Literally using a midfielder on loan as a second striker because the other striker we brought in (Weghorst) is hopeless, and just doing enough to win. I think we united fans just need to appreciate how Ten Hag is managing the season with so many injuries in key areas. Our improvement this season is mainly due to Martinez, Casemiro and Eriksen. When any of them are missing, we resemble last season’s United. I guess Ten Hag got lucky with Rashford's form but Ronaldo leaving, Martial never playing, Sancho off it, and Eriksen taken out leaves...who. Fernandes at least, but he rarely scores. Kids like Ganarcho, also lost to injury. Ten Hag really needs all the signings he wants, he's proven he can adapt, i'd just love to see strikers and wingers who can actually play. Oh yeah, Anthony, tbf a Ten Hag signing and he's not great. Casemiro will be back next week. And Eriksen won’t be far behind. We should improve for the run in. There are still 10 games to go, so I wouldn’t be too concerned about goal difference at this stage.
Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager / awaiting clarity from the club over his position
- Thread starter sewey89
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We were poor in attack again, creating very few chances but good to get the win in a tough game.
Things should improve from next week with players back.
Things should improve from next week with players back.
Good teams make every other team look poor.
I've said it a million times, with better control, better midfield, better football recycling we can be a very very top team.
Surprised yesterday there was no talk of lack of desire or attitude?
it's because we were in control of the game for large periods of it.Countless times I've said, Bruno is the quagmire of the midfield, you see how Ten Hag is putting him in different positions is because Bruno doesn't do any modern midfielders job, and the manager is looking for ways to use him well while masking his biggest deficiencies which are holding the ball, press resistance, ball carrier and one time mispasses.
I've also said, many times for Ten Hag to be successful in United he needs to revamp the midfield. Either through coaching or through new players.
And my conviction of the matter is being reinforced by him with how he keeps Bruno playing in different positions, (not that Bruno is a world beater in all position but because putting Bruno out is not viable now) but eventually we will see a new midfield pairings.
100% Ten Hag knows where our problems are.
100% he will solve them if properly backed.
We just have to cross our fingers he gets 2 genuine quality midfielders.
With control of football games like yesterday,
20 games outright we can win in a season.
7-10 games we can change the results by more effort and belief.
8 games is a toss of the coin. Depends on form of the day ( this are Anfield games, Etihad etc).
In a instant we become a 80-90 points team.
Imo their game plan was pretty logical yesterday. It's a mid week away game and imo they knew they wouldn't play with high intensity the whole match. You could notice they had to sub basically their entire midfield and forwards off by 70' despite sitting deep and not much pressing basically the entire first half.
We barely created anything in the first half despite all the possession we had. They forced us to go wide and shoot long. We had a lot of corner kicks but they're simply much better than us in the air. We scored with our only shot on target in the first half and imo our goal was quite lucky. Their plan was to sit deep and counter and try to make it 0-0 by the end of first half. They were simply playing for a point yesterday imo. And I don't think that is illogical coming to OT. We've been really good at home this season.
Good post.
I think sometimes people forget how depleted our squad is. Throw in how many games we have played and I think EtH is doing a great job - I can't wait to see us next season.
Excellent video on some tenets of EtH's philosophy. Minimum width
So it’s definitely a personnel issue rather than a tactical issue for us at the moment. I don’t think I can remember a United side so shy of goals.
Nope, after losing the ball there is high pressing for about 5 seconds. The high defensive line only drops if the other team plays through the press.
Trying to argue Barcelona doesn‘t do high pressing is absurd.
We didn't play good yesterday. We looked decent because Brentford were happy to sit back. They barely pressed us.Good teams make every other team look poor.
I've said it a million times, with better control, better midfield, better football recycling we can be a very very top team.
Surprised yesterday there was no talk of lack of desire or attitude?
Countless times I've said, Bruno is the quagmire of the midfield, you see how Ten Hag is putting him in different positions is because Bruno doesn't do any modern midfielders job, and the manager is looking for ways to use him well while masking his biggest deficiencies which are holding the ball, press resistance, ball carrier and one time mispasses.
