Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager

The United

Full Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2015
Messages
5,770
Yeah it does seem bizarre. Especially since he reportedly was very demanding during negotiations with the club, you'd think these are the kind of tough decisions he was demanding about.
Well, his demand could be that the club sign the players he put on the list only, which seems to be the case so far. Just because he demands it, does not mean it would be right for the club. The decision makers seem to go along with him because they themselves are unqualified to run this kind of club.
 

wolvored

Full Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2016
Messages
9,871
Can you back that up with a reliable source? No one worth listening to said that we bid for him...just some contacts with his agent. I imagine that happens with dozens of players every summer. It doesn't mean that we 100% want the player and if he joins another club we've "missed out" on him.
I googled it and a fair few came up. Try it. Can you give creditable sources that said we didnt?
 

royboy16

Full Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Messages
8,178
Location
The moon gave me flowers for funerals to come.
It felt obvious during last season that we needed a big clearout, but I - like many others I suspect - was hopeful (though not convinced) that a new top class manager would be enough on its own to change things and get the players performing again with a few tweaks to the squad, but it seems painfully clear now that nothing is going to change until we make dramatic changes. So either Ten Hag was a bit naive in thinking that he could turn much of it around with the bulk of the same squad intact and he's underestimated the extent of the rot (and has just now realized), or he's been lied to and let down by the board/Murtaugh during the summer. I don't know which alternative is more depressing.

Gonna be a long season. Our only hope is that we hit the jackpot with 2 or 3 signings before the window closes.
Maybe he needed to see first hand for himself what he's dealing with while evaluating.
 

Rojofiam

Full Member
Joined
May 11, 2017
Messages
3,009
I googled it and a fair few came up. Try it. Can you give creditable sources that said we didnt?
I'm not gonna bother with this anymore when your proof is probably the metro, daily mail, express and the likes claiming we bid for him...it's 2022 and people still listen to journalists making stuff up.

None of Romano, Ornstein, Stone or any other credible journalist ever mentioned that our interest is serious or that we made a bid for him. None of them. All Romano claimed is that we talked to his agent.

We never made an offer for Darwin Nunez, I can guarantee you that

Edit: Do you think we've made an offer for Felix? Some Spanish tabloids reported it, after all
 

wolvored

Full Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2016
Messages
9,871
I'm not gonna bother with this anymore when your proof is probably the metro, daily mail, express and the likes claiming we bid for him...it's 2022 and people still listen to journalists making stuff up.

None of Romano, Ornstein, Stone or any other credible journalist ever mentioned that our interest is serious or that we made a bid for him. None of them. All Romano claimed is that we talked to his agent.

We never made an offer for Darwin Nunez, I can guarantee you that

Edit: Do you think we've made an offer for Felix? Some Spanish tabloids reported it, after all
I normally dont bother to idiotic replies but the athletic and romano were 2 of the early birds that said utd were in for him. They are no more reliable than anyone else
 

Tigersam

New Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2022
Messages
424
Supports
Arsenal
Nothing will change until a manager is actually brave enough to bench the feck out of these clowns and start playing youngsters from the academy ahead of them. Yes there will be tough times at the start with the youngsters but they will have the guts, the soul and will ultimately improve. Meanwhile these clowns will stay as hopeless as they are.

If Ten Hag wants to save his job, he needs to take that decision.
But what happens if he can't because his employer has put constraints on his decision making?

If this poster below is correct, I think ETH should just walk away. Walk away and keep his reputation intact, walk away and forgo any payoff, but don't sign any non-disclosure agreement either and tell everyone why he did it. Let the whole footballing world know that if you take the managers job at Manchester United you are just a puppet on a string. That might force change upon the club.

I have been thinking about this for sometime.

There have been rumours about Joel Glazer intervening and insisting on things, particularly the retention of Anthony Martial who he allegedly believed was to be the next French Pele. Is there any other suggestions he’s interfered with squad management?

