ETH on United philosophy: “Built a side to play direct football”… “Impossible to play like Ajax”

LARulz

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What a pointless manager then. Hired to do the job he did at Ajax but says he can't after the money he has wasted

It doesn't matter if some of the old squad is there. He could have spent better than blowing £160 million on Antony and Mount

If the players don't fit your system then fecking coach them. If they aren't coachable then mould the youth players
 

ayushreddevil9

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All he had to do was implement what he knew best, add players for that system and get rid of players not suited for that system.
 

izec

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It will only get worse as he will grind out results to keep his job. There will be no coaching or pattern of play, just pure survival mode and individual moments.

Just sack him now, pathetic excuse of a manager.
 

CallyRed

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"It's all about getting it wide to the wingers"

Shame those wingers are shit.
 

Murder on Zidanes Floor

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It's precisely the problem. It's one step forward and two steps back in basically every way. He signed Lisandro and Onana to play out from the back, but then his ideal midfield is a bunch of a midfielders who average 80% passing accuracy.

Everything is or has been half-measured with Hag. There is no absolute commitment either way. The splinters are starting to dig in from all that tactical fence sitting.
Also midfielders who cannot run or move off the ball (hide behind markers) and cannot take the ball on the half turn under pressure.
 

Hugh Jass

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They threw Ole under the bus for precisely this, being direct, so im not sure why he thought he could pull it off.
 

Castia

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Not sure why hes come out with this quote it makes him look weak. Not playing like Ajax is one thing but we generally play some of the worst football in the league. There’s teams with way less quality than we have available playing a much better brand of football

I’m not being funny but wasn’t this his entire appeal? A modern style manager that plays attractive football. 400m later and he’s talking like big Sam at Bolton battling for every point.

I’ve had it with this manager
 

kaku06

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As much as I hated his football, the more I have to give LVG respect for at least sticking to his principles and instilling a clear footballing philosophy into the team. This is a man that had Fellaini in midfield and Smalling at CB yet had a team that would dominate possession. I'm not suggesting it was good, but he's the only manager we've had who I think has made a significant difference to our style of play and I think with a proper footballing structure, LVG probably would have been our best manager since SAF.
Wholeheartedly agree. I would back that man completely if I knew we would be this shit in 2023. He was the man for the job.
 

Manncunian

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The guys clearly just laying the foundations to be sacked and get a pay out now. It’s blindingly obvious.

He’s actually trolling himself and his past managerial career.

Needs to be got rid of as a matter of urgency.
 

Crashoutcassius

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Tempt Saudi for Bruno and PSG for Rashford when they lose Mbappe. Only way it happens.
We would be so much better without the most creative player in the league and our top scorer by a country mile last season.

Nice to see we have new scapegoat. The guys that said getting rid of de gea would be transformational last season look so clever this year
 

SirScholes

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This isn't news, in a nicer, more positively spun way he told us all this back in August:

I don't even really blame him, look at our squad. We don't have 11 players we can play together that are good enough that would be able to play a dominant heavy style.

-----------------Onana
Dalot-Varane-Martinez-Shaw
----------------Amrabat
-----------Mount-Eriksen
Antony-----------------------Sancho
----------------Hojlund

That's probably the best 'possession XI' we could pick, but there's 1000 reasons why he wouldn't pick it or anything like it.
he signed 7 of them so I do blame him
 

fallengt

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This statement just highlights the club's unstructure more than anything...
- Hire ETH > No idea what he wants to play > Doesn't sign players with the same profile that he wants.

I mean it's not like ETH is blameless but manager should never be in charge of transfer. He may have input but that should stop there
From Dejong to Casemiro, two very different players. Didn't replace DDG in first year. Sancho, probably not single person at the club knows what he's good at yet he was club's top target.
Fred, McTomminey, Bruno can't control midfield, have no patient to do so. Rashford, oh dear, he has the habit of switching off/on through the season.

The list go on. Blame ETH all you want, arguably he could've signed some systemic players instead of MM and Antony but how would you solve this in a year? Take it in mind that club takes forever to sell/buy a player.
"But he spent 400m", United tax. The real number is closer to 250m not to mention he inherited an unfuctional squad with lot of players out of contract/leaving. Give that money to Brighton, they would get you 2 teams not 7 players.
 
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RedRonaldo

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If he doesn't want us to play like Ajax, why are we buying anything and everything from Ajax? Don't get it.
We are letting him buying all these players to make him feel more at home, perhaps.
 

BluesJr

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We would be so much better without the most creative player in the league and our top scorer by a country mile last season.

Nice to see we have new scapegoat. The guys that said getting rid of de gea would be transformational last season look so clever this year
Rashford and Bruno belong nowhere near a top team. Hate to break it to you.
 

