Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager / awaiting clarity from the club over his position

[DRJosh]

I don’t blame ETH for todays result but I’m curious as to who’s idea it was to secure Mount. That was a head scratcher

With Maguire staying as well, we have missed an opportunity to strengthen the defensive part of our midfield.

I’ve an uneasy feeling that we will collapse quite brutally this season after letting Fred go, as despite his shortcomings he had a purposeful energy about him.If Casemiro is ever injured, we’d be taking a few wallopings from better teams.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

I get he should know these things and should use google, but no point jumping on him for it.

It's more the fact that people are so fecking lazy in this day and age to actually check. Thing is, it probably would have been quicker researching it then waiting for an answer on here.

 

[Red in STL]

I get he should know these things and should use google, but no point jumping on him for it.

If nobody does then he'll not learn and likely forever remain a Noob

 

[The Mitcher]

I don’t blame ETH for todays result but I’m curious as to who’s idea it was to secure Mount. That was a head scratcher

With Maguire staying as well, we have missed an opportunity to strengthen the defensive part of our midfield.

I’ve an uneasy feeling that we will collapse quite brutally this season after letting Fred go, as despite his shortcomings he had a purposeful energy about him.If Casemiro is ever injured, we’d be tak

All of that was ETH's fault, yet you don't blame him?

 

[The Mitcher]

If nobody does then he'll not learn and likely forever remain a Noob

Or he'll remember, instead you dogpile him.

 

[Cassidy]

Probably because we spent the whole budget on those three alone. You're not getting that we have to spend WISELY. That means not wasting money on one player where two could be cheaper and imptove us as a team for less money.

I’m willing to bet Osimhen and Onana as the lone signings before sales this summer would have been miles better than what weve done

 

[Rightnr]

It's more the fact that people are so fecking lazy in this day and age to actually check. Thing is, it probably would have been quicker researching it then waiting for an answer on here.

The retort implied racism, laziness is an altogether different topic (I agree and obviously know who Mainoo is).

 

[Jericholyte2]

Don't insult users or you'll get reported.

I was calling a spade a spade.

 

[Redlyn]

Are you that lazy to look for his name? It only takes seconds to search google. Have some bloody manners. That’s how you describe someone especially a young player from the academy? It might not be racist but it’s a bit disrespectful and borderline insulting.

It's not disrespectful or insulting at all. Skin colour is literally just a characteristic equivalent to fat or tall. The main issue is we live in racist and woke times so it is just better to refrain from describing someone based on their race (if possible) especially if the person is black. Look how many people got triggered by something so basic. It's just the unfortunate sad reality of the times. Hopefully eventually humanity can overcome this oversensitivity to all things related to race.

 

[caid]

Getting some energy and workrate week to week is going to be his and any other managers biggest challenge with this job. He got a good reaction after a terrible start last season but it was slipping most of the season post christmas and we finished the season looking like the same old zombie team we saw under solskjaer and others. Theres enough talent in the team to put a decent side out every week but it wont matter if they sleepwalk through matches like today.

 

[mu4c_20le]

What was he supposed to use? Please, tell us the criteria.

He was the only kid who started and impressed that day, so I thought it was odd that race was even mentioned at all.

 

[Dannn411]

Highly doubt Ten Hag's job is under threat just yet because of last season but if we suffer anymore embarrassing losses it could well be and signs are pointing to us being on the end of another hammering somewhere this year the way he has set this team up.

 

[The Mitcher]

I was calling a spade a spade.

You were being unnessarily insulting which will get you banned and not him.

 

[The Mitcher]

I’m willing to bet Osimhen and Onana as the loan signings before sales this summer would have been miles better than what weve done

Why the hell would Napoli and Inter loan them? You haven't got a clue.

 

[Cassidy]

Why the hell would Napoli and Inter loan them? You haven't got a clue.

Typo. Lone signings, as in the only.
Onana + Osimhen > Onana + Mount + Hojlund.