There’s also strong hints that on the commercial side ; keeping players with loads of twitter followers and brand footballers like Lingard, Pogba and now Ronaldo , have led to some of the culture we are seeing where players on field performances are somewhat forgiven (with new contracts and pay rises) if the player can bring a following that pleases sponcors.

Then there’s the suggestion that contract extensions have been seen as a cheaper way of basically padding the squad book value. One of the important things of this is that it helps with loans whereby the club value needs to remain a certain percentage relative to revenue(or something like that).

Lastly, something I don’t see anywhere , is the question of what pressure a manager is under to play certain players. Is this is a thing? Is there elements of some players contacts that means a manager has to play them even if they are crap? Is there pressure from the commercial end to play players who aren’t playing well because they are still generating interest (good or bad) for the club?

How can any manager be expected to navigate this on top of a dysfunctional transfer policy and create a winning squad mentality? It’s just nuts.
 

dubplate warrior

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jul 24, 2015
Messages
942
I expected that ETH need time especially in the competitive PL. But never in my wildest imagination that he could had such a bad start. Lost 2 games to mid table clubs with 6-1 score while playing negative football like Ole has never left.
He's not trying to play negative football. The players aren't capable of playing anything else.
 

Greck

Full Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2016
Messages
7,099
It's a shame that playing football doesn't suit the skill set of our players. :(
In all fairness this was clear months ago with basic amounts of foresight. You couldn't assemble a less fitting cast if your goal was to get ETH fired. Even the "good" ones suck at decisions and/or ballplaying. De Gea playing out of the back, Maguire covering space 30 yards away from the box, Bruno and Rashford being efficient, implementing a high press with CR, having McFred playing out of pressure, good luck and god be with us.
 

Cheimoon

Made of cheese
Scout
Joined
Jun 22, 2020
Messages
14,325
Location
Canada
Supports
no-one in particular
Definitely Ten Haag getting his assessment so badly wrong is more depressing. I just can’t get past his faith in DDG. Surely to feck the minimal due diligence for any manager taking on a role like this is to rewatch every one of our matches over the last season (maybe last two or three seasons?) How the feck can an elite football manager sit through all that footage and decide that DDG is capable of being involved in us passing the ball out from the back?!?
What's the alternative though? Is Heaton better at this? (Or who's the second keeper now? Sorry, genuine question.)

And maybe Ten Hag did ask for another keeper but didn't get one? From other quotes, he does seem pretty upset with (the lack of) transfer proceedings this summer.
 

RedRonaldo

Wishes to be oppressed.
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Messages
18,996
He is learning the hard way, however; how much of that is really his idea…
To be fair he did publicly stated we don’t need major changes at the start as we’ve already got a fine squad, and insisted on playing McFred and keeping Maguire as captain, so he has to take some of the blame.
 

In Rainbows

Full Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2014
Messages
6,730
To be fair he did publicly stated we don’t need major changes at the start as we’ve already got a fine squad, and insisted on playing McFred and keeping Maguire as captain, so he has to take some of the blame.
Making Maguire captain made sense though. He doesn't know the personalities enough to know who will be his captain. By making him captain, and then benching him, you only upset Maguire. By making someone else captain, you run the risk of that captain failing so now you have that player and Maguire as upset.

A player being captain doesn't mean they view the captain role in the same manner as LVG, where he always had his captain playing.
 

RedRonaldo

Wishes to be oppressed.
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Messages
18,996
Making Maguire captain made sense though. He doesn't know the personalities enough to know who will be his captain. By making him captain, and then benching him, you only upset Maguire. By making someone else captain, you run the risk of that captain failing so now you have that player and Maguire as upset.

A player being captain doesn't mean they view the captain role in the same manner as LVG, where he always had his captain playing.
It’s better to upset/bench him and played someone else, which he is likely going to do in our next game, rather then keep his captaincy, let him organised our defence and keep leaking goals against mid table teams.
 