I've also said, many times for Ten Hag to be successful in United he needs to revamp the midfield. Either through coaching or through new players.
And my conviction of the matter is being reinforced by him with how he keeps Bruno playing in different positions, (not that Bruno is a world beater in all position but because putting Bruno out is not viable now) but eventually we will see a new midfield pairings.
100% Ten Hag knows where our problems are.
100% he will solve them if properly backed.
We just have to cross our fingers he gets 2 genuine quality midfielders.
With control of football games like yesterday,
20 games outright we can win in a season.
7-10 games we can change the results by more effort and belief.
8 games is a toss of the coin. Depends on form of the day ( this are Anfield games, Etihad etc).
In a instant we become a 80-90 points team.
We could've played McTominay with Fred in midfield plus Bruno in his natural position and we would look better IMO. Not sure how highly Ten Hag rates Fred but apparently he's on the bottom of the list.
Basically this:
Couldn't agree more. Not much to read from this game.
Very strange indeed. The nonsense that was posted here on Sunday.All the usual suspects that were infesting this thread since Sunday, have gone missing. Strange, that
But you don't understand, they just want to be 'fair'All the usual suspects that were infesting this thread since Sunday, have gone missing. Strange, that
A "poor opponent" that has only lost one league match since last October last year. A run of games that has seen them draw with Brighton, Arsenal and Spurs and beat Manchester City and Liverpool.
Go on, name and shame all the Ole and Jose boysAll the usual suspects that were infesting this thread since Sunday, have gone missing. Strange, that
They didn't push us at all yesterday, did they? We had 2nd highest possession % yesterday of the season, Brentford in general has 43.4% possession on average so we looked "in control" but not really creating much.
Like I said in other threads, we could've played any midfield setup yesterday and we would've dominated them, I just don't think there's anything to be excited about.
I don't want to argue about how good is Brentford, they seem on a good run of form (although some of their last results are on the lucky end) but yesterday they didn't challenge us.
I think we all know who they are by nowGo on, name and shame all the Ole and Jose boys
But, but, they don't have agendas. Yet they literally only appear after a defeat.
You forgot sleeping pill football van gal offered? shot on target was cheered multiple time
The people saying Brentford are a poor squad must be casual fans…they are not.
This was supposed to be a transition year. The very fact these moaners are so loud is because ETH has actually been so immediately successful that expectations have drastically risen. That’s the proof of success, and a reason for optimism…not a reason to slam him because of a tired squad playing a very good team only managed a narrow win…moaners gonna moan.
This was supposed to be a transition year. The very fact these moaners are so loud is because ETH has actually been so immediately successful that expectations have drastically risen. That’s the proof of success, and a reason for optimism…not a reason to slam him because of a tired squad playing a very good team only managed a narrow win…moaners gonna moan.
Saying Brentford were poor yesterday is not the same thing as calling them a poor squad
This. You can admire their good results but also admit they were poor yesterday. Two separate things. I just believe the latter has little to do with how we played (because we were not exactly good).
I'd agree with Brentford being a bit poor yesterday. But imo we're pretty good yesterday especially in the first half.
Their game plan was to sit back and counter. We made sure they couldn't even counter and managed to keep the ball really well. Brentford had their first shot (off target a header in a pretty bad position from Toney) only by the last minute of the first half.
Surely the problem was we couldn't create much but imo any team was facing such deep and organized defense would struggle just like us. Their defense is pretty quality imo and yesterday they sit really deep. They didn't lose in their last 16 matches for a reason I think.
True, but often in team sports a reason for one team underperforming, especially offensively, is because of the quality play by the other team.
So the reason to point out that Brentford is not traditionally poor, but was yesterday, is to remind some that our play likely had something to do with their poor display as well…
I think they were playing on low intensity and not really pushing players forward. It almost felt like both teams were happy to see the game out at 1-0.
