There is no plan from those above the manager, which is precisely how we've ended up in such bad shape.
Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager
- Thread starter sewey89
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Football isn't that hard, why can't any of our single manager put it right??? We need a strikers that score 15-20 goals a season. Where is this striker in the last 10 years? We need RW and LW who creates and score, we can manage LW but what about RW? Every season, we looks at buying a RW and spend big money. We screw it up with Sancho who wants to play on the left and now with Antony, who is a 1 one pony. 150 million pound on these 2 bloody players. We need 2 MF spread passes like Scholes and Carrick but we have McTominay who can't even make a proper pass and Bruno who is guilty of losing balls. We need RB and LB who is solid in defending and cutting out crosses but what we have are FBs are defensive weak and selfish.
What players
I said it another thread, but the only area of the pitch we've successfully settled since Fergie's last team is Luke Shaw at left back.
If he is a system manager that is reliant on ball playing CBs, go buy some. He has had 3 transfer windows and has bought only one. Martinez missed a good chunk of last season, so there was justification there to go get a backup. But instead, he prioritises a new keeper and Mason Mount, who is a backup midfielder, as best. 60mil for a player Chelsea didn’t want, largely because of his injury history, which has continued. But of corse, Ten Hag liked Mount because he impressed him in the Dutch league!
For me, the biggest issue is our forward line. Martial and Antony are no threat. Garnacho is hot and cold. Therefore, Ten Hag is reliant on the midfield scoring and McTominay has done well this season with his goals, but that is to the detriment of control in the midfield.
Mainoo should be playing. Can’t understand why he has not been given more game time since his brilliant starting debut. Put him next to Amrabat. Don’t break the midfield by putting in McTominay, just because the forward line is inept.
And if you must play McTominay, put him up top when Hojlund can’t start. Martial is effectively a traffic cone, so why not play McTominay up there.
Think they are mistaking inconsistent results with actually very predictable football.
Agreed, never want to see Martial play. McTominay can play as CF if Hoijund is injure. Mainoo in MF has better control, that what I have been saying yet ETH thinks otherwise.
Ancelotti making do with what he has?
Must be nice to “make do” when your President gives you Bellingham, Vini, Camavinga, Valverde etc etc.
Isnt Ancelotti off to Brazil ?
What is also important at Real, if you start to slack during the games Perez will tell you to feck off.
UTD are still waiting on Martial to become good player.
So he hasn’t quit then?
Gone right down in my estimation
Gone right down in my estimation
I had the go back and check for the bolded and there are a lot factual inaccuracies. Firstly, when you say consecutive, they are not really consecutive as they were interspersed with CL/cup games. Second, the whole of last season they shipped 3 or more goals 11 times in all competitions. We have shipped 3 or more goals 9 times already, and we are only in December. Till January mid, the Brighton game you refer to, they had conceded 3 or more goals 6 times, 3 lesser than us with us yet to play Bayern, Liverpool, Villa, and Spurs until the same period (Jan mid).
In addition, while they were shipping goals, they were also constantly able to score at the other end and had victories against City and Napoli. We don’t seem like winning against any of the top teams (lets be real, Chelsea at this point is not a top team).
So, Liverpool got the balance wrong and were shipping in a lot of goals but also scoring a lot. We ship in a lot more goals and score a lot less. So not really apples to apples comparison for me.
Other examples of teams shipping in 3 or more goals 4-5 times across the entire season is really not comparable to our situation this season.
Nonsense that the manager is irrelevant
The people above ETH aren’t picking martial, he is
We've got our own issues, yes, I'm just pointing out that it's utter bollocks that the other managers you named haven't been prone to being "porous", which is what you claimed. They've had matches (even runs of matches) where they've let in a lot.
Us being garbage this season doesn't change that.
If you want to shift the goalposts to general form/performances/goal scoring/results against big sides, then it's a different discussion.
I keep hearing about standards. What standards is he instilling exactly?
The performances of Antony for the best part of a year have been unacceptable. He's still playing week in, week out. It's taken until December for Rashford to get dropped, I have no doubt he'll be back in the line up after the result yesterday. Martial was atrocious against Newcastle, dropped for one game and then reintroduced on the basis of nothing.
He's not raising standards in anyway whatsoever.
Tactically he's in way over his head. Imagine playing Amrabat and McTominay in the same team and still being able to drive a bus through midfield.
He's given the likes of Pellistri so little game time to develop that despite Antony's non-existent contribution, that he's not even an option, to the extent that he's tried Rashford out on the right.