Bosws87

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Rashford has people under a spell, his form now and his lack of any consistency is not a surprise to anyone since he’s been a regular in the team if you have watched him.
 

E-mal

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He is a cnut, signed a mismatch of players and plays shite football. He is a fraud and we have wasted serious money and time with him. It was obvious we were never going to win any title with direct football, all the big teams can play both direct and indirect.
 

Idxomer

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All he had to do was implement what he knew best, add players for that system and get rid of players not suited for that system.
There's no one at the club who has the appetite to get rid of the likes of Bruno and Rashford and even lesser players like McTominay or even AWB. It's too much work and hassle for Murtough, Arnold and Joel.
 

gaffs

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'We will never play the football we played at Ajax here,' he told ViaPlay after the defeat. 'I now have other players, that's not why I came here.'

'The player material you have determines how you will play. That's why we play here in a different way than I did at Ajax. That will have to be the case, because I can't play the same way here.


So why buy so many ex-Ajax players?
 

Telsim

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We would be so much better without the most creative player in the league and our top scorer by a country mile last season.

Nice to see we have new scapegoat. The guys that said getting rid of de gea would be transformational last season look so clever this year
What a load of horsecrap!

Everyone thought Spurs are doomed when they sold Kane. Their talisman and by far their best player. What happened? They are playing better football than they have in a long time. And Kane is a better player than both Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes. Sometimes you need to let go to move forward.
 

ayushreddevil9

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What a load of horsecrap!

Everyone thought Spurs are doomed when they sold Kane. Their talisman and by far their best player. What happened? They are playing better football than they have in a long time. And Kane is a better player than both Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes. Sometimes you need to let go to move forward.
Some people just look at stats. They don't really watch United play otherwise nobody in their right minds would call Bruno 'most creative' player. There are so many random bs involved in stats these days that if you constantly throw shit at a wall hoping for some of it to stick, you can creep up on the stats table. One of worst performers since that Ole season.
 

The Purley King

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Firstly, this isn't difference for difference sake. It's difference because our mid/low block of the Ole and Mou eras has a clear ceiling of success due to the lack of control we have over matches, and how much we struggle to break down teams who sit deep against us. We need to adopt a more proactive approach of some variety in order to build for long term success.

As for your final line, I haven't claimed at any point that time will solve it by itself. My point was that no system will work immediately without any wrinkles given our personnel. It takes players unused to a system time to get used to it, and some simply won't be suited to it, and replacing those players with ones that are also takes time when limited the way we are with poor scouting and a budget that allows 3 signings per year. No matter who we appoint, no matter what proactive style they try to implement, it'll come with pain, poor form, and losses until we get more comfortable and experienced with it, and that'll only happen if we stick with it through the tough times rather than throwing it in the bin because it isn't immediately successful.

We have had highs, there are periods of matches we've looked excellent this season (first half against Spurs, Palace away, most of the Arsenal match except for just after scoring, Forest after the 4th minute, Galatasaray apart from the defensive brainfarts, Copenhagen, etc). As previously mentioned we're now really good at winning the ball high, we're also much more confident and composed in possession at the back, those are 2 key areas of the system we've made great progress in. There are clearly areas we're yet to make enough progress in, such as using those turnovers, defensive third pressures, and recovering from a broken press, which are why we're struggling.

In the system we're trying to implement, the positives easily outweigh the negatives when playing it to it's full potential. We're obviously nowhere near there but the same point remains - that would be the case with most systems we adopt, and at some point we need to actually see one through, even if it takes several managers.
That’s all good but when the manager throws his style in the bin and says we’ll go back to what we had before that is……… not a good look
 

Isotope

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Saying Bruno as player that isn't able to play in possession-based team is silly on so many level. He's done it for years, as one of crucial player in Portugal NT that play similar to possession-based one.
 

Stobzilla

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We would be so much better without the most creative player in the league and our top scorer by a country mile last season.

Nice to see we have new scapegoat. The guys that said getting rid of de gea would be transformational last season look so clever this year
For what it is worth, he's not a new scapegoat for me, I don't like players that play the way he does, I think it gets away from the team aspect. I understand people do like him though.
 

Telsim

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Some people just look at stats. They don't really watch United play otherwise nobody in their right minds would call Bruno 'most creative' player. There are so many random bs involved in stats these days that if you constantly throw shit at a wall hoping for some of it to stick, you can creep up on the stats table. One of worst performers since that Ole season.
True. Although he raised a good point about the goalkeeper. Everyone wanted a new one because everyone assumed we'd be playing quality possession football, which didn't suit De Gea. If we were going to stick to Oleball, we really should have just kept De Gea. Shambolic recruitment.
 

