Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager

[Roboc7]

I've always been ETH in since we've had some terrible luck with injuries. The performances right now have been terrible and it's hard to still keep that opinion, but I'm still in the position that we should keep him for another season.

We've been going through this managerial merry-go-round for a decade and it hasn't gotten us any stability. Would like us to stay with a manager that has shown previously he can play with a clear plan and look forward. The recruitment definitely has to improve alongside though otherwise no manager will be successful here.

ETH doesn’t offer any stability though, he’s already at a stage where everyone assumes he is going to get sacked and probably be in an even worse situation by the time the season finishes.

If he is kept on they’ll be huge pressure to sack him from the first game, potential signings will know he could be gone within a few games, any current players who are unhappy will think they can out last him. Keeping ETH is the least stable option and even giving him a new contract (which would be a terrible idea) wouldn’t be enough to convince anyone he is a couple of bad results from the sack.

Keeping ETH means you want continuity not stability.

 

[Woodzy]

He has a lot of forehead wrinkles, doesn’t he

 

[Who's Kissing Cameras?]

Even as a fan of ETH, it looks like the end of the road. The performance today was the clearest evidence yet that he has lost the dressing room.

I reckon we haven’t lost the dressing room.

The tactics have been that bad for so long that it makes the players look like they’ve given up.

So much space to cover in an elite league will kill anyone.

 

[MadDogg]

For me the biggest indictment is that our disastrous European campaign could have been a stepping stone for him to use the extra time to get the team going but instead regardless of how long we play after we play the same way which to me means that he is just incapable of implementing a style of play. We played a bottom half team today after a gap of 6 days and had 2 shots on target. Anyone who thinks that this guy can do anything with United anymore is just going with blind faith because so far he has shown nothing

Yep, that's exactly how I feel. Us going out of Europe entirely and also getting knocked out of the EFL Cup so early meant that for the first time ETH would get time to train the players properly to play how he wanted. The fact that there hasn't been any improvement whatsoever in the style and interplay between the players (if anything it's gotten worse) is an extremely bad sign.

 

[Gordon S]

Hats off to him for the time he did well with a strong Ajax side. Whatever he does in training seemed to work there.
But we must surely have come to the conclusion now that it just does not work here.
This is of course not black and white and there is a lot that needs to be fixed with the squad but i just do not buy that this is all there is possible to squeeze out of the players he has to work with.
I get the feeling that most players are still trying and fighting, but they look like league one level out there. Almost the lot of them.
Is there really nothing he can do to scramble a bit? Try a new formation, bench highly paid star players like Casemiro and Rashford who looks halfarsed most of the time, try a couple of youngsters to see if they can give us a energy boost at least, try Amad in Brunos position, 3 at the back etc. We just try the same old regardless.

 

[DJ_21]

Jumped to 1st fav as the next manager to be sacked. Even above Kompany.

 

[DJ_21]

Hats off to him for the time he did well with a strong Ajax side. Whatever he does in training seemed to work there.
But we must surely have come to the conclusion now that it just does not work here.
This is of course not black and white and there is a lot that needs to be fixed with the squad but i just do not buy that this is all there is possible to squeeze out of the players he has to work with.
I get the feeling that most players are still trying and fighting, but they look like league one level out there. Almost the lot of them.
Is there really nothing he can do to scramble a bit? Try a new formation, bench highly paid star players like Casemiro and Rashford who looks halfarsed most of the time, try a couple of youngsters to see if they can give us a energy boost at least, try Amad in Brunos position, 3 at the back etc. We just try the same old regardless.

Ye he should definitely try something new. For a team that concedes lots of goals and shots every single weak you’d think something would be worked on, a 3 at the back might shore us up a little. It all comes down to stubbornness though, he doesn’t want to accept what he’s doing isn’t working. He’d get a lot more credit if he changed something and it started to click. I remember Ole changing to a 3 at the back for big games and it worked for a while, he used split strikers that worked. That’s called coming up with a plan. ETH was meant to be a manager that planned games with every detail. We haven’t seen that though.

 

[Lyng]

So much space to cover in an elite league will kill anyone.

Exactly this. And I have a suspicion this is a massive reason for our escalation in injuries as well.