Mainoo has hardly had a look in since he was the best player on the pitch in his debut at Goodison Park, and he'd rather we sink at the back than swallow his pride and put a world cup winning centre-back back in the team.
18 months of coaching the players, day in and day out - and this is what we get?
He's so out of his depth it's scary. He's on borrowed time, and the slaughtering at the hands of Bayern and Liverpool (let's face it, he should have been sacked after the 7-0 loss) should seal his fate, and rightfully so.
The performances of Antony for the best part of a year have been unacceptable. He's still playing week in, week out. It's taken until December for Rashford to get dropped, I have no doubt he'll be back in the line up after the result yesterday. Martial was atrocious against Newcastle, dropped for one game and then reintroduced on the basis of nothing.
He's not raising standards in anyway whatsoever.
Tactically he's in way over his head. Imagine playing Amrabat and McTominay in the same team and still being able to drive a bus through midfield.
He's given the likes of Pellistri so little game time to develop that despite Antony's non-existent contribution, that he's not even an option, to the extent that he's tried Rashford out on the right.
Mainoo has hardly had a look in since he was the best player on the pitch in his debut at Goodison Park, and he'd rather we sink at the back than swallow his pride and put a world cup winning centre-back back in the team.
18 months of coaching the players, day in and day out - and this is what we get?
He's so out of his depth it's scary. He's on borrowed time, and the slaughtering at the hands of Bayern and Liverpool (let's face it, he should have been sacked after the 7-0 loss) should seal his fate, and rightfully so.
I think a bit of perspective here is that as rotten as we currently are, we are still on course for a 68 pts season. If we just improve even slightly and get a couple of wins against top 10 teams, we would basically match last season’s tally, which has seen only 3 teams lose out on CL football with 75 pts or more in the last 20 years iirc, not even taking into account the possible 5th spot.
The question currently is whether we think this is as good as it get for EtH, and we better cut him off for a possible bounce for the aim of securing CL football, and hope the new sporting structure can improve on that further, or we hold out hope that this is teething pains and EtH can turn it around this season and possibly has his plan come to fruition next season. I'm personally on the fence at the moment, because as much as he's to blame for some of his tactical and personnel choice, we've gotten ourselves a truly mediocre, flawed squad, with technical players lacking physicality, or vice versa, and the majority of them are also shrinking violets. We need to amass a core of 17-18 technically sound and physically competitive players capable of playing a variety of styles, preferrably in their early to mid 20s, before we can compete for the biggest honours.
The question currently is whether we think this is as good as it get for EtH, and we better cut him off for a possible bounce for the aim of securing CL football, and hope the new sporting structure can improve on that further, or we hold out hope that this is teething pains and EtH can turn it around this season and possibly has his plan come to fruition next season. I'm personally on the fence at the moment, because as much as he's to blame for some of his tactical and personnel choice, we've gotten ourselves a truly mediocre, flawed squad, with technical players lacking physicality, or vice versa, and the majority of them are also shrinking violets. We need to amass a core of 17-18 technically sound and physically competitive players capable of playing a variety of styles, preferrably in their early to mid 20s, before we can compete for the biggest honours.
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
Everyone in the league can see the issue. It's not like figuring out a complex equation. Bournemouth didn't find it hard to play through, nobody else will either. We are setting ourselves up for the slaughter. What does Ten Hag think he will gain by continuing this way, except a severance?
Mad how another battering by Liverpool is probably what is going to get our manager the sack
Our club is downright rotten right now.
Our owners are terrible and have not clue how to run a club. We have no structure, no DNA, no plan.
The players are a hodge podge of different managers tactical ideas.
This is by far the biggest issue. There is zero cohesion to anything at United right now.
We have players who are comfortable in one type of system but woeful in another and the vice versa.
When Ten Hag said he cannot implement his Ajax style with this group of players, he was correct.
Then again he has also made some very bad decisions. Onana was clearly not the answer. Mount was a transfer based on a style of play that is, quite frankly, naive in the premier league.
In the Bundesliga or La liga that style of play might actually work, but in a league with as much pressing and intensity as is the case in the Prem, you cannot rely on one midfielder to be the sole line of defence in front of the back 4.
His in game management has also been below par at times, and then at others it has swung a game in our favour.
On top of that he has made some downright idiotic decisions, such as changing teams after finally having a good performance. And then when the change didnt work he has been to slow to react.
