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

[AshTheBash]

Seeing him smiling at the end has me fecking fuming!!!

Standards at this club in the absolute bin!

Yeah. That's what screams to me "not Manchester United manager" that's Ajax mentality. Would Mourinho be smirking like that after a game that knocked us out the CL? Would he feck. Standards in the mud.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

His post match interviews are so annoying.
"We played well, you see the progress in this team".
Same line even when we play badly and there is no progress. He is either deluded or has an ego problem.

 

[El Zoido]

His post match interviews are so annoying.
"We played well, you see the progress in this team".
Same line even when we play badly and there is no progress. He is either deluded or has an ego problem.

It doesn’t really matter what he says to the media, he’s just getting his obligations out of the way and being diplomatic. He’s not gonna come out and say we were complete dogshit, save that for behind closed doors. It benefits nobody for him to constantly be critical of the team in public, it’ll just make things worse. People worry way too much about these comments.

 

[crossy1686]

I think he'd do a good job, but I suspect Real might want to keep him and manging the Brazilian national side looks like a good challenge for him. Suspect any decent manager would fancy that.

There’s some issue with the Brazil job isn’t there? Plus, he’d probably rather stay in Europe if he can help it, and hopefully that paves the way for Pep to take the Brazil job, perfect storm.

 

[KD6-3.7]

I see no reason why Ratcliffe would keep Ten Hag but if he does decide to give him some time he needs to completely remove him having any influence over transfers.

We have yet again wasted a colossal amount of money on players Ten Hag was insistent on wanting and pretty much all of them have been flops or a disappointment.

 

[Oranges038]

Tactically inept and naive. He brought Onana. More training injuries.

December will be when he's sacked finally. Terrible manager. Sir Jim's patience is wearing thin.

so many good managers who can get this team tactically set up right.

Who?

 

[Licha-Vidic]

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[Blood Mage]

I really believe if he'd been given a competent director of football to work with on recruitment from the start, he could have built something here. He won't get the time now though, his signings have been awful and will probably cost him his job.

I do think he's a good coach and will move on to good things after we sack him. We've just left it too late to sort out our football structure and by the time we do Ten Hag will have lost the dressing room.

 

[AngeloHenriquez]

I'm conflicted here, I love everything he stands for: Discipline, nobody is bigger than the club, dropping players for bad form and the onus being on the team and a structure but in the last 6 months, he spoke of never playing that way and instead focusing on transitions and moments, falls out with players on a high wage, doesn't drop underperforming players and falls out with a lot of players rightly or wrongly then trusts Maguire, Mctom and Co as Ole did before him.

Now for the solution, we've seen these same mistakes being repeated by every previous manager so maybe we need to hold on while he sorts it out as there clearly something more going on as I don't know a single manager in the last 10 years that genuinely were able to drop the biggest stars and implement a play style, even if he isn't the answer it may be worth hanging on and showing the players they aren't going to get him fired.

 

[Rood]

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[Sarni]

He only had one really strong season in Europe with Ajax and showed similar problems. They got worse as the schedule in England is more demanding and he didn't adjust to it. Nonetheless the rest of your post is probably true as well and that doesn't help.

They were 3-0 up on aggregate against Spurs, having dominated them for the past 135 minutes of the tie, and at home in front of strong crowd yet dropped the game and allowed Tottenham to progress by failing to assume any control in the second half. It happened several times after that, e.g. the Benfica tie which they should have put to bed easily yet it slipped due to their inability to control the game.

They had two great ties against Madrid and Juventus where everything went their way, and a great group stage in his final season but his 'miraculous, unbelievable, unmatched and unparalleled' CL record was not really there.

 

[crossy1686]

I'm conflicted here, I love everything he stands for: Discipline, nobody is bigger than the club, dropping players for bad form and the onus being on the team and a structure but in the last 6 months, he spoke of never playing that way and instead focusing on transitions and moments, falls out with players on a high wage, doesn't drop underperforming players and falls out with a lot of players rightly or wrongly then trusts Maguire, Mctom and Co as Ole did before him.

Now for the solution, we've seen these same mistakes being repeated by every previous manager so maybe we need to hold on while he sorts it out as there clearly something more going on as I don't know a single manager in the last 10 years that genuinely were able to drop the biggest stars and implement a play style, even if he isn't the answer it may be worth hanging on and showing the players they aren't going to get him fired.

When he came in he quickly identified which players weren’t up to the style of football he wanted to play and would sure enough end up getting him fired if he kept selecting them. So he pushed hard for some of his ‘own’ players, which he got most of, and now it turns out they’re worse than the players he didn’t trust in the first place.

Unfortunately he isn’t going to be able to sort it out because he doesn’t have an eye for talent, and he continually underestimates the PL. If he is afforded more time, he’s only going to fall out with more players until our backline and midfield are made up pensioners or people that have spent more than a couple of hours in Holland, and of course he should have absolutely zero say in any more incoming or outgoing transfers at this point.

 

[crossy1686]

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Everton, Luton and Fulham. That’s a pity nomination.