ForeverRed1

Full Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2013
Messages
5,355
Location
England UK!
To be fair he did publicly stated we don’t need major changes at the start as we’ve already got a fine squad, and insisted on playing McFred and keeping Maguire as captain, so he has to take some of the blame.
That’s what I meant by learning the hard way. He defo hasn’t made it easy on himself.. but I do wonder if he’s told to play certain players. I mean maguire cost 80million.. do they really want him on the bench.. and have all managers really played him so much and backed him as captain? You never know.
 

Strelok

New Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
Messages
5,279
Definitely Ten Haag getting his assessment so badly wrong is more depressing. I just can’t get past his faith in DDG. Surely to feck the minimal due diligence for any manager taking on a role like this is to rewatch every one of our matches over the last season (maybe last two or three seasons?) How the feck can an elite football manager sit through all that footage and decide that DDG is capable of being involved in us passing the ball out from the back?!?

See also Fred playing deep and McT playing basically anywhere…
Imo ETH has been fully aware of the issues in our squad. Anyone who watched a couple of our matches last season would have. But he still decided to take a gamble here because at Ajax he was able to successfully implement his style despite some of his squad especially the ones he bought had no such experience previously.

This is imo his biggest mistake. He was able to do that at Ajax because the players listened to him. He underestimated the attitude issues in our squad. Needless to talk about this anymore our squad are full of wankers who are lazy af but delusional af about their talent. Plus the Ronaldo affair.

This is bad guys. This season gonna be a long one and tbh I don't think he'd last long here if things continue like this. Imo he really needs to make some dramatic decisions and actions like to play the youngsters and refuse to answer the post match questions to deliver the message and declare his stance. Keeping silent and trying to make those wankers listening to him won't work and eventually will only cost him his job.
 

TheRedHearted

Full Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2016
Messages
2,634
Location
New York, NY
Odd resemblance to Arsenals season 21, two losses then up against City. They got whipped and shelacked. Arsenal fans already were called for his head then a narrow win over Norwich.
Yes, I’m watching all or nothing: arsenal. Judge me all you like!
 

lee82gx

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Nov 7, 2020
Messages
78
I don’t remember nani being a lazy player? Maybe not always effective. But he definitely wasn’t lazy.
There was a time when I remember Nani as looking not up to it when he was playing. Let’s not tarnish him, I’m sorry.

but you’re right I was just “lazy” to find a single word to describe the team we have today. Perhaps that is too flattering a word.
 

bringbackbebe

Full Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2021
Messages
1,648
Definitely Ten Haag getting his assessment so badly wrong is more depressing. I just can’t get past his faith in DDG. Surely to feck the minimal due diligence for any manager taking on a role like this is to rewatch every one of our matches over the last season (maybe last two or three seasons?) How the feck can an elite football manager sit through all that footage and decide that DDG is capable of being involved in us passing the ball out from the back?!?

See also Fred playing deep and McT playing basically anywhere…
He's got his assessment wrong, so did Rangnick. Selling the idea that "this group of players came 2nd not so long ago and they're awesome and need motivation" is stupid shit. His assessment is also most likely to be biased with DeGea being a training ground Buffon and Fred being preseason Pirlo. Let's see if he learns from his mistakes and solves the situation.
 

lee82gx

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Nov 7, 2020
Messages
78
Odd resemblance to Arsenals season 21, two losses then up against City. They got whipped and shelacked. Arsenal fans already were called for his head then a narrow win over Norwich.
Yes, I’m watching all or nothing: arsenal. Judge me all you like!
Were Arsenal that bad football wise? No running no desire no organisation and totally no heart? I don’t watch them and I truly don’t know.
 

Boondog

New Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2022
Messages
699
Two games were so bad that ETH's already lost more than half of his authority and credibility. What he has said is completely at odds with reality. He overestimated the squad, overestimated the Dutch league, and more importantly overestimated himself. His misjudgment is one of the root causes of the current situation, but he reacts to it by punishing players as if they were school kids. Unless he admits his mistakes and change the course, things will be out of control pretty soon.
Had a smartass comment here but just gonna say I think you're way off on this one.
 

ayushreddevil9

Foootball hinders the adrenaline of transfers.
Joined
Jul 11, 2015
Messages
10,236
To be fair he did publicly stated we don’t need major changes at the start as we’ve already got a fine squad, and insisted on playing McFred and keeping Maguire as captain, so he has to take some of the blame.
Shows he did not do his homework. Wondering what he was doing when he started working earlier than his intended starting date.
 