Martial in the Bournemouth match is the prime example. he should have been hooked after 20 minutes when it was clear he was detrimental to our forward play.
Falling out with Ronaldo and Sancho wasnt really a bad thing to me. Ronaldo is a super ego that would only really respect someone like Ferguson, and you need the manager to be top of the pecking order. Sancho is a disciplinary nightmare and had these issues at Dortmund and the national team as well.
But Varane has always been a model professional so him not being used its concerning. Even if I believe its for tactical reasons, the dutch stubborness simply is a hindrance when that leads to playing several other players out of position, instead of using Varane.
We are Manchester United and losing 3 - 0 at home to Bournemouth and being firmly outplayed over most of the match is simply not acceptable and should probably lead to the manager losing his job.
The issue is, who comes in instead? Zidane might be an option. I dont think he is such a fantastic manager, but I am certain the players would at least have respect for him, and he has worked with Case and Varane before.
Id rather get him in now and steady the ship and then hopefully we can start building footballing structure and clean out the squad after Ratcliffe comes in.
Sacking the manager isnt enough though. We need to clean out this squad. I want to see a different breed of player instead of the sulking whiny mess we have now.
I love Bruno when he is on his game, but when we face adversity he is the biggest petulant child I have ever seen in a red shirt. The same could be said for Shaw as well, even if he has been a fantastic player for us.
The likes of Sancho and Martial should never play for us again.
Rangnick was right. We need open heart surgery all the way from the top to the bottom. Before that happens, nothing will change.
Our owners are terrible and have not clue how to run a club. We have no structure, no DNA, no plan.
The players are a hodge podge of different managers tactical ideas.
This is by far the biggest issue. There is zero cohesion to anything at United right now.
We have players who are comfortable in one type of system but woeful in another and the vice versa.
When Ten Hag said he cannot implement his Ajax style with this group of players, he was correct.
Then again he has also made some very bad decisions. Onana was clearly not the answer. Mount was a transfer based on a style of play that is, quite frankly, naive in the premier league.
In the Bundesliga or La liga that style of play might actually work, but in a league with as much pressing and intensity as is the case in the Prem, you cannot rely on one midfielder to be the sole line of defence in front of the back 4.
His in game management has also been below par at times, and then at others it has swung a game in our favour.
On top of that he has made some downright idiotic decisions, such as changing teams after finally having a good performance. And then when the change didnt work he has been to slow to react.
Martial in the Bournemouth match is the prime example. he should have been hooked after 20 minutes when it was clear he was detrimental to our forward play.
Falling out with Ronaldo and Sancho wasnt really a bad thing to me. Ronaldo is a super ego that would only really respect someone like Ferguson, and you need the manager to be top of the pecking order. Sancho is a disciplinary nightmare and had these issues at Dortmund and the national team as well.
But Varane has always been a model professional so him not being used its concerning. Even if I believe its for tactical reasons, the dutch stubborness simply is a hindrance when that leads to playing several other players out of position, instead of using Varane.
We are Manchester United and losing 3 - 0 at home to Bournemouth and being firmly outplayed over most of the match is simply not acceptable and should probably lead to the manager losing his job.
The issue is, who comes in instead? Zidane might be an option. I dont think he is such a fantastic manager, but I am certain the players would at least have respect for him, and he has worked with Case and Varane before.
Id rather get him in now and steady the ship and then hopefully we can start building footballing structure and clean out the squad after Ratcliffe comes in.
Sacking the manager isnt enough though. We need to clean out this squad. I want to see a different breed of player instead of the sulking whiny mess we have now.
I love Bruno when he is on his game, but when we face adversity he is the biggest petulant child I have ever seen in a red shirt. The same could be said for Shaw as well, even if he has been a fantastic player for us.
The likes of Sancho and Martial should never play for us again.
Rangnick was right. We need open heart surgery all the way from the top to the bottom. Before that happens, nothing will change.
And so it should. It'll show lessons haven't been learned from last time.
How are we on course for a 68 point season? Our points at this stage flatter us.
Its not shifting the goal post, it is contextualising the wall of numbers you posted. Nobody would complain (or number would be quite less) about the Manager’s tactics if it also led to us going down the other end and scoring/ looking like scoring. Instead, we have achieved the remarkable feat of looking like conceding, while carrying very little threat ourselves. That’s why people are questioning the ‘system’.