 

[Rightnr]

He was the only kid who started and impressed that day, so I thought it was odd that race was even mentioned at all.

Would it be an issue if someone described Garnacho as that blond kid? I'll stop now but come on, let's not assume everyone knows our players as well as the ones watching each game and make a mountain out of a mole hill.

 

[BarstoolProphet]

De Zerbi anyone?

It's like buying players from Dortmund back then, only works wonderful in a certain structure.

 

[fergies coat]

Are you that lazy to look for his name? It only takes seconds to search google. Have some bloody manners. That’s how you describe someone especially a young player from the academy? It might not be racist but it’s a bit disrespectful and borderline insulting.

Is he not young and black? Stop looking for something that isn't there.

 

[The Mitcher]

Typo. Lone signings, as in the only

That would still not address the midfield.

 

[Red in STL]

It's not disrespectful or insulting at all. Skin colour is literally just a characteristic equivalent to fat or tall. The main issue is we live in racist and woke times so it is just better to refrain from describing someone based on their race especially if the person is black. It's just the unfortunate sad reality of the times. Hopefully in like a few hundred more years humanity can over come this oversensitivity to all things related to race.

I think it is a bit disrespectable TBH though not deliberately so in this case, I'd expect the same results if the term used was "that white teenager"

 

[sammyhol]

Just like the start of last season, he is trying to play a style that he wants to play, even though the personnel don’t fit… last season, he quickly realised and fixed it…

this season, I think he will be more stubborn because of the Mount signing…. Which l just can’t make any sense of at all.

ultimately, he seems intent on making all of our best players look worse:

• Bruno - amazingly creative, but poor ball retention…. So why try and make him an 8, when he clearly adds so much as a free role 10??
• Casemiro - great tight pressure, very good progressive passer, but hasn’t got the legs…. So why leave him exposed with too much ground to cover without a midfield partner??
• Rashford - all is best work is facing the goal, running at defender, or running in behind from wide areas… terrible hold up player… so why play him as a 9??
• Shaw - adds so much danger from wide areas. So why play him inside (this one’s a bit harsh, solved this today… shaw just looks unfit)

Play the hand you have Erik…. It’s pretty simple.

 

[The Mitcher]

It's like buying players from Dortmund back then, only works wonderful in a certain structure.

Yep, even Potter was on course to get Brighton where they eventually finished. It was under him they first beat us.

 

[Cassidy]

That would still not address the midfield.

And Mount has? The whole point of my post was we would have been better off not signing Mount and getting the better striker

 

[Wolfbot]

Not only that but we still aren't playing with someone who's a natural striker, and are using our best wide player in an unnatural position to compensate for the lack of a striker. That'll hopefully improve our attacking output, but I have to admit that I think that we'd be better off with an Amrabat-Casemiro-Bruno/Mount combination than Casemiro-Bruno-Mount as the benefit of the double 8/10 is not obvious to me.

If the idea was to win the ball back high up the park before the opposition could get out, then I could understand having two creative midfielders to make good use of the ball in dangerous areas.

Sadly we don't play like that, in fact we don't look to be playing in any decipherable manner at the moment

 

[saivet]

I don’t blame ETH for todays result but I’m curious as to who’s idea it was to secure Mount. That was a head scratcher

It was pretty widely reported that he was ETH's first choice midfield signing.

 

[ArmaDino]

I think one of the issues ETH has identified is that last season we were being overrun in the midfield. and his idea was to drop Bruno deeper and sign another 8 and aking to Liverpool with their 4-3-3 formation. As we've seen most of the sucesful teams in the last 5 years implement a variation of the 4-3-3(Pool, City, Real).

The problem was that when you go for a 4-3-3 you need very creative wide players and fullbacks. When we look at our current wide options, both Rashford and Antony(more on him later) are more of goal scorers than creators.

So the idea was that since we don't have wide creative forwards and since we don't have the budget to sign them, then we need to sign more creative CMs that also have the legs to cover the midfield. Hence Ten Hag's idea of signing Mount which is a hybrid 8/10. So he would set up with a holding DM and 2 8/10 hybrids.

