Yup, he's doing an amazing job and has this team punching above it's weight.
Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager
- Thread starter sewey89
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
World away from his unveiling where he gave one word answers and stared at people making them uncomfortable
He's invested enough blood, sweat & tears that he has this sense of ownership now. My club.
I am just pointing out what I think, worried for the end of the season. Without Casemiro, injuries and poor form of some of our players.
I know we say we have no striker but we can play Rashford top, Sancho left and Anthony right, yet Weghorst has started every game since he came.
I think Ten Hag has done a very good job but in the last few weeks its been a bit stale imo. lets hope we back him with the players he needs to play his way and players who can pass a football.
We look leggy because we've played a monumental amount of games. The international break is coming at the right time for us. I think he's managed a crazy 2023 schedule really well. We haven't been great recently, but we're still generally picking up wins.
Losing Casemiro and Eriksen at the same time feels like losing Scholes and Carrick at the same time years ago.
Rashford hasn’t played well up top though. His best form has been from the left
We badly need to get him a rest too
No, I totally understand that. I was just saying that this isn't sustainable, something will have to give, currently its looking like that our league results are.
The annoying thing though, international break and alot of our players will now travel. Rashford, Bruno, Martinez, Shaw are the ones that really need a break and they wont get one.
We have a horrid April & May in terms of our fixture schedule, but then Jan, Feb & Mar have also been just as bad and we are managing perfectly well. Remarkable really.
No real reason to suspect we are going to collapse or should be concerned about top four. Our recent 'dip' in form is just as much about players missing as it is about fatigue. Not playing as well as we would have if we had Varane, Casemiro, Eriksen & Martial isn't a surprise in any way. It's our mental resilience that's improved more than anything else, and that is where we've seen the biggest impact from Ten Hag and his staff
No real reason to suspect we are going to collapse or should be concerned about top four. Our recent 'dip' in form is just as much about players missing as it is about fatigue. Not playing as well as we would have if we had Varane, Casemiro, Eriksen & Martial isn't a surprise in any way. It's our mental resilience that's improved more than anything else, and that is where we've seen the biggest impact from Ten Hag and his staff
We have run out of gas.
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When he says we played good, he means to the level the players can do. He knows there is so much to improve on.
Hopefully the international break will allow him to analyse the performances (that’s what he said btw).
I do wonder why our own fans can’t see this.
Imagine how Arsenal would be doing without Partey and Odegaard?
Imagine how City would be doing without Rodri and KdB?
When you add to it the fact that we don’t have our first choice CF you’re essentially looking at Arsenal without Partey, Odegaard and Jesus, then City without Rodri, KdB and Haaland.
The performances have wilted but to still be in everything (bar the drop off in the league) is quite remarkable.
Maybe EtH will go all Fergie 2011 and play McTominay as a CB, Dalot as a CM together with Sancho. And then Mainoo will leave for Juve à la Pogba.
lets just look at the numbers in comparison and you wonder why the boys seem a bit knackered at the moment yet still find a way to grind out the results. Weghorst might be a lukaku type finisher but he's eating up minutes and his defensive work rate is great. we only have 4 recognized experienced strikers with 2 kids to cover 25 matches so rotation and finding ways to chop n change has been vital but difficult. Then you add in the mix injuries....Martial missing a big amount of time, Eriksen the same, Scott missing time, Casemiro with suspensions so the midfield has taken a slight beating which is why Bruno is playing week in and out but at times struggling but it's to be somewhat expected. These guys aren't robots.
the one group that has had it the easiest is the back line as fortunately we've avoided any big injuries to the 4 outside backs and 4 CB's.
United since World Cup ended have played 25 matches
City 21 matches
Spurs 18
Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle 17
Chelsea 16
Let's hope Rashy plays against Italy on thursday and with the quick turnaround on Sunday vs Ukraine he gets at rest. No reason for him to play both matches given the sheer talent England has up top. The could give him 7-8 days rest from match play...yes he will still train with the squad but could effectively give him a some days off his legs.
Hopefully portugal does the same for Bruno as they actually have easier fixtures than England.
Don't really think any of our other regular starters, who have been overloaded since the WC, will be used over worked. Don't see Shaw playing both matches, Sabitzer could use the work as could Malacia and even Harry. Antony won't for Brazil given that talented squad.
it really comes down to Rashford and Bruno getting a couple days off. the rest of the squad, while away, could actually still have some time for rest and recharging. training isn't nearly as taxing as putting in the match work plus the mental change of being with your country away from the club pressures.
I love that awkward stare!
Who else would you play there? WW is our only striker right now.
Erm... Rashford?
There have been games where WW has been deployed as a 10 and Rashford up top and Bruno on wings.
Yes, Rashford is best from the left with space to run into. So you would be hamstringing our best player.
Instead we have WW occupying the defense and our wingers/midfielders get more space.
Well Rashford has started games as a CF with WW behind him, so clearly ETH hamstrung out best player not me.
For tactical reasons. Against Barça Weghorst was pressing De Jong. Worked great.
We created a few chances in the first half while Fulham created almost nothing, despite us playing poorly.
Rashford's withdrawn from England camp with an ill-defined 'knock' (and the chance for a convenient rest before the next crowd of domestic and EL games). Truly a sign that Fergie times are back...
