Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager

[Abhinav]

Anyone who is thinking objectively and not driven by emotions, can clearly see that changing managers will not not change anything under this current ownership.

Any successful organisation, needs investment, the right culture, the right structure and competent people within this structure. Right now, we are 0/4, maybe 1/4 if you are being generous on the investment. Unless we have new owners like the ones that City has with the same ruthless winning mindset, anything we change will be a patchwork and not sustainable.

In the years gone by, when football clubs were not large commercial organisations, you could have some one like SAF with a singular winning mindset, who could come in and change the culture, the structure and get the right people in. Even then, these managers would need time to drive this internal change and required people who would trust them to this tough and dirty job.
In today’s world, you are really looking to find a needle in the haystack, if you want to depend on this saviour like manager who will right all the wrongs in the larger organisation.
To become a successful club again, we need fan & media pressure to get these owners out of the club and get people in with the right intentions and will to make this club successful again. Post that, we can think about making personnel changes, either in the executive or the management level.

 

[r0663664]

I’m not saying change the coach, however if you think a new Qatar owned United would put up with the current team on the field then you’re living in another universe.

With a wining culture dictated by the new owners, then everything filters down through the pyramid. The current owners are used to losing, both in the EPL and NFL they are not winners so they do not know how to cultivate a winning philosophy, they therefore recruit people like Ed Woodward, John Murtough and Richard Arnold to destroy a football legacy.

ETH can not be fully blamed however but has to take some responsibility for his decisions, if he survived a takeover and an incoming new DOF, CEO and Chariman, they would not tolerate a start of three defeats from the first 5 EPL games after losing 3 from 7 in the previous season, so he would inevitably be sacked.

That’s how you create a wining culture by not accepting mediocrity on the field of play. United fans conveniently blame the Glazers every time we lose, but we didn’t gloat when we won, they’ve have allowed ridiculous amounts of money to be spent on mediocre players with little drive and hunger, Sanchez, Falcao, Pogba, Sancho and Di Mariah however the managers have always accepted these players and then when the players fail on the pitch we blame the owners, yes they are at fault for allowing the inept morons who they employed to run the club with no clear idea how a successful elite football club works, all I see is a repeat of Mourinho season who apparently played boring football in his second season after wining trophies in his first, the team scored more than 70 goals and got over 80 points plus reached a second final in the FA Cup but he then fell out with Woodward who would not let him improve his squad in the third year, I’ve yet to see football under ETH that is infinitely better than Mourinho or Ole and enfact his team very rarely score 4 or more goals, this season is the season to judge him so yes if he doesn’t sort out the team and quickly he will be under huge pressure especially since Roberto De Zerbi being very getable for Man United and whilst we are at we should recruit the whole of Brighton’s football infrastructure

Let's buy Brighton and renamed to Manchester United and we will sell the name to a Saudi club which they can use. I think if Brighton continues to win, I am going to abandon United which I have supported for more than 40 years for better football. Signing new managers and players is just too slow. I think taking over Brighton is alot faster.

 

[Gycraig]

We could've stuck with Ole if this is the only reasoning. Plus we are watching ETH's own millions crumble away in his second season - Antony and Casemiro, one not his fault the other, very much on him.

And how exactly does one address Rashford ambling around? Scold him? Drop him? The first would be ineffective, the second would probably render our brand new striker ineffective.

I'm not saying that ETH should be sacked. I'm just sick of Glazer this, Glazer that for everything. Yes they need to go for all the reasons we know. But we can't excuse these performances by pinning all the blame on them.

They allowed ETH to spend 60 mil on Casemiro for what seems to be one season! ETH wanted a goalkeeper who can play long passes out to the wing, he got him, even though that wasn't the most important update to make. ETH wanted Mount, he got him for 50 odd mil. A brand new striker for 60 mil. At some point he should also contribute through coaching and in-game tactical changes.

How would dropping rashford make hojlund ineffective, all he does is run forward and shoot, he has no intention of setting hojlund up.

