Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager

[Verward]

ETH at least seems to know what he wants to do and trying to implement. I do not think we'd be title challenger this season but I'd expect us to improve with our overall play and next season would be the time to gauge ETH tenure.
At least we seem to be on right path.

 

[kthanksbye]

I remember saying in this thread that he'll have to find stepping stones that get the best out of the players available to him, before he implements his system completely, we're not going to be able to get a new 11 in one window, I was shot down by someone saying that anyone who cannot adapt to the system should just be sold.

I's so glad that EtH has realized that and is now playing according to the opposition and the strengths of the squad.

 

[Bestietom]

Ten Hag is doing a fine job with some of our players, McTominay has improved somewhat in a short space of time. Will only get better along with others.

 

[Micky Targaryen]

My man ETH has got me looking forward to weekend football again but I hope the board are wiser this time to not dish out any premature extensions like they did Ole during his unbeaten run. Not to say Ole and ETH football are the same per se..

That being said, here’s to ETH hopefully taking us back to UCL next season!

 

[romufc]

After a disaster start, he had to make us hard to beat, get the defensive side sorted. I know we can talk about its easy to play that and what not but we saw Rangnick last season struggle to do that.

Ten Hag has shown maturity to say, lets go long, we will be strong defensively but we will still play Ten Hag ball.

 

[Real Name]

A football game is slightly more than 90mins, I'm sure you agree. We controlled the final third for 10mins - but that doesn't mean we didn't sit back for 85mins or that we played possession based football and dominating games in the final third, keeping the opposition pinned to their box. I'm not sure what you're getting at. Arsenal had us glued to our box most of the time & we struggled to get a pass through. Of course, it also opened them up simultaneously which we exploited.

We werent sitting back for 85 minutes. It was a completely different game you watched.

 

[Real Name]

People thinking counter attack football is Oleball must've missed the early to mid 90s when we had Giggs, Sharpe and Kanchelskis as wingers.

Yeah, apparently Ole invented counter attacking football it seems.

 

[Real Name]

There was no Oleball anyway, the tactics and coaching were 99% McKenna and Carrick.

Lets not get silly now. Nobody knows that for a fact, especially the percentage.

 

[Woodzy]

Says the right things after every game. Doesn't get carried away with the win and always ackowledges we have a fair way to go yet. Emphasises working hard every time as well, so God knows what he's like in training.

 

[Real Name]

Love the bit when Arsenal was making a double substitution (or was it triple?) and ETH was getting a piece of paper out of his pocket.

 

[stefan92]

I am not worried about Real Madrid. We should be more worried about Bayern Munich. That is his dream club

Is it though? Are there any statements he made in that regard? I wouldn't worry too much about Munich, he already worked there for the second team and while he was several times rumoured as a candidate to take over there it never happened. I feel like that ship has sailed.

 

[Rob Bowman]

The thing I see is ETH philosophy, lie the first goal with an 18 pass build up, coupled with a pragmatic approach, DeGea playing it short or long depending on the situation.

Thing is this is not an ETH team yet. We will need at least one more summer window to get the bulk of the team to be true ETH players. yes some will adapt, but some will be needed to be moved on.

I think Jones, AWB, Ronaldo, DeGea, and Maguire will all move in within three years if ETH stays. We all know we need another Striker, RB, and CM plus maybe one more CB and a Keeper.

My point is, just so happy to see a team go out on the pitch with a plan and some fight!!

 

[::sonny::]

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[cyberman]

Simon Jordan talking for 10 minutes to prove he really wasn’t wrong about the job being too big for Ten Hag.
That’s a start I suppose

 

[SER19]

That loss to Brentford which seemed to prompt a step up in activity may have led to Casemiro and Antony over Rabiot and Gakpo. There's a real difference there

 

[FrantikChicken]

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Ah yes, the “ole ball” Ten Hag has put in place, sacrificing his own style in the process.

 

[GreatDane]

Yeah, apparently Ole invented counter attacking football it seems.

Someone should update his Wiki, it's quite an achievement.