 

[Pughnichi]

He’s desperately holding on to the idea that his plan will work when injuries don’t impact selection…but in the next breath he suggests Maguire was mysteriously struggling with ‘something’ in the first half he overcame in the second and we subsequently improved. So he’s effectively hinging the result on a player in the summer he was happy to see leave.

his persistence with Rashford is unbearable. Why not actually give Amad a run of games and Garnacho in his natural position. It’s almost laughable at this point.

He has the demeanour of a man who has control and said all the right things when he came in…which encouraged me. But his actions throughout this season have been terrible.

Back to front we are a mess. And his worrying denial about the amount of chances we concede game after game is of huge concern.

 

[bitcoin]

I reckon we haven’t lost the dressing room.

The tactics have been that bad for so long that it makes the players look like they’ve given up.

So much space to cover in an elite league will kill anyone.

Agree with this - when the tactics insist players treat the ball like a hot potato, they are constantly forced to make intense sprints up the pitch, and then are caught upfield. Subsequently, they are too knackered to sprint back when we inevitably lose the ball (and are accused of jogging or being too lazy to track back). This is part of the reason we see massive gaps whenever we lose possession.

The team needs to be setup to sometimes keep the ball and be smart about when to slow the game down so that players out wide have periods of rest during the game.

it doesn’t all have to be about fast transitions and instant counter attacking every single time there is a turnover.

 

[Longshanks]

Rinse and repeat performances. Been the same all season no matter who plays. Narrow press that's easily got round with the wide forwards trying to cover to much space.

A midfield with no positional discipline that is absolutely wide open leaving the defense constantly exposed and we wonder why they don't have the confidence to step up higher.

The full backs playing in every position going apart from there own.

Compleatly clueless in how to breakdown any half decent defence that is disciplined.

Worst permanent manager we have had in my lifetime. There is literally nothing positive to say about this season. Truly awful. Should of been sacked in November.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Exactly this. And I have a suspicion this is a massive reason for our escalation in injuries as well.

Good point.

 

[Overhaul FC]

He’s desperately holding on to the idea that his plan will work when injuries don’t impact selection…but in the next breath he suggests Maguire was mysteriously struggling with ‘something’ in the first half he overcame in the second and we subsequently improved. So he’s effectively hinging the result on a player in the summer he was happy to see leave.

his persistence with Rashford is unbearable. Why not actually give Amad a run of games and Garnacho in his natural position. It’s almost laughable at this point.

He has the demeanour of a man who has control and said all the right things when he came in…which encouraged me. But his actions throughout this season have been terrible.

Back to front we are a mess. And his worrying denial about the amount of chances we concede game after game is of huge concern.

I agree about Rashford, but we could also be a few games from selling him and continuing the overhaul of the squad.

Ideally we start next season without Rashford, Casemiro, Maguire and Lindelof in the squad.

They're now the weakest links despite all of them contributing something they're not worth building a team around.

 

[UnitedSofa]

Wasn’t this guy getting all the team sheet leaks a few years back? Anyhow:

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[UnitedSofa]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Herschel Krustofsky]

Because it’s so obvious every game we play win or lose that the opposition are getting chance after chance? Of course it should be discussed

Exactly, it’s so bleeding obvious. Also dumb and boring.

Would be interesting to properly discuss the cause though, not just the outcome.

 

[b20times]

Was always going to happen, whenever there's a takeover they will always want their own man, question is who?
ETH has been a disaster, he hasn't progressed the club and we're just sleepwalking into another dire season.
I'd bring Ole back.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

Goodbye eth. The club structure failed you but your insistence with trash overpaid 'superstars' will cost you your job. Weird tactics and no effort to fix any of that.

I'm done.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

That... might end sooner than you're thinking...

We’re bad, but we’re not that bad. I’m confident we’ll be in the final next month

 

[Chairman Steve]

Ironically we’re getting worse with less games played since the new year, even though usually it’s an advantage to have less games and only one game a week.

If we started playing much better football at the start of the calendar year and even if the results were exactly the same, then we’d have a dilemma. It’d be like the early days of Klopp at Liverpool where results were inconsistent but quality of football was great and improving.