 

[gajender]

We need a commanding centre back, someone to help Casemiro in midfield (hopefully Amrabat) and need to rethink our tactic of single pivots or diamond formations. It’s too easy for teams to play through us and if it continues he’s gonna get sacked for being stubborn.

United need to replace to the whole midfield it's simply not upto the task we simply aren't going anywhere with them . Mount , Mainoo, Ambrabat once fit as well as Mejbri should be given fair shot to stake claim .

 

[jesperjaap]

Decent but overhyped first season wher e he was over lauded too early and didnt massively overf achieve as made out. Roy Keane was happy but on the fence and not goign overboard and totally agreed with him.

I wasnt super confident going into this season considering our transfer business in our midfield signings and failing to address defensv issues. So I am not as of yet a big fan of Ten Hag........................

BUT people talking of sacking him despite the awful start, come on now! Lets start to make more of a judhement when he has someting closer to his best side available Varane, Shaw, Amrabat, Mount, Mainoo....thats a big injury list and Hoijlund is just easing in the last two games.

I still think our first eleven will be pretty good this season, not as good as it should have been and not good enough for the top four, but lets not jump to conclusions yet

 

[Skills]

Normally I'm all in for sacking a manager for the sake of a new manager bounce, but the signings we've made for the last 2 years are so fecking baffling that I'm not even hoping for much there.

I genuinely think this is the worst squad we've managed to assemble in the last decade - and the last 2 summer transfer windows have set us back about 3 years.

I don't even have any hope under a new permanent regime as well, because it feels like we've completely emptied the coffers now.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

The problem is our recruitment strategy has been to mainly buy players that Ten Hag rates and wants, rather than a higher level recruitment strategy that transcends the manager of the day so we’d have to start from scratch with a new manager

 

[OrcaFat]

Love the implications that he should be extremely frustrated with the club for not backing him. Imagine signing six £50m+ players of your own choice in 12 months, having the team regress to a point where we are genuinely one of the worst sides to watch in the league and feeling let down. The cult following around the guy because he speaks about tactics in a sophisticated language is odd.

It looks as though he cannot get the players to do what he is asking of them. I wish he would drop every single one that doesn’t toe the line. If that means playing a team full of kids for a week, so be it.

It is possible to bench nearly every player. With Hojlund and Amrabat coming in, we have options to drop Rashford and Casemiro if Erik wants to do that. Hannibal is another viable option. I’m not saying bin the top players, just make them fight for their places.

 

[Sarni]

We have to persist with him for now but if results and most importantly the level of our play doesn’t improve by Christmas we will be looking at an untenable situation anyway. I’d still keep him then though even if we are lingering around 13th looking hopeless.

We have allowed him to spend a massive amount of money on players he specifically desired, players that mostly no other manager would want here anyway, we can’t cut him loose after 6 games of season in which he hasn’t even had his dream signing Mount available in 3 of them. This season is mostly a write off anyway but we should be looking for improvement in the second half when we hopefully are going to have most of the team back.

There are not any obvious candidates to replace him anyway. Going for another mediocre manager and pretending they are amazing will just lead to the same situation so we may as well stay where we are.

 

[Dike_Manc]

It is mental to even consider sacking Ten Hag at this stage. No, it has not been good this season but God our fans are just daft. Impatience is one thing, but this is just childish behavior.
Give him the entire season, he will come good. Jeeez!

 

[Cassidy]

These players are good enough to play possession football. Some of them played it well enough at the clubs we bought them from.

Name them

 

[Lentwood]

Christ on a bike.

That's complete dogshite.

I'd take a lesser quality player with a ton of workrate over someone like Rashford. At least if you know we don't have the ball that fella will run his socks off to win it back.

We keep talking about how the board and the owners are repeating the same problems but we can't absolve our managers of blame when they keep making the same mistakes.