I, along with others, have been supporting the club for more than 2 decades and are well used to seeing our team shipping in goals but adopting a mentality of outscoring the opponents. 2002-03 one of my favourite campaign where we conceded a lot but also scored a lot. Same was the case in SAF’s last campaign where we were involved in high scoring encounters.
When fans are complaining about us being ‘porous’, it is in the context of our complete inability to be a threat at the other end.
The easiest option is to sack EtH from a performance perspective there is enough evidence to say things are not getting better and we are not closing the gap on the top teams in the league.
I personally believe however, it makes no difference until the club is sold and new footballing structure is put in place. We are performing about the level of what our squad of players are capable of. No better no worse.
The squad we had yesterday was a reflection of the number of seismic errors this club have made over the years from a footballing perspective. A mish mash of philosophies, poor recruitment and a lowering of footballing standards over the years has lead to a car crash of a squad.
As I sat watching the end of the game yesterday, listening to Bournemouth fans “Ole’s) I looked around the pitch at our group of players. I genuinely couldn’t believe how bang average it was and wondered why I had such high expectations going to the game. I chuckled to myself and my 9 years old son who was more used to watching this current version of Utd.
All of these players on huge contracts (don’t blame them but blame the club) who have been involved in continuous failure of the last decade in some cases. Most of them can’t be assed running and helping the team, the fans, the club in a huge period in our season. Rashford sulking with a snood over his face and his woolly hat. Martial couldn’t wait to get off the pitch when his No.9 came up on the board…. God knows what Sancho has done in the last 3 months other than play FIFA and earn c. £4 mill….
It’s not jet them though…
Dalot (loaned twice, not good enough with football IQ of a rock)
Maguire….
Reguilon - Not good enough for spurs
Amrabat - Before the World Cup no one genuinely thought he could come in a transform or midfield.
Mctominay - I think enough has been said about him over the years but another cowardly performance from him.
Martial - How the club have retained him for almost 10 years is incredible…
the list is endless… My point is there is no elite coach that is going to change the performances of these players for a sustainable period available…. So what is the point. The alternatives in this squad are just as flaky and bang average as what started…
Improvement isn’t always a consistent trajectory… it takes time and patience and we have to hold our nerve here because sacking him will set us back to square one again. We need to accept we are big club right in terms of size and history. The present version of us just bang average and we need to accept that for now even though it hurts and we don’t like it.
Ragnick was right all along the club just didn’t like hearing it but I guarantee when we do return to being successful it will not be with any, barring a handful of this squad and perhaps not with this manager but if ground work can be done and built on for once I’m will to be patient.
I can only hope that Sir Jim has the autonomy and desire to get us back to being a proper football club over the coming years otherwise get settled as this is about as good as it’s gonna get.
I personally believe however, it makes no difference until the club is sold and new footballing structure is put in place. We are performing about the level of what our squad of players are capable of. No better no worse.
The squad we had yesterday was a reflection of the number of seismic errors this club have made over the years from a footballing perspective. A mish mash of philosophies, poor recruitment and a lowering of footballing standards over the years has lead to a car crash of a squad.
As I sat watching the end of the game yesterday, listening to Bournemouth fans “Ole’s) I looked around the pitch at our group of players. I genuinely couldn’t believe how bang average it was and wondered why I had such high expectations going to the game. I chuckled to myself and my 9 years old son who was more used to watching this current version of Utd.
All of these players on huge contracts (don’t blame them but blame the club) who have been involved in continuous failure of the last decade in some cases. Most of them can’t be assed running and helping the team, the fans, the club in a huge period in our season. Rashford sulking with a snood over his face and his woolly hat. Martial couldn’t wait to get off the pitch when his No.9 came up on the board…. God knows what Sancho has done in the last 3 months other than play FIFA and earn c. £4 mill….
It’s not jet them though…
Dalot (loaned twice, not good enough with football IQ of a rock)
Maguire….
Reguilon - Not good enough for spurs
Amrabat - Before the World Cup no one genuinely thought he could come in a transform or midfield.
Mctominay - I think enough has been said about him over the years but another cowardly performance from him.
Martial - How the club have retained him for almost 10 years is incredible…
the list is endless… My point is there is no elite coach that is going to change the performances of these players for a sustainable period available…. So what is the point. The alternatives in this squad are just as flaky and bang average as what started…
Improvement isn’t always a consistent trajectory… it takes time and patience and we have to hold our nerve here because sacking him will set us back to square one again. We need to accept we are big club right in terms of size and history. The present version of us just bang average and we need to accept that for now even though it hurts and we don’t like it.