Varun

Moderator
Staff
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
46,772
Location
Mumbai
To be fair he did publicly stated we don’t need major changes at the start as we’ve already got a fine squad, and insisted on playing McFred and keeping Maguire as captain, so he has to take some of the blame.
Publicly is the key word there.
 

Sarni

nice guy, unassuming, objective United fan.
Joined
Jan 21, 2004
Messages
57,440
Location
Krakow
The lengths people will go on here to try & paint ten Hag as absolutely blameless in our terrible start of season are quite impressive, I must say. I think most have convinced themselves this team is really bad enough to be embarrassed to such extent by a weakened Brighton side and Brentford. The manner of both defeats would be considered very bad even for a League Two team playing these two in FA Cup, yet we have people almost praising him for trying to play this amazing, progressive football, somehow.

Our squad is probably not good enough to finish top 6 or be competitive against good teams but it doesn’t change the fact that in terms of the set up for both games, the decisions were absolutely horrendous and in-game management was extremely poor as well. How much of the shape of our team is down to ETH we don’t really know.
 

AdNani

Full Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2014
Messages
1,632
The lengths people will go on here to try & paint ten Hag as absolutely blameless in our terrible start of season are quite impressive, I must say. I think most have convinced themselves this team is really bad enough to be embarrassed to such extent by a weakened Brighton side and Brentford (the manner of both defeats would be considered very bad even for a League Two team playing these two in FA Cup).
don't think anyone would say he's blameless
 

ayushreddevil9

Foootball hinders the adrenaline of transfers.
Joined
Jul 11, 2015
Messages
10,236
The lengths people will go on here to try & paint ten Hag as absolutely blameless in our terrible start of season are quite impressive, I must say. I think most have convinced themselves this team is really bad enough to be embarrassed to such extent by a weakened Brighton side and Brentford. The manner of both defeats would be considered very bad even for a League Two team playing these two in FA Cup, yet we have people almost praising him for trying to play this amazing, progressive football, somehow.
The manager has made a lot of questionable decisions imo.
 

stefan92

Full Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2021
Messages
5,936
Supports
Hannover 96
How much of the shape of our team is down to ETH we don’t really know.
We do at least know that the team didn't follow his instructions well so far, probably because some of the players are to stupid to do simple things like "when they are pressing high, you play a long ball to beat the press "
 

BarryWinks

Full Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2022
Messages
494
The lengths people will go on here to try & paint ten Hag as absolutely blameless in our terrible start of season are quite impressive, I must say. I think most have convinced themselves this team is really bad enough to be embarrassed to such extent by a weakened Brighton side and Brentford. The manner of both defeats would be considered very bad even for a League Two team playing these two in FA Cup, yet we have people almost praising him for trying to play this amazing, progressive football, somehow.

Our squad is probably not good enough to finish top 6 or be competitive against good teams but it doesn’t change the fact that in terms of the set up for both games, the decisions were absolutely horrendous and in-game management was extremely poor as well. How much of the shape of our team is down to ETH we don’t really know.
That's one of my biggest fears going forward. Seeing how polarized this fanbase tends to be, I think our next few managers will almost always get a free pass because the "players down tool" will be the default excuse fans give them. Also feel Rangnick played on this perfectly, knowing fans had turned on the players it was easy for him to deflect from the poor results and focus on 'exposing' the club as much as possible.

Unlike most, I am optimistic but don't have absolute blind faith in Ten Hag. I like his Ajax team, but I believe he still has a lot to prove on this level. Several good managers have taken the step up (I know we are shit and all but we still come with massive expectations) and found it very difficult - AvB being a more recent example - so I don't buy this 'Ten Hag gets a pass from me this season' nonsense.