Many of us have called Rashford out for what he is time and time again, he's lazy, entitled, mentally weak and entirely average most of the time - and yet various managers have continually selected him because once in three games he will produce a bit of magic. That's not good enough for the level we aspire too - combined with the fact his work rate and body language are appalling he needs a prolonged spell on the bench

 

[Black Adder]

Love the implications that he should be extremely frustrated with the club for not backing him. Imagine signing six £50m+ players of your own choice in 12 months, having the team regress to a point where we are genuinely one of the worst sides to watch in the league and feeling let down. The cult following around the guy because he speaks about tactics in a sophisticated language is odd.

Agree with this.

Also, for all this talk about his hard approach and high standards, undeperforming players (Maguire, McTominay, Antony, Wout for all his time etc.) are constantly given new chances to show how shit they are even if that means that team overall suffers because of it.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but so far he seems out od his depth and at this moment I cannon see him being our manager next year.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

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I think this is what he means when he says "players don't follow the plan". Just look at Rashford jogging around like it's a friendly. And I've seen many more of our players do that today as well.

Isn’t getting players to buy in and give effort part of the managers job?

Honestly nothing looked good in preseason and it’s no surprise the real games are worse.

 

[dannyrhinos89]

That he can't instill any kind of work ethic or explain what he wants to the players.

that’s absolute BS, EtH shouldn’t have to tell a player that’s within 5 yards of the ball to fight for it.

Go watch any level of football be it prem, Sunday league or under 12s they would be challenging for that ball Instead of jogging around. It’s nothing to do with the manager.

 

[Josep Dowling]

We need a commanding centre back, someone to help Casemiro in midfield (hopefully Amrabat) and need to rethink our tactic of single pivots or diamond formations. It’s too easy for teams to play through us and if it continues he’s gonna get sacked for being stubborn.

Sensible comments. I don’t want him sacked but I worry he will be just because of the mess around him.

 

[OrcaFat]

My worry is that the board will not have the required patience. Imo Erik should continue with his system and drill it into the players until it starts to come together. This will be painful. I mean it already is painful. But it is the way to win.

The players are slow in the head, lack resolve, lack confidence, in some cases lack fitness and in some cases lack ability. But they can do a lot better if they get the system and the rules into every fibre of their being.

This comes back to patience. The signs are that it’s going to be a long slog. I think EtH will be stubborn (in a good way) and will see it through to glory or ultimate demise. It’s His way or nothing imo.

 

[Jacob]

I get the feeling from EtH that he now sees sacking as a potential risk. He sounds somewhat defeated.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

It says more about ETH than Rashford.

It definitely says more about Rashford.

 

[pocco]

The absolute worst we could do is press the reset button again with the manager. We all know that is not the answer.

Other clubs do well, they change coach when it is clear they're going nowhere. Eventually they find a coach that is clearly working and they stick with them until such a time that they don't work. Sometimes you just need a different approach, sometimes a different manager clicks with a team and they buy intimate what he's saying. I don't feel like that's been the case with ETH.

If we're questioning his tactics then the players must too, and they're the ones being hung out to dry. Tactics make up so much of the game, you can't simply get by with having the best players all of the time.

I'm intrigued though, if you don't think changing the manager is the answer then what is? Even more players? More money? Stop Ten Hag having a say in recruitment? Let's not forget he the one that insisted on getting rid of RR because he didn't need somebody making transfers for him. I reckon he'd walk if we moved those goalposts now. So shall we just keep going like this until we're all and truly buried?

 

[pocco]

My worry is that the board will not have the required patience. Imo Erik should continue with his system and drill it into the players until it starts to come together. This will be painful. I mean it already is painful. But it is the way to win.

The players are slow in the head, lack resolve, lack confidence, in some cases lack fitness and in some cases lack ability. But they can do a lot better if they get the system and the rules into every fibre of their being.

This comes back to patience. The signs are that it’s going to be a long slog. I think EtH will be stubborn (in a good way) and will see it through to glory or ultimate demise. It’s His way or nothing imo.

We're probably seeing his system right now. It's just shite and I think he's underestimated the PL.

 

[Sarni]

Agree with this.

Also, for all this talk about his hard approach and high standards, undeperforming players (Maguire, McTominay, Antony, Wout for all his time etc.) are constantly given new chances to show how shit they are even if that means that team overall suffers because of it.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but so far he seems out od his depth and at this moment I cannon see him being our manager next year.

