do not accept or want Ajax type of football and he is forced to play a different brand... I'm sure many on the caf were dreaming of our team playing like his Ajax team and that it was a big reason many wanted him here for... Is this shit football and his player acquirement strategy just a confused Ten Hag thinking we want hoofball?

We might as well save everybody the time and sack him now if that's the case. It would've been nice to know this before he spent all of the budget on ex-Ajax and Eredivisie players!

 

[Acquire Me]

Why is it so hard for some of you guys to understand that while it’s fair to question the manager and players, the main problem is the club?

Pep said it after the match. Gary said it. A lot of people have said it for years.

If you got headaches every day you can take painkillers to move on with your day. But if in fact you need a head surgery, the painkillers will only give you short spans of relief.

United need a surgery and it’s been clear for a long time. Just rinse and repeat with managers and players will not make this go away.

Anyhow, have a great Monday.

 

[Delano]

I've been a supporter of EtH but those quotes aren't great.

It really feels like he's thrown the plan out of the window. We look like Ole's team at the end.

 

[Bobcat]

That's what I've been thinking, do the players understand what they've been asked to do?

Look at Spurs it's taken them 2 months of pre-season to get to where we can see what Ange is trying to do. With us, we still don't really know what EtH is wanting to do. This is the guy who made a young team in Ajax play Real Madrid off the park away from home!

He can't be THIS bad surely.

Why is it that every other team can manage it but United can't after multiple multiple managers. LVG from memory is the only one who changed the style of play completely that it was obvious to everyone.

It can't be the manager, it HAS to be the players or there's something toxic going on behind the scenes that we don't know about.

I agree. I wont be dropping any names since i honestly have no clue what goes on in the dressing room, but we saw it during the end of Joses tenure (understandable) at the end of Ole (less understandable, but still) under Ralf and now under ETH. The players are looking like they are downing tools and we cant put all the blame on the managers. No doubt the managers have to take blame here. Its their responsibility to run a tight ship, motivate the players and given enough time, create a group of players that are both talented enough and hungry enough to compete at the top level.

Besides a few individuals it seems the general attitude among the squad is that they could only give half a feck if we win or lose. Ronaldo might have been a whinging weapon at the twillight of his career, but you cant fault the mans will to win. If he saw a squad of unmotivated, lazy, negligent feckwits it would no doubt have contributed to his sulking

That being said, i dont think ETH is the man to take us forward either. His transfers and the dismal performances since the league cup should be evidence enough hes not the top coach we hoped he was.

 

[Stobzilla]

He's done after that quote I'm afraid. He has basically admitted his own incompetence/inability to do the very thing other coaches in the league have done.

Sooner the better.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

Did he really say this? I'm speechless. That is exactly the reason he was brought in for because he impressed with his Ajax team and the way that they played. That's what everyone wanted to see from him. fecking hell.

If by "everyone" you mean a considerable portion of the fanbase, you may have a point. Otherwise, it's a big "no". There's a whole narrative around which Solskjaer's appointment was justified and supported that suggests otherwise.

 

[Jezpeza]

That's a horrific quote. Who the feck demand this? We'd have brought in Guardiola after Fergie if he didn't promise Bayern to go there. Don't think he would be happy to play on the counter.

Ten Hag is talking bollocks.

He’s had 400 million to rectify that and he has mainly signed players to keep playing that style he is moaning about and spouted this shit about transitions. All the best teams in the division can play round a press so you need to actually be able to do something with a football as well. and our players can do it to an extent. For example Martial, Pogba and Rashford used to put little triangles together even under Ole round the opposition box etc. were they the best at it? Probably not but to sit and suggest he has to adopt hoofball because we have Rashford is a total nonsense in my opinion.

 

[pratyush_utd]

Last 1.5 year, ETH had every wish granted so this Glazer excuse is not going to save him. Glazers do not pick the team, nor do they assign captains.

 

[sugar_kane]

He’s in a tailspin at the moment, he seemed in complete control last season and this season it’s the exact opposite.

His big signing Mount can’t even make the team and when he does is a non entity

Bruno is proving useless as a captain and having one of his worst seasons ever

The big play of stripping Maguire of his captaincy has blown up in his face, with the player staying and proving himself to be one of his most reliable players (while his new captain is awful as a player and a captain)

Subbing Amrabat midway through his first decent performance for us and essentially throwing the game away

The Sancho thing I back him on in the sense of the player is a shit bag who should be out of the club, and I don’t see what other alternative he had given that the player attacked him via social media. But added to all the above it certainly doesn’t help matters.

He needs to write off this season - we aren’t winning anything and don’t deserve top 4 - and play players he can trust in his own style of football, rather than worrying about who he might alienate or playing “The United Way”

 

[Ayoba]

When I saw varane and reguilon on the bench for 'tactical' reasons, that was the moment I knew ETH is panicking and doesn't know how to get out of this malaise. I'm afraid it's only a matter of time. Till then, its more sub-par performances, more defeats and more pummellings.

It's going to be grim this season united fans. Grim.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

And this is why we need a DOF. If the squad was more suitable for a transition based approach like ETH says, we wouldn’t have hired him in the first place

 

[GreatDane]

I agree. I wont be dropping any names since i honestly have no clue what goes on in the dressing room, but we saw it during the end of Joses tenure (understandable) at the end of Ole (less understandable, but still) under Ralf and now under ETH. The players are looking like they are downing tools and we cant put all the blame on the managers. No doubt the managers have to take blame here. Its their responsibility to run a tight ship, motivate the players and given enough time, create a group of players that are both talented enough and hungry enough to compete at the top level.

Besides a few individuals it seems the general attitude among the squad is that they could only give half a feck if we win or lose. Ronaldo might have been a whinging weapon at the twillight of his career, but you cant fault the mans will to win. If he saw a squad of unmotivated, lazy, negligent feckwits it would no doubt have contributed to his sulking

That being said, i dont think ETH is the man to take us forward either. His transfers and the dismal performances since the league cup should be evidence enough hes not the top coach we hoped he was.

If we look at who are undroppable despite doing feck all positive on the pitch then we might also see who the manager(s) are afraid to fall out with.

 

[Cela shomana]

I suspect he believed that the only way to get something from the game was to sit deep then use Evans, Lindilof, Onana and Ericksen abilties to ping balls to find out attackers. remember that brilliat pass from Evans to Bruno against Burnely? I don't see any other reason why he picked Evans over Varane.

 

[Mike Smalling]

I don't know if ETH will be fired, or if he could potentially turn it aorund.

What I do know is that the next manager will fail in the same way, unless something changes in the levels above him.

 

[sglowrider]

To be fair we know it isn’t that, as that was Ole’s tactic and it worked sort of.

Maybe so but even under Ole, we scored a truck load of goals more than under ETH. Not even close.