Ragnick was right all along the club just didn’t like hearing it but I guarantee when we do return to being successful it will not be with any, barring a handful of this squad and perhaps not with this manager but if ground work can be done and built on for once I’m will to be patient.
I can only hope that Sir Jim has the autonomy and desire to get us back to being a proper football club over the coming years otherwise get settled as this is about as good as it’s gonna get.
If you take the united shirt off of all these players and replace it with an Everton shirt and ask yourself how many of them would a City, Pool, Bayern, Madrid etc buy or even take on a free, you then realise exactly how poor this squad is. It is effectively Europa league level and with the stengthening of teams such as Brighton, Villa etc there is an argument to say its just a top half level team. There are a few standouts in Rashford (mainly for his pace) and Bruno for his creativity but the damning thing is player for player the majority of our players are no better than players from Villa, Brighton, West Ham etc. For goodness sake we have one of the worst set of right wing options in the entire league. Our midfield is barely top half level and our defence as well. I think the reality is in our minds we see Manchester united, trophies in the cabinets, star players but in reality its a shadow of a top 4 squad for me.
I think Ten Hag did very well to achive what he achieved last season. This season its becoming clear the squad just doesn't have the quality to fulfill what he wants tactically especially with these injuries. If we are set on implementing what his tactical goals are (the transition to 4 3 3) then we will have to ride these results and hopefully the new owners can implement a transfer team to take transfer decisions away from him so he can focus solely on coaching. If not we may as well get rid of him and switch to someone else with a different tactical approach. For me I'd do the former, keep him but take transfer decisions away from him.
I think Ten Hag did very well to achive what he achieved last season. This season its becoming clear the squad just doesn't have the quality to fulfill what he wants tactically especially with these injuries. If we are set on implementing what his tactical goals are (the transition to 4 3 3) then we will have to ride these results and hopefully the new owners can implement a transfer team to take transfer decisions away from him so he can focus solely on coaching. If not we may as well get rid of him and switch to someone else with a different tactical approach. For me I'd do the former, keep him but take transfer decisions away from him.
You cannot keep losing football matches and expect to remain in a job.
Losing football matches is one thing. It’s the constant humiliations and his inability to make tactical adjustments to prevent them that I have the biggest problem with.
I just wonder what we are training hard at, because our stay team is easy to play through or bypass, then when we get hammered it’s “we must learn, this is not the standard” if we get hammered I’d at least like to play good football, but it’s atrocious.
Whilst we have injuries to players he has bought (Martinez, Casemiro, Mount) I’m still not confident we would be any good if we had everyone fit.
At this point I’d rather play McSauce upfront than Martial, Mainoo should be starting most games so we have someone in there who can actually cover some ground.
I’d also be happy to have a wide player outside of Garnacho who can actually beat someone one on one and not slowly advance the ball, turn back and give it to the full back.
Whilst we have injuries to players he has bought (Martinez, Casemiro, Mount) I’m still not confident we would be any good if we had everyone fit.
At this point I’d rather play McSauce upfront than Martial, Mainoo should be starting most games so we have someone in there who can actually cover some ground.
I’d also be happy to have a wide player outside of Garnacho who can actually beat someone one on one and not slowly advance the ball, turn back and give it to the full back.
No point in sacking him now and bringing someone in just to get annihilated by Liverpool. Sack him after Liverpool.
Then why did he approve contract extensions for Dalot and Rashford? Like 2 players who are constantly braindead on the pitch?
Some very good points imo. Don't think ETH would survive the season. Anyway I think we still should buy a good goal scorer in Jan. For ETH or whoever the next manager. Of course if ETH is still here by then we should not allow him to decide which one.
Im far from ETH out, changing the manager and restarting the cycle every 2-3 years hasnt worked.
I am however getting frustrated at his apparent lack of tactical approach.
He knew full well Bournemouth would press high and hard and were superb in transition. He said it numerous times in his pre and post match interviews. Why then play Amrabat sat as holding midfield with zero support. The Bournemouth manager must have been pissing himself at how easy we are to cut through.
I get we are struggling for goals and McT has scored a few goals that have won us games. Even so you can play McT as support for your 6 as Mct simply cant do that job. You have to sacrifice Bruno to play McT which ETH would never do.
Every man and his dog can see we need to play Mainoo and Amrabat in midfield against a high pressing fast transitional team. Last season our success was built on Casamiro supported by Erikson. We are missing Erikson badly, hes clearly not mobile but he did support the 6 and added structure, he can control a midfield and was our main creative player. Midfield is still the problem 10 years on.