 

[Solius]

He's done a fantastic job adapting the team from the first two games. Same principles but some workarounds for areas we are weak in.

Impressed with how quickly he's done it too, against tough opposition (Leicester aside). Every player has options on the ball, and the movement is just night & day compared to last season. It's really nice to see.

 

[mancan92]

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But I thought all our goals were ole ball...

 

[Flexdegea]

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That damn counter attack football at it again

 

[Flexdegea]

Simon Jordan talking for 10 minutes to prove he really wasn’t wrong about the job being too big for Ten Hag.
That’s a start I suppose

He now moved needs to win things this season, so goal posts moved, he covering himself.

 

[JanK]

First goal wasn't from a counter.

Damn, that is true. I only remember the last 3 passes and that there was so much space. That's why I sort of thought it as a counter.

 

[lefty_jakobz]

Our Pep Guardiola is my idol got the experts in the media shook
From disaster appointment to 3 points off the top within 5 weeks, beat the supposed second best team to have ever graced the game, beat the August Invincible's, resurrected the career of a player who most wanted out the club (Super Scotty McT) got Rashford scoring and looking a threat again (he was shit supposedly) made 90% of the Caf smile and look forward to the next game. Wait til this team is firing on all cylinders!

 

[VidaRed]

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The first-team dressing room at United's training ground can only accommodate 24 players and with the Red Devils bringing in six new faces in recent weeks, Ten Hag has had to force out some members of his squad.

The report states that Jones and third-choice left-back Brandon Williams have fallen victim to the switch-up, as have Axel Tuanzebe, Teden Mengi and Shola Shoretire.

 

[ChaddyP]

We're playing Ole's system with players of better quality and attitude. That neither a complaint nor a compliment.

This is absolutely false

 

[Blood Mage]

My guy has got Scott McTominay looking like a competent footballer. Great coach.

 

[bond19821982]

We're playing Ole's system with players of better quality and attitude. That neither a complaint nor a compliment.

No we are not. That's a gross misunderstanding of Oles game and ETHs game.

 

[lefty_jakobz]

Our Pep Guardiola is my idol got the experts in the media shook
From disaster appointment to 3 points off the top within 5 weeks, beat the supposed second best team to have ever graced the game, beat the August Invincible's, resurrected the career of a player who most wanted out the club (Super Scotty McT) got Rashford scoring and looking a threat again (he was shit supposedly) made 90% of the Caf smile and look forward to the next game. Wait til this team is firing on all cylinders!

I said baldfraud not Pep Guardifknola

 

[Adam-Utd]

My guy has got Scott McTominay looking like a competent footballer. Great coach.

This is the sort of thing I expected out of ETH. A good coach makes players better. Scott Mctominay having a 100% passing accuracy against Arsenal? madness.

 

[RedSky]

Ole did ok but clearly struggled to lift the club to a point where he could go for titles and win competitions.

ten Hag to me so far has got the air of a Manager who will lift us to that level. We've barely got going. I'm surprised he's turned us around so quickly.

 

[AneRu]

What I like about him is that he is a thinking coach, he scanned the team and was pragmatic enough to hold off on his philosophy. You can see bits of great possession play but he isnt obssessing about it like a Van Gaal would for example.

He has also done the training ground work on a few of our players and you can see the likes of McTom not being liabilities on the ball, Dalot coming on in leaps and bounds etc. If he can make them genuine first team players then with the likes of Laird coming back, you could make a case of us just needing a striker next season and with that being our only need we could go all out for the very best.

Long ways to go but I think the longer he has with this squad the better we will be.

 

[Member 125398]

He's done a fantastic job adapting the team from the first two games. Same principles but some workarounds for areas we are weak in.

Impressed with how quickly he's done it too, against tough opposition (Leicester aside). Every player has options on the ball, and the movement is just night & day compared to last season. It's really nice to see.

This is the key. I expected to see glimpses of progress mixed in with the depressing football we've become so used to. The resilliance and determination we've shown since Brentford has been nothing sort of miraculous. I'm still expecting a few setbacks but I'll be disappointed if and when they happen now.