 

[AngeloHenriquez]

When he came in he quickly identified which players weren’t up to the style of football he wanted to play and would sure enough end up getting him fired if he kept selecting them. So he pushed hard for some of his ‘own’ players, which he got most of, and now it turns out they’re worse than the players he didn’t trust in the first place.

Unfortunately he isn’t going to be able to sort it out because he doesn’t have an eye for talent, and he continually underestimates the PL. If he is afforded more time, he’s only going to fall out with more players until our backline and midfield are made up pensioners or people that have spent more than a couple of hours in Holland, and of course he should have absolutely zero say in any more incoming or outgoing transfers at this point.

If Jim comes in and brings an overhaul to the scouting and agrees a way we want to play and works with others to deliver Ten Hag a profile of player rather than a specific name, he has proved he can play a type of football at Ajax so I would be happy for that.

 

[crossy1686]

If Jim comes in and brings an overhaul to the scouting and agrees a way we want to play and works with others to deliver Ten Hag a profile of player rather than a specific name, he has proved he can play a type of football at Ajax so I would be happy for that.

The scouting had an overhaul last season but we don’t sign players the scouts recommend, we allow managers to sign players that they or their management company recommend to us instead. Our scouting department has identified many of the players that Chelsea, PSG and City have signed in recent years but we always went with the managers choice.

I mean I’d love to know what style of play he wants to play because he said the other week he will never play the Ajax way with United.

 

[Sweet Square]

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Two tweets that sum up our season so far.

 

[crossy1686]

Two tweets that sum up our season so far.

With our upcoming fixtures, you’d expect more of the first one in the next month.

 

[Winrar]

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More records broken!

 

[Toshey]

Hope we beat Newcastle and Bayern. This thread will be blissfully silent for a bit.

 

[bosnian_red]

I think he's smart tactically and a good coach, but he needs to adapt to the top level to find actual balance and control. He won't succeed until he does. I can see slight adaptations that would give it, but I can also see him just not being keen on making those changes.

 

[Spark]

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Whilst this is terrible, it must also be a record number of goals scored to be bottom of a CL group. Also losing three games from comfortable winning positions is also nuts.

 

[Ahmer Baig]

Poor performance for Onana because the freekicks, but apart from the howlers, Onana did well. I’m not sure why he wasn’t in the left side of the goal for the first free kick of Ziyech. The second, he was probably half anticipating a header and got caught in an awkward position.

We also should not give free kicks away so easily: the huge gaps in defence led to the fouls.

I thought Antony did very well this game. Where we failed was defending and not finishing off big chances.

Those howlers cost us the game.

 

[goalscholes]

On the one hand, we haven’t been able to put out our best side once this season and our defence has been ravaged. I doubt Arsenal would have done well without Rice, Gabriel, Zinchenko and Saliba, and they have a deeper squad than us.

On the other hand, I’ve never seen such poor sides cut through a team like they cut through us. It’s poor tactics and training for the squad we have. We’re a single missed tackle from a 2 on 1/2 situation at all times.

Better coaches would still struggle with our current defence, so I say we buy defensive players and give him time, but I’m starting to lose faith.

 

[crossy1686]

Hope we beat Newcastle and Bayern. This thread will be blissfully silent for a bit.

I hope for that too, and Margot Robbie finally gets back to me about that date.

 

[Reapersoul20]

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Deserves it. The most in-form team in the PL right now and clearly starting to perform better. A lot more directness in the play last night and still improving. Very much hope he is kept on.

 

[Tap]

Problem is for those who it isn't - basically Pep and Klopp, let's be honest - they ain't coming here anytime soon.

The only way we end up with a top-class manager who has their best years ahead of them is if they step up to the role here. It's why we need to stick with ETH and at least give him the season to work on things.

He deserves that at the very least for what he achieved last season, and there is simply no-one available who is guaranteed to improve us.

Not calling for his sacking but it’s also not a guarantee that ETH will improve us either. I hope he manages it though

 

[Andy_Cole]

He really lacks game management. We shouldn’t be conceding 2 goal leads. Ever. It’s embarrassing just bring on some DMs and close shop.

 

[DJ_21]

Hope we beat Newcastle and Bayern. This thread will be blissfully silent for a bit.

Same. Don’t get the blame on him for last nights result. Why don’t people understand that a GK error isn’t the managers fault. And before people come at me and say he’s at fault for buying him, you wasn’t saying this a few games ago when he’s making decent saves and keeping clean sheets in the league. Allison makes mistakes from time to time. ETH needs the backing and we’re slowly improving the performances anyway. We’ve gone from not being able to score to scoring 3 in the last 2 games.

 

[lego xavi]

If united want carlo they can get him anytime because i don't think madrid will offer him a contract. Anyway ten hag is not doing bad in the league, only six points behind the leader, he should stay for now

 

[In Rainbows]

He really lacks game management. We shouldn’t be conceding 2 goal leads. Ever. It’s embarrassing just bring on some DMs and close shop.