The problem is that Bruno for all his heart and workrate is very limited tactically. You can't do an O'Shea on him or even Scholes and play him deeper and expect his performances not to suffer. So right now we are stuck with an imbalanced midfield because Bruno always plays higher up and leaves his back area exposed.

The other main issue is Antony. He is supper 1 dimenssional and doesn't create anything. As such, he puts a bigger burden on the midfield to create something, which in turn allows the oppo not to allocate too many resources in marking him out of the game.

One way to solve this conundrum would be to change the formation to a 4-4-2 diamond. Drop Antony, have Erikssen take his place in the middle of the diamond with Mount and have Bruno up top as the creator. Have Rashford and Hojlund be the 2 CFs. Rashford would be more a SS as he needs space to operate otherwise he does not offer much. The same space cane be used by Mount and Bruno to run into while have Erikssen be the supporting playmaker.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Some people starting to sound like that old white pundit that used to work for sky sports.

 

[The Mitcher]

Just like the start of last season, he is trying to play a style that he wants to play, even though the personnel don’t fit… last season, he quickly realised and fixed it…

this season, I think he will be more stubborn because of the Mount signing…. Which l just can’t make any sense of at all.

ultimately, he seems intent on making all of our best players look worse:

• Bruno - amazingly creative, but poor ball retention…. So why try and make him an 8, when he clearly adds so much as a free role 10??
• Casemiro - great tight pressure, very good progressive passer, but hasn’t got the legs…. So why leave him exposed with too much ground to cover without a midfield partner??
• Rashford - all is best work is facing the goal, running at defender, or running in behind from wide areas… terrible hold up player… so why play him as a 9??
• Shaw - adds so much danger from wide areas. So why play him inside (this one’s a bit harsh, solved this today… shaw just looks unfit)

Play the hand you have Erik…. It’s pretty simple.

Like I said before, he believes in his own hype. He thinks he can fit square pegs into round holes if he bashes hard enough.

 

[lsd]

Everyone jumping on the Mount signing being the sign of an idiot manager I assume feel the same way about Klopp and Arteta, who both also wanted him, right?

As for EtH, he's got a way he wants us playing, we're just not very good at it yet - last season he basically gave up after our poor start, realising we simply didn't have the personnel, this time around hopefully it clicks sooner rather than later.

Klopp and Arteta may have needed him in not sure we did.

I think he's a good player but posting him with Bruno is unlikely to work especially if it means Casemiro is left on his own against the opposing midfield.

I have no idea what Ten Hag is expecting from that midfield but then again this is a guy who managed Antony every day for a couple years delivering very little in the Dutch League and then thought I'll spend 90 million to bring him into the premiership

 

[The Mitcher]

I think one of the issues ETH has identified is that last season we were being overrun in the midfield. and his idea was to drop Bruno deeper and sign another 8 and aking to Liverpool with their 4-3-3 formation. As we've seen most of the sucesful teams in the last 5 years implement a variation of the 4-3-3(Pool, City, Real).

The problem was that when you go for a 4-3-3 you need very creative wide players and fullbacks. When we look at our current wide options, both Rashford and Antony(more on him later) are more of goal scorers than creators.

So the idea was that since we don't have wide creative forwards and since we don't have the budget to sign them, then we need to sign more creative CMs that also have the legs to cover the midfield. Hence Ten Hag's idea of signing Mount which is a hybrid 8/10. So he would set up with a holding DM and 2 8/10 hybrids.

The problem is that Bruno for all his heart and workrate is very limited tactically. You can't do an O'Shea on him or even Scholes and play him deeper and expect his performances not to suffer. So right now we are stuck with an imbalanced midfield because Bruno always plays higher up and leaves his back area exposed.

The other main issue is Antony. He is supper 1 dimenssional and doesn't create anything. As such, he puts a bigger burden on the midfield to create something, which in turn allows the oppo not to allocate too many resources in marking him out of the game.