Anyway, we'll see against Everton, they have a lot to play for.
Agree they were playing with low intensity in the first half but they did wanted to counter us. Anytime we lost the ball they tried their best to make transition as fast as possible. And tbf their forwards are pretty quality imo. Especially Toney and that lad with the left foot.
Imo there were two things we did really well in the first half yesterday. Keep the ball and get it back almost immediately once we lose it.
And I'd disagree with both teams were happy to see the game out at 1-0. They upped their intensity considerably and were trying their best to press us, to attack and to score in the second half. If not for that terrible finish from their #9 in the 1vs1 it'd be a 1-1 draw I think. Us we really wanted to score another one to put the game to bed we also tried our best to attack and quick counter. Our defensive line was still pretty high in the second half. It's more both teams really wanted to score in the second half but none could I think.
I'm also looking forward to the Everton game. Would be another solid win I think. We've been pretty good at home this season.
Thought we were excellent in snuffing out everything for them first half. They barely got on the ball for 45 minutes which must be incredibly demoralizing.
I’m scanning through the thread and can only think that some people have short memories or really high expectations. Consistency appears to be an issue that all sides are struggling with not just us. The results as someone suggested are even more impressive considering where we were last season an the other 10 before really meant we started the season on the back foot than our main rivals. Ten has somehow managed to improve our image, team and club environment along with getting results with an previously derided squad. On top of regular injuries to key players. Ironically more games played have given opportunity to more critics than people appreciating how well he has done. I’m excited already to see what happens next season as well as what else can be won in this.
That '3 points more than this time last season' shite that was coming out after the Newcastle game (to imply we had made barely any progress season on season) was the most laughable shit ever.
We finished on 58 points last season total. Even post Newcastle we only needed 8 points out of an available 33 to match this. We now need 5 from 30.
It's a waste of energy even going on about it because of how ridiculous and irrelevant it was, but there you go.
Away form in the league is woeful but Ten Hag is still on nearly 71% win rate in his first season closing in on 50 games. That is incredible.
Rangnick, aka the man who was a once in a lifetime genius because he said we needed to sign 10 players, finished on 38%.
We finished on 58 points last season total. Even post Newcastle we only needed 8 points out of an available 33 to match this. We now need 5 from 30.
It's a waste of energy even going on about it because of how ridiculous and irrelevant it was, but there you go.
Away form in the league is woeful but Ten Hag is still on nearly 71% win rate in his first season closing in on 50 games. That is incredible.
Rangnick, aka the man who was a once in a lifetime genius because he said we needed to sign 10 players, finished on 38%.
Totally agree, winning isn’t always about scoring a ton a goals. I’m pretty bullish on our play yesterday give our squad make up and who was out…
Herself indoors knows all about minimum width.
They played poorly because the other team denied them the ball for the majority of the game and it looked like they were taken by surprise by that tactical decision.
What tactical decision? Brentford is used to have less of the ball, they are close to the bottom in terms of possession on average.
This is exactly what I meant when I said people read too much into it. I still think we didn't play well and Brentford were poor/ not really going for it. Let's agree to disagree and see what happens next game.
If this setup works and we dominate Everton (we should as they are around relegation zone), I'll admit I was wrong. I really hope this happens because that means we should easily get 3 pts.
Brentford aren't a poor team, far from it...but they were poor yesterday.
We could debate forever why that is, whether it's because we played well and restricted their ability to play well or whether they simply didn't turn up. Ultimately it doesn't matter, over a season teams we meet will underperform or sometimes overperform their baseline at times, nobody plays a flat line.
Personally I don't think they can have done this well at various times by playing that lethargically and passively. I don't care what the team idea is, whether it's defensive or offensive or possession based or not, you have to put some pressure on the ball at some defined area of the pitch. The lack of this is why we had completely uncontested possession up to their box, and then when they did get the ball they had no urgency because they were already in such a negative mindset. You can't suddenly go from no tempo to tempo.