That would be the pragmatic option, which most managers do for good reason. The other way would be to push the defensive line forward to make the middle more compact, but Ten Hag is being pragmatic in that tactic because he knows our CBs have no pace. Which is kind of why I'm having trouble understanding why pragmatism in that way is ok for him, but not pragmatism while you're up 2 goals. Fair enough, at 1 goal up you don't do it. That was something we all complained about in the past (how Mou and Ole would often concede so much possession while you're only up 1 goal and have so much time for the opposition to equalize.

 

[matherto]

His stubbornness will be the end of him here.

I mean, mainly because of his suicidal tactics but the stubbornness to stick with them.

 

[erikcred]

Same. Don’t get the blame on him for last nights result. Why don’t people understand that a GK error isn’t the managers fault. And before people come at me and say he’s at fault for buying him, you wasn’t saying this a few games ago when he’s making decent saves and keeping clean sheets in the league. Allison makes mistakes from time to time. ETH needs the backing and we’re slowly improving the performances anyway. We’ve gone from not being able to score to scoring 3 in the last 2 games.

"Allison makes mistakes from time to time, so I don't see why we blame Onana" is the goalkeeping equivalent of "it took SAF 6 years to win the league, so every Utd manager deserves that amount of time".

 

[wolvored]

If they move him on, they'll at least try for a bigger name than that I think. Ratcliffe will want the fans onside early doors.

If my scenario plays out, whos out there though out of work? Zidane wont come hes said before hes not interested. Conte? Flick maybe the only other biggish names I can think of

 

[crossy1686]

If my scenario plays out, whos out there though out of work? Zidane wont come hes said before hes not interested. Conte? Flick maybe the only other biggish names I can think of

They’ll go for proven in the PL but can maybe do more with a better team.

 

[DJ_21]

"Allison makes mistakes from time to time, so I don't see why we blame Onana" is the goalkeeping equivalent of "it took SAF 6 years to win the league, so every Utd manager deserves that amount of time".

Correct..: if we’re improving then why change a manager? Because he overachieved in his first season the expectations are a lot higher this year. We’re 6th but not actually that far from the front 2 and we’re nowhere near at the stage of challenging yet. Back to the keeper situation. Every single keeper in the world makes mistakes and that’s nothing like saying we deserve to give managers 6 years to win the league. Keepers can make mistakes throughout the season but if you have enough firepower to out score the opponent then you’ll still win the game and you can still win leagues.

 

[DSG]

Same. Don’t get the blame on him for last nights result. Why don’t people understand that a GK error isn’t the managers fault. And before people come at me and say he’s at fault for buying him, you wasn’t saying this a few games ago when he’s making decent saves and keeping clean sheets in the league. Allison makes mistakes from time to time. ETH needs the backing and we’re slowly improving the performances anyway. We’ve gone from not being able to score to scoring 3 in the last 2 games.

Come on mate. Up 3-1 in the 60th minute. Takes off Amrabaat instead of McTominay. Could’ve added a 3rd CB and taken off Antony or Bruno going with 2 up front. His subs were bizarre. True, Onana had mistakes, but more defenders allowing less transitions by Gala would’ve been the smart play. Maybe there’s no foul for the 2nd goal because we win the ball higher up the pitch. Mainoo definitely has more help from Amrabaat or a 3rd CB.

He is just as much to blame as Onana….

 

[anant]

Problem is for those who it isn't - basically Pep and Klopp, let's be honest - they ain't coming here anytime soon.

The only way we end up with a top-class manager who has their best years ahead of them is if they step up to the role here. It's why we need to stick with ETH and at least give him the season to work on things.

He deserves that at the very least for what he achieved last season, and there is simply no-one available who is guaranteed to improve us.

The issue, I find with this argument is that among his 2 achievements, one was winning the LC - where we literally faced just 1 top half PL team in the entire competition. And if we look at the underlying numbers of the league last season, we were the 6th best side in the league, which makes the 2nd achievement a bit overhyped.

He deserves time, and he has been unlucky, but I don't think he deserves time because of what we did last season though.

 

[Still ill]

In these turbulent times, progress is what counts. In the death throes of the Ole, Jose eras, it was an inevitable march to the end, all life sucked out of us, nothing to get excited about. You can't look at the last 2 months and say we're there. There's big frustrations but glimmers of light every game, well, bar City maybe. I mean, you can see what he's going for, what he's talking about, those high turnovers and quick transitions. We surely have not got the balance right but he still has me interested to see where we're going.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Poor performance for Onana because the freekicks, but apart from the howlers, Onana did well.

"Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?"

 

[Keanes Magic Hat]

The issue, I find with this argument is that among his 2 achievements, one was winning the LC - where we literally faced just 1 top half PL team in the entire competition. And if we look at the underlying numbers of the league last season, we were the 6th best side in the league, which makes the 2nd achievement a bit overhyped.

He deserves time, and he has been unlucky, but I don't think he deserves time because of what we did last season though.

Not that I disagree with your general sentiment but not sure what underlying numbers you are referring to. The most important one is finishing position and that had us third.