Do the fans actually trust ETH or is he walking the Green Mile?

[Greck]

I still trust him. When it comes to transfers I blame the hierarchy. The point of the DoF system was to spread the risk of the traditional manager led transfer strategy. First thing they did was push all their responsibilities behind ETH under the guise of letting him fasttrack squad building. Like that even made any sense. By all accounts he didn't build that Ajax team alone. You don't hire a manager and have no ideas on transfer targets for their style of football. This is how we would misdiagnose the squad and end in a late window scramble for Antony and Cas. Great players but 170m could have gotten us further.

 

[Remember the geese]

I trust him in terms of what he's good at - being a coach. Until we see our recruitment team come up with something more nuanced than 'Who do you fancy signing then Erik?', then doubts will remain over how far we can go. The shenanigans over the sale of the club has already ruined this coming window.

 

[NLunited]

He was before he joined. Statistically only Messi and Neymar had greater production

We chased him for a long time. So, how come he did not do well at United at first?

Because we were a shambles. The damage done to this club will take years to sort out.

 

[El Jefe]

Up until the Carabao cup final I think he had 100% trust from the fans. Since then there have been many question marks raised that can't simply be ignored.

He's done so much good this season from ushering out potentially big problems in Ronaldo and Maguire. He's won us our first trophy in 6 years and he's improved the play of many players with Rashford being the standout. There are many more positives to list.

The problem is the negatives are now starting to show and unfortunately for us its coming at a very bad time and is undoing a lot of his good work earlier in the season.

The two things that stop him from fully having my trust is the players he wants to recruit and the hammerings we've received. Ajax fans posted on the caf ahead of his arrival that he's shite in the transfer market and they improved considerably when Overmars took control. Not just Weghorst and Antony but we were ever so close to signing Arnautovic. He's also been very vocal in wanting to keep DDG. I fear if we lean on his recommendations we'll be setting him and ourselves up to fail.

Secondly the hammerings. I thought these were anomalies at first or blaming them on certain players. Having watched a lot more his tactical setup in certain games has been extremely naive. Newcastle beat us 2-0 the other week and it really could have been 6. I've seen Brighton, Liverpool, Sevilla and Newcastle continously carve up our left side. Rashford doesn't track back and Eriksen or Sabitzer are far too slow or weak to provide adequate cover.

At one point I thought he could do no wrong but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some concerns. I still think he'll come good but its an absolute must that stays away from transfers and extensions. Its his first season so PL naivety is expected as we saw with Klopp and Pep. In their second seasons you could tell they were 100% up to speed with the demands of the PL and I hope EtH follows suit or I fear he'll be another LVG.

 

[MadMike]

No of course not, silly question. Why would you trust? I have hopes, but no personal or professional relationship begins with trust. Trust is something that is earned over time. Trust is what Liverpool have in Klopp now, despite having a poor season this year, because he has won them a CL and the league and had 90+ point league campaigns.

Taking into account the amount of money spent, our season has been encouraging but not in any way impressive. We haven’t even secured top 4 yet. A lot of good but also quite a few questionable decisions have been made by the manager in that time. So there can’t be any trust yet. But he’s done enough to lead us into next season.

 

[Tyrion]

I trust him. He's obviously a good manager and has done well with big challenges. The team is tiring out and we've a poor squad behind the first team so people are freaking out at the drop in form.

I still believe he's the best candidate since SAF but after cup final, he hasn't done many thing right.
I always thought he was too cocky that he thought he could've fixed this squad when he first came here. It isn't happening. Bin them in the summer

Why do you think he thought that? What was he supposed to say? "Look these lads are shite and I'll have to sell the lot of them before we get anywhere."

 

[Jam]

I trust him. He's obviously a good manager and has done well with big challenges. The team is tiring out and we've a poor squad behind the first team so people are freaking out at the drop in form.



Why do you think he thought that? What was he supposed to say? "Look these lads are shite and I'll have to sell the lot of them before we get anywhere."

This.

what was he supposed to do “the 25 I have are shite I need an entirely new squad”?

Transitional periods are always gradually not overnight, it seems a lot of fans are conditioned by managers throwing players under the bus which never helps anyone.

For example I’m as a big critic of Maguire as the next guy. But I still wouldn’t want ETH coming out “aye the lads shite I’ll never use him unless I have to.” - it lowers his sell on value but also demoralises the lad who potentially we might have to use now and again.