But that’s not the case here. It’s the same problems as the opening game of the season against Wolves, which left everyone dumbfounded (even neutrals watching that game couldn’t believe how bad we were).

And unlike last year where he rightfully changed things after that Brentford away game, he hasn’t this year which I think means he knows he’s going. Otherwise he’d be changing things and fighting for his reputation especially in front of new owners/operators in INEOS.

 

[Oranges038]

Rinse and repeat performances. Been the same all season no matter who plays. Narrow press that's easily got round with the wide forwards trying to cover to much space.

A midfield with no positional discipline that is absolutely wide open leaving the defense constantly exposed and we wonder why they don't have the confidence to step up higher.

The full backs playing in every position going apart from there own.

Compleatly clueless in how to breakdown any half decent defence that is disciplined.

Worst permanent manager we have had in my lifetime. There is literally nothing positive to say about this season. Truly awful. Should of been sacked in November.

A lot of that hasn't just been an issue under ETH.

Braindead fullbacks have been an issue for years.

Lazy wingers who leave too much wide space for midfield and fullbacks to try and cover.

Midfield that just can't hold onto the ball and gets bypassed with 1 straight ball regularly.

Forwards who only like running into 50 yards of space, who possess no clue how to break down a defense.

ETH and how he sets the team up is a problem, but those problems have been evident under Ole, Jose and even LVG. There are huge problems with the players at this club, pace and athleticism is a problem throughout the squad, a lot don't have the technical qualities to be at a top club, others just don't have the brains. Then when you look at the agression, work rate and motivation on the pitch to, it's disgusting that the club has come to this. Bunch of overpaid cry babies who just don't have it in them to fight for their hard earned 300k a week.

Anyway, doesn't matter who replaces ETH, a lot of these players just aren't good enough and they'll stink it up no matter who comes in. Clean slates in the summer when ETH is gone though. 90% of this squad should be earmarked for a boot out the door in the next year or two.

 

[GazTheLegend]

Bar one centre back and Antony he had his - and emphasis on his - full strength team last night and we got played off the park. If this is the fruits of the process I can't imagine it continuing. Which is a shame because a number of those selfsame players turned up for him last season and simply aren't doing it now.

I don't entirely blame Ten Hag or the players themselves actually, necessarily. Both are equally to blame for the shit we have been served. But it is not a relationship which seems like it's going to go anywhere so what's the point continuing either way. If we don't make champions league there's only one way this story ends. It should be the end of a number of our footballers too (Casemiro, Varane, Wan Bissaka, Maguire, Dalot - there a case for any of these players staying?). But even Hojlund and Mount have made Ten Hag look daft. Hojlund looks like a youth player coming through the ranks or a £15m punt like Dan James, who arguably showed more in his limited time here, And less like your talismanic Haaland-esque star number 9. And that's not to say it's his fault either, Hojlund is clearly a smart, hard working and gifted player, we simply don't have a midfield or plan that will work for or with him.

 

[soapythecat]

Wow!!! The ultra defensive boring Jose is number 1?

We were going great under Jose until we brought in Sanchez. Went downhill after that if I remember correctly.

 

[Remember the geese]

Was always going to happen, whenever there's a takeover they will always want their own man, question is who?

Nagelsmann apparently.

 

[Berbaclass]

Incredible post

ETH fans really don’t like it when he gets criticised do they?

Firstly I'm not an ETH fan I'm a Manchester United fan pal.

I've had enough of these players shit attitude time and time again. Do you fecking jobs!

Get rid of them all

 

[Smithy89]

He's done, just end it now.

Finito.

 

[stevoc]

Ironically we’re getting worse with less games played since the new year, even though usually it’s an advantage to have less games and only one game a week.

If we started playing much better football at the start of the calendar year and even if the results were exactly the same, then we’d have a dilemma. It’d be like the early days of Klopp at Liverpool where results were inconsistent but quality of football was great and improving.

But that’s not the case here. It’s the same problems as the opening game of the season against Wolves, which left everyone dumbfounded (even neutrals watching that game couldn’t believe how bad we were).