The Hilton

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That’s all good but when the manager throws his style in the bin and says we’ll go back to what we had before that is……… not a good look
It wouldn't be, if it happened. As it is, Ten Hag is playing the closest facsimile he can manage with the threadbare squad he has available.
 

Get In Scholesy

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Although it is easiest to blame ETH and by all means he is not blameless in this. However, this shows the true state of disarray the club is in. If a manager - whoever it is - is not on the same page with the directors - whoever they are - who are not in constant discussions with the owners - whoever they may be - then all of the issues we have seen over the last decade or so will continue to persist. Add that to a lack of accountability, then you have a truly shit concoction, as we are witnessing.

It is easiest to judge the manager and players because they are the most front line staff - but there must be a lot of shit going on beyond the pitch that is leading to the horrid product on it.

This doesn’t relieve the players or managers of their part in this (especially not the players) but it does add perspective and context.

That being said, I feel with the current ownership situation everything will remain as is - if anything, Sir Jim’s 25% share might further add to the disarray as it adds another cog in a truly terrible machine.
 

mu4c_20le

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What a load of horsecrap!

Everyone thought Spurs are doomed when they sold Kane. Their talisman and by far their best player. What happened? They are playing better football than they have in a long time. And Kane is a better player than both Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes. Sometimes you need to let go to move forward.
They are still our best players so letting them go would be the quickest path to relegation. If you look at this squad and think they are the problem then I don't know what to say. Most of the signings have been wrong and they literally carried ETH to a trophy last year, despite the piss easy draws.
 

Hoof the ball

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Let's be fair to him.

The crux of his great performance last season derived from the fact that he employed AWB, Varane, Martinez and Shaw as a back four and could more or less rely upon his best defence to protect and build out from the back.

The question you have to ask yourself is the following:

Would this season have looked the same if the above four had been fit for most/all games?
 

Mainoldo

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What happened with Moyes summer, what happened the summer when Jose only got Fred etc etc etc
Selective outrage. How about those Di Maria, Pogba, Lukaku, Maguire, Varane etc summers I’ll add in CR7 for clout too.
 

FreakyJim

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All he had to do was implement what he knew best, add players for that system and get rid of players not suited for that system.
Maybe he's not allowed to get rid of players like Bruno and Rashford who are clearly not suited to his system?

Let's be fair to him.

The crux of his great performance last season derived from the fact that he employed AWB, Varane, Martinez and Shaw as a back four and could more or less rely upon his best defence to protect and build out from the back.

The question you have to ask yourself is the following:

Would this season have looked the same if the above four had been fit for most/all games?
Of course it would've looked better.

No doubt the ETH OUT mob will disagree.

When you think about playing from the back, you naturally think of Maguire, Evans, Dalot and Lindelof, the titans of calmness, composure and skill.
 
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Winrar

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As pessimistic as it would've been to say at the time, the opener against Wolves was unfortunately a warning sign of things to come.

The team has, again, mentally checked out and I don't know if ETH (or even any other manager) can right this ship for some time.
 

oreon

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The transfer/recruitment argument is poisoning the whole argument. The window is not open for another 2 months and like most teams we won't be doing much in January.
The question should be with the players ETH has is he doing enough. The answer is NO. Forget about results, the football has been awful. With the talent he has, we should be saying better football. We've seen far less talented teams out play UTD.
The football and tactics haven't been good. This has nothing to do with transfers. It's down to coaching, game plan and execution. This falls on the manager and the players. Either the players are not following ETH gameplan or there isn't one. Because week to week, we see UTD poor in creating possessions. UTD are only dangerous on the counter. And there's is no attempt from this team to control the game.
 

Smores

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Every manager has a set of quotes that turned the fan base and lead to their eventual sacking. Undoubtedly this is ETH's own.

He's been such a disappointment.
 

Ish

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Let's be fair to him.

The crux of his great performance last season derived from the fact that he employed AWB, Varane, Martinez and Shaw as a back four and could more or less rely upon his best defence to protect and build out from the back.

The question you have to ask yourself is the following:

Would this season have looked the same if the above four had been fit for most/all games?
Yeah, injuries to our defence have been brutal. Not an excuse but just the truth.
 

saivet

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Maybe he's not allowed to get rid of players like Bruno and Rashford who are clearly not suited to his system?
He has alternatives now though. He had Sancho and Garnacho at LW at the start of the season and he just spent big money on Mount. Maybe he can't get rid of them but they're not undroppable. Maybe the media and fans would have issues but I don't think either player is so loved that there would be collective outrage.

Whether he was right or wrong, Jose dropped Mata at Chelsea, despite putting him incredible number the season before at Chelsea, a far more popular player than Bruno or Rashford at United.

ETH can't complain that there's nothing he can do but play Bruno and Rashford all the time.