 

[Tyrion]

This.

what was he supposed to do “the 25 I have are shite I need an entirely new squad”?

Transitional periods are always gradually not overnight, it seems a lot of fans are conditioned by managers throwing players under the bus which never helps anyone.

For example I’m as a big critic of Maguire as the next guy. But I still wouldn’t want ETH coming out “aye the lads shite I’ll never use him unless I have to.” - it lowers his sell on value but also demoralises the lad who potentially we might have to use now and again.

Iirc the same thing happened with Ferguson. People complained he was delusional thinking the team was good enough despite us frequently being linked with, and sometimes getting, better players.

 

[always_hoping]

No of course not, silly question. Why would you trust? I have hopes, but no personal or professional relationship begins with trust. Trust is something that is earned over time. Trust is what Liverpool have in Klopp now, despite having a poor season this year, because he has won them a CL and the league and had 90+ point league campaigns.

Taking into account the amount of money spent, our season has been encouraging but not in any way impressive. We haven’t even secured top 4 yet. A lot of good but also quite a few questionable decisions have been made by the manager in that time. So there can’t be any trust yet. But he’s done enough to lead us into next season.

Klopp was appointed in October 2015 and it was June 2019 before he won his first trophy with them. His first three league seasons with Liverpool they finished 8th,4th and 4th and plenty of cash was splashed on a every area leaving the team he took over unrecognisable. The trust ETH needs will be from those behind the scenes doing the transfer business such as Micheal Edwards did with Liverpool, competent people that makes a huge difference.

 

[Chairman Woodie]

The two things that stop him from fully having my trust is the players he wants to recruit and the hammerings we've received. Ajax fans posted on the caf ahead of his arrival that he's shite in the transfer market and they improved considerably when Overmars took control. Not just Weghorst and Antony but we were ever so close to signing Arnautovic. He's also been very vocal in wanting to keep DDG. I fear if we lean on his recommendations we'll be setting him and ourselves up to fail.

1. If Ten Hag is "shite" in the transfer market, how come some of his signings at Ajax were and are so highly rated ?

• Lisandro Martinez
• Edson Alvarez
• Mohammed Kudus
• Antony

And didn't signings such as Dusan Tadic play a role in ETH's success at Ajax too ?

I would agree some signings didn't work out during his time at Ajax. For example, Promes and Marin. But saying ETH is "shite" in the transfer market doesn't do him justice.

2. Arnautovic had been on United's radar long before ETH became manager.

3. Did the summer signings disappoint you ? Some pundits scoffed at Martinez and Casemiro when they arrived. "Martinez is too small." "Casemiro is only in it for the money." They were wrong. Some pundits have rolled back on their words since. The Club overpaid for Antony, but he has alot of potential.

 

[Marwood]

I trust him. I don’t trust him with all of the signings(not his job really), but definitely completely trust him as a manager.

We hope its not purely his job but who know what United's scouts do. Easiest job around.

Last summers signings were clearly all down to ETH.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

We hope its not purely his job but who know what United's scouts do. Easiest job around.

Last summers signings were clearly all down to ETH.

There's been numerous reports of our scouts being marginalized and overruled with players coming in or not.

 

[Telsim]

There's a difference between general trust and the utter devotion some here are hurling at him, which reminds of the cult of Ole back in the day. He's done much better than I expected with the players he has and I think he has top mentality for a coach, but I'd be wary of giving him too much say in transfers. He appears far too single-minded in some regards. His in-game management is questionable sometimes and I don't think he utilizes academy players enough.

My biggest issue is the dogshit football we are playing. Provided he gets the investment he needs, he must deliver a proactive initiative brand of football next season. Or at the very least lay a solid foundation for it.

 

[Lost bear]

Had we lost Greenwood and Ronaldo earlier the story would have been different. From what I remember Greenwood was during the season, right? Or was it just before

Can’t remember. Either way, if we’d had a high quality striker things would clearly have been different.

 

[Lost bear]

It's not a freakish outlier in the season we've also conceded 6 against Man City.

Well yes, I mentioned that there had been other bad losses. Still, if we had a top striker things could have worked out very differently.