Ultimately I think it's a bit of both, we did pretty well in a controlled way without creating as much as we'd like and Brentford were crap. I think the manager would be happy enough with controlling things and winning the game considering recent results.
We could debate forever why that is, whether it's because we played well and restricted their ability to play well or whether they simply didn't turn up. Ultimately it doesn't matter, over a season teams we meet will underperform or sometimes overperform their baseline at times, nobody plays a flat line.
Personally I don't think they can have done this well at various times by playing that lethargically and passively. I don't care what the team idea is, whether it's defensive or offensive or possession based or not, you have to put some pressure on the ball at some defined area of the pitch. The lack of this is why we had completely uncontested possession up to their box, and then when they did get the ball they had no urgency because they were already in such a negative mindset. You can't suddenly go from no tempo to tempo.
Ultimately I think it's a bit of both, we did pretty well in a controlled way without creating as much as we'd like and Brentford were crap. I think the manager would be happy enough with controlling things and winning the game considering recent results.
Brentford's overall number for the season is 42%, and they were held below that for the game, and well below that in the first half. They also have the more in away games than they have at home. It was clear to see there was an emphasis on keeping the ball yesterday, with Bruno and Sabitzer playing deeper rather than an advanced 10, and Shaw and Dalot tucking in to support the midfield.
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It looked like they were expecting us to play at a faster pace, which would allow them to pick off high risk passes with the opportunity to catch us out of position and break before we can counter press. They were not expecting a more patient style of play from us and the effects of them being denied the ball were evident in the first half on the rare occasion they did have a chance to break. They're an aggressive counter press team and rather than a compact park the bus team like Everton.
Sabitzer pressed up high like a shadow striker, McT and Bruno played deeper.
I agree that there was an emphasis on keeping the ball, what was very easy because Brentford were not pressing us. I wouldn't read much more from this game. I don't think it's as easy as you're describing to have more control of the game. Bruno playing safe definitely shows he was instructed to do so, but this only worked because there was almost zero pressure on him outside of final third.
For reals. It's partially because we passed well and didn't make too many hollywood passes. They were a bit defensive and cautious and the combo suited us.
This discussion about Brentford is overlooking a significant point.
Maybe they were poor because they had to play two games in a week. Now why is this relevant? Because we've been playing this way for 3 months and it puts in context the great job EtH has done in maintaining our run.
It's been a bit sketchy lately but to compare him to some of his predecessors except for Mourinho is just displaying either pure lack of objectivity or worse.
Maybe they were poor because they had to play two games in a week. Now why is this relevant? Because we've been playing this way for 3 months and it puts in context the great job EtH has done in maintaining our run.
It's been a bit sketchy lately but to compare him to some of his predecessors except for Mourinho is just displaying either pure lack of objectivity or worse.
How EtH setup the team and the tactics based on the thumping against Newcastle was a very fun things to watch. That first half dominance was terrific and that goes to the players but obviously EtH and his staff.
Brentford played that way yesterday because it gave them a chance, but United kept patient and stayed the course. Keep it close and give yourself a chance on counters and set pieces. It was a valiant effort by United and they had a resolute attitude all throughout. Compared to how United played away to Brentford, it's extremely positive signs.
Brentford had to sit back 1st half because we kept bypassing their press with long kickouts.
The move that led to the goal from the corner came from such a kickout. We won the ball at the halfway line and had good numbers because of it.
There's no point in trying to pass through a good press when we've not got the players for it. Just bypass it.
They looked poor because we made them look that way. I also think the lad fasting can't have helped their press 2nd half they looked better especially when he went off.
The move that led to the goal from the corner came from such a kickout. We won the ball at the halfway line and had good numbers because of it.
There's no point in trying to pass through a good press when we've not got the players for it. Just bypass it.
They looked poor because we made them look that way. I also think the lad fasting can't have helped their press
2nd half they looked better especially when he went off.Eriksen could be involved this weekend if he passes his fitness test.We are going to have Casemiro, Eriksen and Martial back at the same time