One way to solve this conundrum would be to change the formation to a 4-4-2 diamond. Drop Antony, have Erikssen take his place in the middle of the diamond with Mount and have Bruno up top as the creator. Have Rashford and Hojlund be the 2 CFs. Rashford would be more a SS as he needs space to operate otherwise he does not offer much. The same space cane be used by Mount and Bruno to run into while have Erikssen be the supporting playmaker.

We were nowhere near as exposed last year as we are now. If ETH has recognised somehow that was the case last year, why has he made it worse?

 

[E-mal]

Wtf are you talking about. He didn't know Mainoo's name, get over it. Nothing wrong with that description.

That description is not up to standard and the the person who made the post already acknowledged that fact.
That post was not up to scratch and your reply to my post is not the brightest either.
I am not getting over anything as I am not offended.

 

[The Mitcher]

Some people starting to sound like that old white pundit that used to work for sky sports.

Oh please. Spare me the high and mighty bollocks. Also, very disrespectful from you. Two wrongs don't make a right, and Souness isn't racist.

 

[The Mitcher]

That description is not up to standard and the the person who made the post already acknowledged that fact.
That post was not up to scratch and your reply to my post is not the brightest either.
I am not getting over anything as I am not offended.

But how should we describe Kobbie?

 

[fergies coat]

We need another midfielder and another striker, otherwise we are in big trouble this season.

 

[kaku06]

It's not disrespectful or insulting at all. Skin colour is literally just a characteristic equivalent to fat or tall. The main issue is we live in racist and woke times so it is just better to refrain from describing someone based on their race (if possible) especially if the person is black. Look how many people got triggered by something so basic. It's just the unfortunate sad reality of the times. Hopefully eventually humanity can overcome this oversensitivity to all things related to race.

It’s about having some sentimental value to the club and to its young academy players. Being a fan of this club just be more diligent, if you don’t know the name of an young academy player then fine, search his name rather than describing him by the color of his skin. It takes only few seconds. It’s not technically wrong or racist but doesn’t look nice when you say “Start that black kid”.

 

[humdinger]

I like Ten Hag. But despite being heavily backed financially his recruitment is hit or miss, our away record is absolutely atrocious and we don’t score enough goals. He is deservedly being criticised.

 

[Moriarty]

Oh I am. I've been a huge backer of his. But, I'm starting to have doubts. Those two performances so far this season have been shambolic. I fail to see what he's trying to implement.

Yep, it's hard to see what he's trying to do. There's no cohesion on the pitch and I have reservations about Bruno as captain. He's the manager's pick but, for me, Bruno does pretty much what he wants to do regardless. I hope that the extraneous stuff gets sorted soon and we can concentrate on the football but from the two games played this season so far, we are treading water.

 

[OrcaFat]

Not only that but we still aren't playing with someone who's a natural striker, and are using our best wide player in an unnatural position to compensate for the lack of a striker. That'll hopefully improve our attacking output, but I have to admit that I think that we'd be better off with an Amrabat-Casemiro-Bruno/Mount combination than Casemiro-Bruno-Mount as the benefit of the double 8/10 is not obvious to me.

Yeah we need Amrabat or someone like him competing for selection.

 

[ArmaDino]

We were nowhere near as exposed last year as we are now. If ETH has recognised somehow that was the case last year, why has he made it worse?

Reread my post. The idea was that he was trying to add more cover aka legs to our midfield, but also add a bit of creativity in there as well. So the idea was for Bruno and Mount to play deeper. In order for this formation to work they have to be in synchronicity, but Bruno can't do that so he exposes Mount and in turn Casemiro. That why having an extra midfielder in there like Erikssen should mitigate our exposure without loss of creativity.

 

[crossy1686]

We need another midfielder and another striker, otherwise we are in big trouble this season.

Said at the end of last season it was obvious we need two high quality midfielders and all we got was Mount...