I don’t see that. He’d have to play Rashford as the 9, Sancho would get the chance to play himself into form on the left with Antony on the right.
It was the right move to loan him. Playing him may be to the detriment of squad development. It’s much more imperative that we have a fully functional Sancho and Antony for the final run in as well as next season.
‘Rashford Sancho Antony would be a real nightmare for defenses to handle. All 3 have pace, technical skill. I agree that it’s not as easy to control games in possession, but the counterattack would be deadly.
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That's great news. Bruno needs a rest too
biggest issue we have in possession is Bruno...simply b/c he is always looking to play that killer pass which too often is a hollywood pass
We've lost 2 games since Christmas in all comps.. Arsenal at the Emirates and Liverpool at Anfield. Drawn 3 by the way, the rest were victories (22 matches played)
Its a run of form much like Liverpool's last year, to be honest I cant quite believe what I'm seeing with out mentality and ability to somehow get results despite playing every 3 days.
As a quirky little fact, I've just seen that we've won all our FA Cup games 3-1!
Its a run of form much like Liverpool's last year, to be honest I cant quite believe what I'm seeing with out mentality and ability to somehow get results despite playing every 3 days.
As a quirky little fact, I've just seen that we've won all our FA Cup games 3-1!
I feel especially with Casemiro in there that its not exactly a problem because 9 out 10 times the ball is won back either in midfield or defence and its recycled for another go. When it comes off it comes off if you know what I mean
yeh i get what you're saying but it's when Case isn't in there, the glaring hole shows bc he's not there to repress(along with Fred who's good at that as well) and he's really good at being able to recycle the ball
Its incredible. We're challenging everywhere possible. Post world cup, we've been phenomenal. 17 wins in 22 games played in under 3 months is astonishing. Even more so when you consider where we were 1 year ago.
We will still lock down 3rd. The PL sides have begun their annual who can screw up the most in the race to take 4th contest and luckily we're not a part of that. I don't think we're in a dogfight with Spurs / Pool. They're just in a dogfight with each other and we're cruising some way behind the top two.
We've won one and deep in two cups (QF EL which we will probably win and SF of the FA Cup).
Yeah we're gassed but he's still doing fairly well here. I just hope no one else suffers a longterm injury because they're overworked.
End of season I expect ~72-75 pts + EL finals (hopefully winners). I don't think we're winning the FA Cup against City. TBH Brighton will probably knock us out.
Power Move by Erik Ten Hag
https://www.espn.com/soccer/england...-miss-englands-euro-qualifiers-through-injury
https://www.espn.com/soccer/england...-miss-englands-euro-qualifiers-through-injury
Great news. Not for England though but Southgate probably won't play him anyway.
We are still in all cups so our players play so much more than other teams. No wonder we look a bit tired
could give two shits what it does for England...just glad he will get two weeks rest and not have to play. He needed it.
What a surprise, another Ole lover bringing the negativity. "Yet another game, yet another poor performance and dominated at home again" - how about YET ANOTHER WIN?
Rashford up top. Sancho and Antony out wide.
Yep. With O’Shea and Fabio in midfield.
Just for argument sake, wins aren't everything. Solskjaer won plenty of games, but many could see that the style of play would lead us nowhere.
Of course things are different now as we could see the change under ETH. We're just suffering from having too many matches and too few good players. But normally looking at the performance isn't a bad thing.
That this thread is not page after page of adoration is mad.
- Every single player at the club is better.
- He has changed the attitude of the whole dressing room.
- Every single signing has been a success, with a young Antony being the ‘worst’, despite being brand new to the league & language.
- He’s quite clearly instilled a positive culture again. One that we can all agree with at every turn.
- The Ronaldo toxicity is gone.
- Leaks have all but stopped
- He leads, takes responsibility for the low points, and doesn’t cause a scene.
Had all of us been offered 4th place and 3 quarter finals this year, we’d have taken it.
We’ve won a cup already, have a solid chance of winning one of the remaining two, and might yet finish closer to second than second does to the league winners.
He’s wildly overachieving. Our fans are mad.
- Every single player at the club is better.
- He has changed the attitude of the whole dressing room.
- Every single signing has been a success, with a young Antony being the ‘worst’, despite being brand new to the league & language.
- He’s quite clearly instilled a positive culture again. One that we can all agree with at every turn.
- The Ronaldo toxicity is gone.
- Leaks have all but stopped
- He leads, takes responsibility for the low points, and doesn’t cause a scene.
Had all of us been offered 4th place and 3 quarter finals this year, we’d have taken it.
We’ve won a cup already, have a solid chance of winning one of the remaining two, and might yet finish closer to second than second does to the league winners.
He’s wildly overachieving. Our fans are mad.
I think his point was that certain posters were very protective of Ole, and got overly defensive when anyone criticised him. These posters would just scream second place and away wins record, but wouldn't discuss the fact that our football was generally poor. Now, some of these posters are having a pop at ETH at every opportunity, and it looks ridiculously hypocritical.
There's no need for some of the ridiculous hyperbole. Yes, we look leggy lately, but we've played a monumental amount of football in 2023 with a squad seriously lacking depth (quality wise, anyway). I see absolutely no reason for any criticism of ETH, considering he has a 70% win rate and has already won us a cup. Next season, I expect more improvements in our play style, mainly getting better at controlling games. I trust ETH to get us there, and the job he's done so far has been incredible.