Varane not playing is a mystery. ETH has to stop his personal feuds with players from damaging the team.
I am however getting frustrated at his apparent lack of tactical approach.
He knew full well Bournemouth would press high and hard and were superb in transition. He said it numerous times in his pre and post match interviews. Why then play Amrabat sat as holding midfield with zero support. The Bournemouth manager must have been pissing himself at how easy we are to cut through.
I get we are struggling for goals and McT has scored a few goals that have won us games. Even so you can play McT as support for your 6 as Mct simply cant do that job. You have to sacrifice Bruno to play McT which ETH would never do.
Every man and his dog can see we need to play Mainoo and Amrabat in midfield against a high pressing fast transitional team. Last season our success was built on Casamiro supported by Erikson. We are missing Erikson badly, hes clearly not mobile but he did support the 6 and added structure, he can control a midfield and was our main creative player. Midfield is still the problem 10 years on.
Varane not playing is a mystery. ETH has to stop his personal feuds with players from damaging the team.
Imagine having Varane on the bench and getting slapped up at home by Bournemouth 3-0 
Ball possession football and a high line defence is the norm among the top clubs
Ancelotti's career didn't start off at real
The budget is what it is and it's not eth fault that saudi Is probably offering our pensioners 3 times the money for less work. That said I do agree that ETH had made his share of mistakes. I wouldn't have bought mount for example
Feels like we'd almost have to start from scratch if we want to get there with this current squad. Barely any of them are suited for that, including some of his own signings.
True. There are so many problems at the club, but constantly losing gets managers the sack. That’s just the nature of football. We are losing around half of our matches, which isn’t sustainable. We can talk about the plethora of other problems; we can discuss team selection and tactics; but it won’t matter if we keep losing so many games. At some point the manager will lose his job, if this continues. I would love ETH to succeed and return to the form of his excellent first season, but right now it feels like he’s lost control and he knows it. He’s lost confidence and looks like he’s lost a number of the players. It feels like the end is coming.
ETH isn’t trying to implement that kind of system though. He’s said as much numerous times.
This is an interesting topic in itself. I have continually mentioned that this system he wants to implement is not sustainable for a run of games let alone a season because without control of the game, resting phases are abysmal. Klopp’s ‘heavy metal’ football itself was unsustainable over a run of seasons because even its resting phases were short in comparison to the high intensity output required to optimise it, and that was with a hard-grafting midfield optimally coached and working in perfect synergy.
Between the system we are implementing and the fact it works to such a low degree (it’s not working against anyone moderately capable), we have to work far harder to achieve the bare minimum and it is absolutely unsustainable. This notion of players intermittently ‘downing tools’ betrays the reality of playing at maximum output until either the game is put to bed or won. If you are going to maximise output, it should be for no more than 45 minutes spread over two halves, 60 at a push, and by then, all the decisive actions should be concluded. Consequences overspill and diminished returns are going to be evident sooner rather than later unless there is solid rotation.
I tuned into some Eredivisie when watching prospective ten Hag, but I have never given thought to the amount of recovery time afforded by having an awesome and dominant team and a league so disparate in terms of quality. As you’ve said, with the best will in the world, there would be massive windows for rest throughout a campaign between players who went on to be deemed good enough for the best teams in the world and opponents who would be lucky to get top half of the Championship gigs. It’s a factor in how Ajax would be able to go so high octane deep into a season, but definitely not transferable to the PL, especially with a squad that is nowhere near the elite level as well as the athleticism seen throughout the league.
You will see muscle injuries, fatigue, inconsistency and low levels of uniformity in a scenario where teams output at high degrees for too long. A sprint is called a sprint because it falls short of distanced, regulated running; HIIT is a much shorter duration and those rules cannot be ignored or circumvented.
I didn’t realise he had played in Holland! That explains everything. ETH has a serious problem with ex playes or Dutch league players.
there is no system. There is a mishmash of ideas that collectively mean very little to the players who are themselves clueless on what is expected of them. When the vision isn’t clear it is only normal for some players to start switching off. And sadly for us, it has happened with all our managers apart from LVG who had an identifiable albeit painfully boring and ineffectual style of play.
The players should also shoulder the blame but when there isn’t a relatable and executable vision to work towards to, it is human tendency to switch off.
The players should also shoulder the blame but when there isn’t a relatable and executable vision to work towards to, it is human tendency to switch off.