 

[AndySmith1990]

I trust Ten Hag to improve the team in coming seasons, but I don't trust him unconditionally. I don't believe in blindly defending anyone. Not a single person on the planet is beyond criticism and it's unproductive and unhealthy to go on a crusade to protect someone from all criticism. He's not perfect, and he's not performed any miracles. He's done a mostly good job managing the team and handling some things that could've damaged our season otherwise.

I appreciate there are a number of players in the squad who simply aren't fit for purpose, and there's not much he can do with them. I'm reserving some judgement until he's able to move them out and build a team that fits his style

 

[croadyman]

overall very happy with a few concerns

give him a keeper, cm and striker this summer and we should improve a lot

Can we afford to sign all 3 though

 

[Ed9]

100% 10/10
Under the circumstances there's noone better.

 

[mariko48]

I do.

 

[UpWithRivers]

We trusted in all the managers and the players since Sir Alex left. Where did that get us? We are like abused dogs. Its going to take a while before we can truly trust anyone again.

 

[MadMike]

Klopp was appointed in October 2015 and it was June 2019 before he won his first trophy with them. His first three league seasons with Liverpool they finished 8th, 4th and 4th and plenty of cash was splashed on a every area leaving the team he took over unrecognisable. The trust ETH needs will be from those behind the scenes doing the transfer business such as Micheal Edwards did with Liverpool, competent people that makes a huge difference.

Yeah but who says that Klopp in 17-18 was fully trusted? Jury was still out for him. And if the team regressed and dropped out of the top 4 he could well be sacked. Now he’s shown enough and achieved enough that he’s trusted. He has finished in the top 4 in all his 6 previous full seasons with Liverpool. He might not this year, for the first time. But he’s not in danger of the sack, because they trust him due to previous achievements.

 

[klayton88]

Personally think he's going the same way as managers before him. I think we'll throw top 4 and the summer reshape will be massively hampered by those greedy cnuts holding out for more money. We never get transfers done early and ready for pre season.

 

[The-Mezzala]

Personally think he's going the same way as managers before him. I think we'll throw top 4 and the summer reshape will be massively hampered by those greedy cnuts holding out for more money. We never get transfers done early and ready for pre season.

Groundhog Day isn’t. Spot on tbh. I agree we have been here every year since Fergie left. Only manager I fully trusted was Jose because of his record but even he went down and the glazers broke him

 

[Rozay]

You can’t just trust blindly and without question. Many strange decisions. A few more today. What the feck does he need to see that Wout Weghorst is not a PL player? His inclusion has meant one shit player in the team, and then one good player totally neutralised by being shifted to the left.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

You can’t just trust blindly and without question. Many strange decisions. A few more today. What the feck does he need to see that Wout Weghorst is not a PL player? His inclusion has meant one shit player in the team, and then one good player totally neutralised by being shifted to the left.

Accurate.

 

[Drainy]

Yes, the squad has just been stretched too thin and injuries, suspensions and drops in form have creeped in.

Also bottlers going to bottle. De Gea is a proven bottler and should be moved on now.

 

[SAFMUTD]

Not going to lie, until today I fully trusted him. I have some doubts now some illogical decisions and the way we have regressed are concerning.

 

[HookedOnAPhelan]

Starting to have concerns. Seen this shit before from this lot. It needs to have consequences in the summer.

 

[Blood Mage]

I don't trust his tactics away from home nor his judgement on players. He has us playing some really nice stuff at OT occasionally but he needs to be giving me more reasons than that to feel optimistic about the future.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Also bottlers going to bottle. De Gea is a proven bottler and should be moved on now.

This./

We must rid the club of these attitudes. None of this, good enough for a squad player nonsense. We’re devoid of character.

 

[Vidic178]

De Gea needs to go, but he isn't the sole reason for the loss, it's not like any of the other players scored.

Ten Hag isn't doing any better than Ole is let's be honest. 250m spent for 4th/5th isn't an achievement

 

[DevTheRed]

I trust him more than the players. The players have thrown managers under the bus time and time again. Let Erik build his team up and see what happens.

 

[jeepers]

But that isn't really how it works, isn't it? I mean, you don't burn out your players until January and then go out an buy new ones. The mileage on Rashford, Bruno and Eriksen was always getting back at us, no matter if we sign Weghorst or not.

