Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager

appleman

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roonster09 said:
Not sure we can transform entire 11 in one window, IMO CM is the biggest weakness in our team. If Shaw is back to his best we don't have to worry about LB. It's only RB that's worrying

For CM, we don't have anyone who can hold the midfield, someone who can spread the ball. In short we don't have a proper midfield both in quality and quantity.

Would go with CM X 2, RW, RB in the order of priority. CB can wait, at least for a season.
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I think composure is the biggest weakness of this squad in the first fix has to be around the CM/DM, but because of that I also think CB should come before RB. Especially under Ten Hag someone 'can play a role' if there's enough composure around them to let them be great in their specific role. In the 18/19 season vdB had a very clear role and Tagliafico kinda did too. Neres was capable of more but filled in a role as well. Having one or two AWB's in the team won't be bad if their roles are specified enough and don't become easy targets of opponents' pressuring. I think you're better off getting consistency out of the CB pairing or simply a better player there first before you fix RB which can be handled more easily through a solid CB-DM-CM set near them. If AWB can work on his crossing he can focus on just using his pace going forward and then it can be fixed later. If you have Varane, [De Jong], [Neves - sorry can't think of other examples right now but he's great in PES :nono:] and Sancho guarding composure/creativity around him, it might be even better to not have someone with the same role as them around there, and he can shine through his hard work again.

Same in midfield. If you need Fred to be your Pirlo, you're gonna hate him, but if he can be more of a Vidal or something, it doesn't really matter and his actual skills are allowed to shine much more.

Based on how he did things at Ajax and Utrecht I assume he will handle things contextually again. He'll look at the squad, their strong and weak points and then rebuild from the strong points in a way he'll think the team will shine most. He won't always be right, but I wouldn't be surprised if he simply uses some players differently which will suddenly make them seem like very very capable players rather than ones getting overrun half of the time. AWB and Fred are simply examples that I can see fitting his philosophies and that could rise to the top of their game simply through role and overall structure changes.
 

Trex

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I saw some quotes by ETH on our No 11 on a Facebook page, any truth to it because I can't find it anywhere else.
 

Greck

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appleman said:
I think composure is the biggest weakness of this squad in the first fix has to be around the CM/DM, but because of that I also think CB should come before RB. Especially under Ten Hag someone 'can play a role' if there's enough composure around them to let them be great in their specific role. In the 18/19 season vdB had a very clear role and Tagliafico kinda did too. Neres was capable of more but filled in a role as well. Having one or two AWB's in the team won't be bad if their roles are specified enough and don't become easy targets of opponents' pressuring. I think you're better off getting consistency out of the CB pairing or simply a better player there first before you fix RB which can be handled more easily through a solid CB-DM-CM set near them. If AWB can work on his crossing he can focus on just using his pace going forward and then it can be fixed later. If you have Varane, [De Jong], [Neves - sorry can't think of other examples right now but he's great in PES :nono:] and Sancho guarding composure/creativity around him, it might be even better to not have someone with the same role as them around there, and he can shine through his hard work again.
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With AWB's chances it's actually the opposite. Ajax has 3,4,5 touch passing moves that can be destroyed by a single poor touch. This is why these managers don't have any tolerance for technically deficient players. One touch, one miscontrol can destroy the entire sequence. The fullbacks in these systems are asked to do things in difficult tight spaces. Don't be shocked if we don't see AWB again. AWB is actually technically worse than Lukaku, no one would ever think to play him in a Pep type system. Players like these are usually the first to go. His discarding will be swift.

Imo people are being highly optimistic about what system football will do for underperformers. It doesn't make the game easier for just any kind of player. Technically deficient players, low iq players, limited players, they all look worse for obvious reasons.
 

Trex

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UnitedSofa said:

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I expected this, Dalot is very comfortable with the ball at his feet, can pass with both feet, and plays good through balls, shows good intensity in his press, he'll be good at playing the inverted fullback role.
 

Berbasbullet

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Trex said:
I expected this, Dalot is very comfortable with the ball at his feet, can pass with both feet, and plays good through balls, he'll be good at playing the inverted fullback role.
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Same with Shaw to be fair, good touch and good passer of the ball.
 

Giggsyking

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mu4c_20le said:
Iirc O Jogo are usually reliable, its A Bola that are the tabloids. Dalot is still young and has a decent attitude, so im not surprised. Big job for Hag and Gaag though.
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He lacks so much in his defensive ability, you cant teach him everything.
 

Adisa

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VP89 said:
Portugese outlet claiming portugese players are safe. Yeah, sure.
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Not really a far reach. Ronny sounds like he's happy to stay, Bruno clearly not keaving and every journo is saying we will listen to offers for AWB.
 

VP89

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Adisa said:
Not really a far reach. Ronny sounds like he's happy to stay, Bruno clearly not keaving and every journo is saying we will listen to offers for AWB.
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Think its presumptious to assume Dalot is some mainstay for ETH.
 

Greck

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Not that I believe these reports (apparently everyone is in ETH's plans) but did anyone really think it was going to be AWB? Guy who doesn't look like a footballer in a hardcore football style.
 

hobbers

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Hardly takes a football genius to work out that if you're going to pick one right back from AWB and Dalot to have in your squad, it won't be AWB.
 

Blood Mage

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Dalot has much better technique than AWB, he's just extremely raw and needs time under some good coaches.
 

Stobzilla

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Just as a thought experiment, there is probably a way to cover off both his and Maguire's weaknesses while using a high line.


So for whatever reason, we shit the bed and we have to line up with this on day 1 of the season, it is terrible and not what we want to see but I don't want to bring speculation into this. If we expect us to play with a high line and commit the two number 8's to the attack (if he plays a 4-3-3 if he plays his nominal 4-2-3-1 sub out VdB for Fred) but you could have our set up in the attacking phase look more like:


It gets VdB and Sancho closer together and they look like they are useful and like to play in tighter spaces and beat lines through passing, Bruno and Rashford have licence to interchange but it also commits Maguire further up the pitch where he doesn't have as much ground to make up when he wants to dive in and make interceptions, AWB covers his lack of pace while McTominay moves across so that he can be the one to either cover of the CB position if AWB snuffs out an attack down the right and commits that way, or McTominay just goes and fills in that space if the attack breaks down and Maguire can't resume his CB duty quick enough.

Sorry for pontificating but it was just a little thought that popped up, I would feel much more comfortable using AWB in this way than using him as an outright RB who we are expecting to attack.

An alternative is that Shaw sits in like Mazaroui does right now but on the left side and AWB fills in a RCB role making it more of a 3-2-5 than 2-3-5, similar but opposite to Blind in what happens for Ajax this year.
 
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