It really seems that accountability ends at training ground and punctuality, which appear to be the things he cares about the most.

 

[OrcaFat]

Other clubs do well, they change coach when it is clear they're going nowhere. Eventually they find a coach that is clearly working and they stick with them until such a time that they don't work. Sometimes you just need a different approach, sometimes a different manager clicks with a team and they buy intimate what he's saying. I don't feel like that's been the case with ETH.

If we're questioning his tactics then the players must too, and they're the ones being hung out to dry. Tactics make up so much of the game, you can't simply get by with having the best players all of the time.

I'm intrigued though, if you don't think changing the manager is the answer then what is? Even more players? More money? Stop Ten Hag having a say in recruitment? Let's not forget he the one that insisted on getting rid of RR because he didn't need somebody making transfers for him. I reckon he'd walk if we moved those goalposts now. So shall we just keep going like this until we're all and truly buried?

Time is the answer.

 

[Shakesy]

Other clubs do well, they change coach when it is clear they're going nowhere. Eventually they find a coach that is clearly working and they stick with them until such a time that they don't work. Sometimes you just need a different approach, sometimes a different manager clicks with a team and they buy intimate what he's saying. I don't feel like that's been the case with ETH.

If we're questioning his tactics then the players must too, and they're the ones being hung out to dry. Tactics make up so much of the game, you can't simply get by with having the best players all of the time.

I'm intrigued though, if you don't think changing the manager is the answer then what is? Even more players? More money? Stop Ten Hag having a say in recruitment? Let's not forget he the one that insisted on getting rid of RR because he didn't need somebody making transfers for him. I reckon he'd walk if we moved those goalposts now. So shall we just keep going like this until we're all and truly buried?

We're already well and truly buried. A new manager would be like going back to Go, without collecting the 200. There simply isn't a way moving forward if we keep on going back to the start. Erik is a good coach. We've seen it and most agreed. Now we have to get rid of owners/players/ceo's etc. No manager in the world can work with the rot within our club.

 

[OrcaFat]

We're probably seeing his system right now. It's just shite and I think he's underestimated the PL.

We are seeing his system but the players aren’t doing their jobs. In time they will or will be dropped and phased out. EtH needs to be bolder in that. Pep enforces his instructions. Thierry Henry tells of a match where he thought he was playing great, scored etc and got the hook at half time because he wasn’t following his rules.

 

[DJ_21]

A loss to Burnley would really put the pressure on him.

 

[BluesJr]

that’s absolute BS, EtH shouldn’t have to tell a player that’s within 5 yards of the ball to fight for it.

Go watch any level of football be it prem, Sunday league or under 12s they would be challenging for that ball Instead of jogging around. It’s nothing to do with the manager.

It is actually. It’s completely on the manager he’s in charge of the players.

 

[DJ_21]

Those who think ETH is the issue are fecking short sighted and insane. A million issues to fix before the manager should even be taken into consideration.

Do the owners coach the players and pick a system and squad to play the matches with? One of the million issues your on about is getting the best out of this current squad. We still had a million issues last season and won a cup and came 3rd. How do we go backwards rather than progress in the space of a year?

 

[JeffFromHK]

No way shall we sack him at this moment. I still have question marks on him (particularly his recruiment) but we shall give him at least half-a-season more to be fair.

 

[elmo]

If that includes players like Rashford, he is screwed. Looks like he is caught between what he wants to do and caving into the united way.

Sometimes getting rid of a supposed better player makes the team better. Look at when we replaced Nistelrooy with Saha.

 

[pocco]

We're already well and truly buried. A new manager would be like going back to Go, without collecting the 200. There simply isn't a way moving forward if we keep on going back to the start. Erik is a good coach. We've seen it and most agreed. Now we have to get rid of owners/players/ceo's etc. No manager in the world can work with the rot within our club.

We should replace the whole lot, fresh start. Not happening though and I'm not happy to leave ETH in charge indefinitely just because we can't replace higher ups. He'll be here for many more years if that's the case and that is many more years of us not competing at all. We might as well just give up if that's the outlook.