Yep you're spot on. EtH was naive, still is actually. However, it's also the poor quality of our squad depth that is impossible to fix in two windows. Rashford was the main striker with Martial pretty much 80% of the season. I would give him one more season to improve the squad depth (hopefully the youngsters like Mainoo and Hannibal can step up and show their worth during pre-season). It's been a marathon season and for someone who seems so intelligent and calculated like EtH, I hope he manages the squad much better next season. He definitely should and could have rested Bruno and Eriksen more.

 

[hobbers]

He makes it impossible to trust him when he selects Weghorst to play as a defensive number 10, while shifting Bruno out wide to his worst position to accommodate it.

Half a dozen players in the squad would fit in this system he likes better than Wout either with Bruno behind Rashford or playing deeper alongside Casemiro.

Which we saw perfectly illustrated in the first half vs Sevilla at OT and then have never seen again.

 

[Ronaldo's Love Child]

It is difficult on the back of some bad results and performances to be emotionless about this but if at the start of the season we were told that your star striker would leave halfway through and you cannot replace him. That we would win a cup. That we would be in the final of the only other domestic cup and we are (currently) in line for a Champions League place....then I think we would ALL take it.

The problem with our players is that it feels like repairing a leaking roof. You think you have fixed one hole and you start trying to fix the other but then a third hole pops up that needs addressing and then f*** me, the first one has started leaking again!

 

[astracrazy]

100%

I think a lot of people are forgetting how things were pre world cup. Remember there was a time we couldn't believe what he was getting out of these players?

Post world cup has been nothing but a slog. Endless games, injuries, suspensions, relying on two loaned players to boalster the squad. Our only number 9 comes back from injury and has been a waste of space.

 

[The Boy]

EtH has basically been fire fighting all season and at no point has the club/events enabled him to have any kind of stability.

Late moves in the summer transfer window after the De Jong debacle, bringing in Casemiro and Antony too late for any kind of proper pre-season, the World Cup in the middle of it all, the Ronaldo farce, a Jan window with no funds available at all, no strikers and now everything in limbo due to the ownership question.

With all that hanging over him and a squad built with no long term plan in mind to work with, he's done amazingly well.

He's also learning the premier league and if you have a smooth and efficient summer window, which is a big if right now thanks to the Glazer's snail pace selling strategy, I think you would see real improvements on the pitch.

Looking in as an oppo fan, I think he's worked wonders this season with all the obstacles he's had and continues to have.

 

[Ronaldo's Love Child]

Late moves in the summer transfer window after the De Jong debacle, bringing in Casemiro and Antony too late for any kind of proper pre-season, the World Cup in the middle of it all, the Ronaldo farce, a Jan window with no funds available at all, no strikers and now everything in limbo due to the ownership question.

sh*t-I forgot about that De Jong debacle.

Yep-ETH does not walk on water. The De Jong saga was entirely on him. His determination to purchase Antony for an eye watering sum is on him.

His unwillingness to grab the bull by the horns and show some steely manmanagement by stripping the captaincy of Maguire is on him.

In answer to the original question then yeah-I do still have confidence in him but 2nd season will show us what he's made out of.

 

[NZT-One]

Yep you're spot on. EtH was naive, still is actually. However, it's also the poor quality of our squad depth that is impossible to fix in two windows. Rashford was the main striker with Martial pretty much 80% of the season. I would give him one more season to improve the squad depth (hopefully the youngsters like Mainoo and Hannibal can step up and show their worth during pre-season). It's been a marathon season and for someone who seems so intelligent and calculated like EtH, I hope he manages the squad much better next season. He definitely should and could have rested Bruno and Eriksen more.

Yeah I agree. I hope as well. I'm sure it is difficult for him as he doesn't really know who he can trust but thats he ride he has chosen unfortunately. I think, I remember a few Ajax fans speaking about this as a known "issue" with him, that he isn't great with rotation and making use of a squad.
He is in a tricky situation, I totally understand that he is trying to bring as much success as possible in his first season to give him a little leeway down the line and considering some of our bench options, I totally understand the hesitation.

 

[CM]

His quote about De Gea is the first time I'm starting to waver on him. I'd like to think it's just lip service but Ten Hag's choice of words seemed quite strong and definite. If he doesn't see a huge liability like De Gea as a problem, that's a massive red flag.