He has to be judged based on how he performs. At the end of the day it's a result based business and his performance will be judged in line with the condition he's working in. That we were shit last season don't mean we have to be shit in this one, and definitely don't excuse any manager that keeps us being shit. Every manager is handicapped one way or another, but fans must still expect certain improvements from their teams year on year.

This season for me it is about the fundamentals. How has our style of play progressed throughout the season? Performances? Results? If there's a clear progression in those metrics through the course of the season then he gets a pass from me. Anything else and I think the jury will be out on him big time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cheimoon

BarryWinks

Full Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2022
Messages
494
We do at least know that the team didn't follow his instructions well so far, probably because some of the players are to stupid to do simple things like "when they are pressing high, you play a long ball to beat the press "
Again this is another misrepresentation of what the Man himself said. The only player he was referring to in that situation was DeGea. One player isn't the 'team'. Only one of the 4 goals we conceded was due to not bypassing the press.

And believe it or not, teams have bad days. It doesn't have to be because they aren't following instructions. City and Pep have one game a season where they get battered similarly, I doubt the same nonsense about "players not listening" get trotted out for him too.
 
Last edited:

Tibs

Full Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2007
Messages
13,742
Location
UK
Making Maguire captain made sense though. He doesn't know the personalities enough to know who will be his captain. By making him captain, and then benching him, you only upset Maguire. By making someone else captain, you run the risk of that captain failing so now you have that player and Maguire as upset.

A player being captain doesn't mean they view the captain role in the same manner as LVG, where he always had his captain playing.
feck him being upset :lol:
 

ForeverRed1

Full Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2013
Messages
5,355
Location
England UK!
madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

these players will get him sacked. It’s just facts at this point. Problem is we have 2 weeks to sort it, it’s all been left too late (as per usual) and we’re now scrambling around in the dark getting whatever players we can over the line.

after all the problems with the squad, the season we had last season.. we needed early business. We needed to go into pre season with a fair few new signings in this squad to bed in. We needed tough decisions like DDG, maguire, shaw, mcfred and Ronaldo. We needed wholesale changes. We got none.

The only players we have lost are players at end of contracts and Perriera.

Not one really tough, hardline decision has been made yet. Not one.

i expected maybe a rashford sale, Maguire sale.. shaw maybe.. some of our mainstays who have done nothing of note. They’re all still here and starting in this squad and guess what? Same shite. Same results. Same mentality, same dross.

different manager.

I’m 100% team ETH. Just to put that point across.. but if he thinks he can get these players playing like contenders he’s in for a shock (one I think he’s getting in fairness).
 

spiriticon

Full Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2013
Messages
7,384
How do you plan an approach for players who have no skill set?

I guess Ole really was the best manager for this lot.
 

steffyr2

Full Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
1,772
United and Ten Hag wanting "evolution not revolution" was something that has been mentioned earlier in the press. "I can change him" is probably the biggest blunder you can make with this gang.

Might very well not have been Ten Hags call, but that's a huge mistake right there nonetheless. Management should have gotten rid of most of the players and replaced them with a combination of transfers and youth to show that there's a new boss in charge and that the pathetic leaks to the media won't cut it when the team has been under performing for ten years. Not a single fan can have any sympathy left for this meek collection of pretenders.
With how toxic the fanbase is, I'd keep the youth players far far away from any meaningful game.
Teams don't "get rid of most of the players" in one transfer window.
Ten Hag needs to adapt to the PL quickly and figure out how to win games with the group of players he has, not the ones he'd play on his fantasy team.
 

Silverman

Full Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2013
Messages
6,471
Over the last few years, the managers have had to adapt to the players rather than the players adapting to the manager which is absolutely ridiculous.
Its bad enough on its own but add to the fact, a big core of our players have rotten attitudes.
Had Ten Hag moved to a different big club, they would have shipped out the players that don't fit his system and got him his targets.
Simple as.