 

[Gopher Brown]

Keep. The rot set in long before he came and he has looked like the most likely to be able to change it.

Unless Antony is charged and found guilty and it shown that he was aware of the allegations and still insisted the club sign him, in which case, sack.

 

[royboy16]

Manager bounce over and some cant be arsed, combined with injuries and suspensions no wonder we look a mess.
Hope ETH can weather the storm and turn it around but its not looking good.

 

[pocco]

We are seeing his system but the players aren’t doing their jobs. In time they will or will be dropped and phased out. EtH needs to be bolder in that. Pep enforces his instructions. Thierry Henry tells of a match where he thought he was playing great, scored etc and got the hook at half time because he wasn’t following his rules.

I don't think ETH has it in him to drop the likes of Rashford, Bruno etc because under his tactics we'd then have zero chance of winning games. Let's see vs Bayern. But he's not going to do that.

Also it's clear to even the layman that his tactics are garbage. We're not winning anything playing how he intends - it's as though he thinks he's still coaching Ajax in Eredivise.

 

[Hughie77]

The owners and board Will SACK him if he doesn't get European football. The cushion ETH has got there may well be a top 5 this season as CL is expanding, even if its top 4 priority he's going to struggle. Wait and see what they do ..

 

[Licha-Vidic]

Sometimes getting rid of a supposed better player makes the team better. Look at when we replaced Nistelrooy with Saha.

Even Kane with Spurs.
Countinho with Liverpool.
City with Yaya. Remember the apology to Pep to return to the team.

ETH needs to bin Bruno first. For us to start a new chapter of midfield control. Then see if rashford can change his game. If not bin him also. We moved on from Rooney. Rooney. And the club continued to exist.

We can bin all these pseudo footballers and try and find new able players. Drastic change is the only thing that can save ETH.

Doing the same same thing expecting different results is INSANITY. We have done this football thing of being a transition team and it has delivered nothing in the last 4 years. Only batterings and humiliations.

 

[Litch]

Stating the obvious but results will dictate the outcome and it still looks like he walked into OT yesterday. This "style" of football is only tolerable if you win. I think Erik has lost his way and it feels he is still trying to work it out.

You get the sense, the players are confused what the style of play is too.

 

[elmo]

Even Kane with Spurs.
Countinho with Liverpool.
City with Yaya. Remember the apology to Pep to return to the team.

ETH needs to bin Bruno first. For us to start a new chapter of midfield control. Then see if rashford can change his game. If not bin him also. We moved on from Rooney. Rooney. And the club continued to exist.

We can bin all these pseudo footballers and try and find new able players. Drastic change is the only thing that can save ETH.

Doing the same same thing expecting different results is INSANITY. We have done this football thing of being a transition team and it has delivered nothing in the last 4 years. Only batterings and humiliations.

Exactly. From the way people are commenting, it’s like the club is supposed to die once a star player isn’t being played.

We’ve replaced far better players than Rashford in the team, we’ll survive dropping him if his attitude on the pitch is wank.

 

[groovyalbert]

Do the owners coach the players and pick a system and squad to play the matches with? One of the million issues your on about is getting the best out of this current squad. We still had a million issues last season and won a cup and came 3rd. How do we go backwards rather than progress in the space of a year?

I think ETH is trying to impose his way of playing more on the squad now. He started last season that way and had to change due to the players he has available. It simply didn't suit them.

Now we're in a transitional period stylistically where he's insisting on implementing certain principles. He clearly wants us to be possession based from the back, use a high press and transition swiftly. The issue is, do we have the players for it? Is Onana too much too soon for this sort of plan?

ETH has bought himself time and credit last season, and even more so with all the shite that's going on behind the scenes.

We are a mess off the pitch, in the papers, at board level - how could people really expect everything to be hunky-dory on the pitch, especially with the injuries/players out we have to boot?

 

[TrebleChamp99]

I’d sack Rashford before sacking ETH guy basically lost us the game with his constant shooting.