 

[Cnaiür urs Skiötha]

Great to see he learned quickly after getting a bloody nose. It is also important that he does not seem to be naive enough to play his brand of football no matter what.

However, I want to see more dominance on the ball. Counterattacking football is fine, and he worked a small miracle when it comes to our defense. Now it is time to make the next step.

 

[Berbaclass]

I love the hybrid type style we are playing at the moment. Sometimes very direct but that first goal yesterday proves there is more to us than just kick it long to Rashford. Really nice goal. All three of them actually.

 

[NLunited]

I think some are misunderstanding what is happening regarding playing style.

What we saw in the first ten minutes and before the first goal is Hag ball, clear. To do this for most of a game is the goal, eh?

To be able to play Hag ball, pressing has to work to quickly get the ball back.

What happened is that Arsenal was able to play through the press, because our pressing wasn’t always executed right. We are still learning.

We are able to play the ball quickly through the lines, to exploit the opponent when they lose the ball in our half. That doesn’t mean we are playing a counter attacking style. It’s one of our weapons.

We are playing Hag ball, but not consistent, which is normal when playing a good opponent.

Our first goal came from Hag ball, and was a 100% chance. In contrast, Arsenal did not create a played out goal (although they deserved the one they got based on their good performance) and didn’t finish the half-chances they created.

Our first goal is what Arsenal wanted to do to us, but could not.

Reiterating, sitting back and hitting Arsenal on the break was not what we chose to do, but were forced to do by not being able to prevent Arsenal from playing through us.

Pressing the opponent and preventing them from playing their game is the goal. Hag will expect us to continue to improve in this aspect.

I expect there will be some games where we succeed, but get hit on the break. That’s another step in the process, to anticipate these breaks and kill them.

 

[jeff_goldblum]

In a very basic sense, the approach ETH took towards the Arsenal and Liverpool games wasn't radically different to the approach Ole would have taken. But it also wasn't radically different to the approach Fergie took in countless games against opponents who liked to push men forward to squeeze the pitch and thereby left themselves susceptible to quick breaks.

But you can still see Ten Hag's instructions coming through, and it's those details which make all the difference. The second goal was classic counterattacking play, using Eriksen's ability to pass through the lines quickly to exploit Arsenal's tendency to push men forward and leave big gaps in midfield and in behind in an attempt to squeeze the play into their opposition's half. But with the first goal, we manipulated Arsenal into a very similar situation (in terms of their positioning) with our use of the ball, creating a weakness by drawing them onto our back line before releasing Eriksen to change the tempo with the forward ball, rather than exploiting a weakness left by Arsenal losing the ball whilst attacking.

 

[Thisistheone]

One of the major issues post Fergie has been players coming in and not improving- maybe even going backwards. It’s early days but it seems like ten Hag is changing this.

 

[AltiUn]

Deserves a lot of credit for changing things after the Brentford horror show.

 

[Chris-Red]

I think I missed the period of time where counter attacking football became a bad thing? Its what we used to do. You'd swear we're using some cheat codes by the way some people are trying to ridicule us because of counter attacking football. Even at that, someone pointed out on here that not all the goals were counter attacking. Some people are never happy. We need multiple ways to win a game. Counter attacking is one of them.

As Keane said, let them have the plaudits and we'll take the points. Other teams may have more of the ball in matches, but if we're more efficient with our lower percentage then, happy days.

 

[city-puma]

I think I missed the period of time where counter attacking football became a bad thing? Its what we used to do. You'd swear we're using some cheat codes by the way some people are trying to ridicule us because of counter attacking football. Even at that, someone pointed out on here that not all the goals were counter attacking. Some people are never happy. We need multiple ways to win a game. Counter attacking is one of them.

As Keane said, let them have the plaudits and we'll take the points. Other teams may have more of the ball in matches, but if we're more efficient with our lower percentage then, happy days.

The debate about counter attack here is laughable. You can’t believe what the hell some people are thinking.