And unlike last year where he rightfully changed things after that Brentford away game, he hasn’t this year which I think means he knows he’s going. Otherwise he’d be changing things and fighting for his reputation especially in front of new owners/operators in INEOS.

He's probably knew/suspected for weeks/months he's going. I'd say his not changing things or trying anything new is all about protecting his reputation and setting up the narrative for once he is sacked. He'll say he tried to implement the football he was hired to bring but the club didn't support him with the signings he wanted, he didn't get all the players he needed to play his system, injuries etc. He'll just go full Van Gaal.

 

[JeffFromHK]

Firstly I'm not an ETH fan I'm a Manchester United fan pal.

I've had enough of these players shit attitude time and time again. Do you fecking jobs!

Get rid of them all

of the 11 starters ytd, who would you categorize as a "lazy player"?

Hojlund
Garnacho
Rashford

Bruno
Case
Mainoo

Dalot
Maguire
Kam
AWB

Onana

only Rashford counts for me.
With likes of Pogba, Lingard, Sacnho and Martial gone/disappeared, "lazininess" is no longer a valid excuse

 

[Smithy89]

Firstly I'm not an ETH fan I'm a Manchester United fan pal.

I've had enough of these players shit attitude time and time again. Do you fecking jobs!

Get rid of them all

I think it's time the manager and coaches do their jobs also, the worst coached side in the league.

 

[stevoc]

A lot of that hasn't just been an issue under ETH.

Braindead fullbacks have been an issue for years.

Lazy wingers who leave too much wide space for midfield and fullbacks to try and cover.

Midfield that just can't hold onto the ball and gets bypassed with 1 straight ball regularly.

Forwards who only like running into 50 yards of space, who possess no clue how to break down a defense.

ETH and how he sets the team up is a problem, but those problems have been evident under Ole, Jose and even LVG. There are huge problems with the players at this club, pace and athleticism is a problem throughout the squad, a lot don't have the technical qualities to be at a top club, others just don't have the brains. Then when you look at the agression, work rate and motivation on the pitch to, it's disgusting that the club has come to this. Bunch of overpaid cry babies who just don't have it in them to fight for their hard earned 300k a week.

Anyway, doesn't matter who replaces ETH, a lot of these players just aren't good enough and they'll stink it up no matter who comes in. Clean slates in the summer when ETH is gone though. 90% of this squad should be earmarked for a boot out the door in the next year or two.

Only Shaw, Martial and I think Rashford played under all those managers. And over 50% of this squad have been signed or promoted by Ten Hag.

 

[redshaw]

Brentford away was probably the final nail for Ineos, such an appalling performance.

He's been very stubborn and blind to many things and came into the club at the wrong time and given too much responsibility with understandably limited market knowledge. Despite the madness he's looking at three finals in 2 years.

Before leaving Ajax he won all six group games beating Amorims Sporting 4-2 and 5-1, beat Marco Rose's Dortmund with Haaland and Bellingham Hummels easily and Besiktas. if he comes into a settled setup I'm sure he can do very well again, for us he's been indulged and gone down a very stupid path formulated with Murtough about high transitions that don't even yield goals, missing how we played in the past. We can blame fitness on his tactics but it's been a huge issues for years, it's very hard work playing for us, Hojlund another looking shot. Case is the wrong profile but I feel he'd be in much better condition at another club, we tend to ruin players in months. Bruno perhaps lasted the longest, about 1-1.5 years

We need much better training, diets and skill work to improve players. It almost feels like supplement sabotage, as if we're on a uphill battle each season. Ineos have stated they're looking closely at the training and fitness setup so I hope we can finally fix whatever is happening there.

 

[Swearing Budgie]

If he gets canned at end of season, I am sure the Board will piss about and get someone in too late to work with the players before next season starts, especially with the pointless US commercial tour.

So we will then give the next manager the benefit of the doubt because he hasn’t had a proper pre-season or got in the players he wants.

Rinse and repeat…

 

[Camy89]

He’ll be gone soon.

Terribly coached side. The sooner I see Steve bloody McLaren out of United, the better. I can’t stand that we have him as a coach.

 

[Suv666]

I've always been ETH in since we've had some terrible luck with injuries. The performances right now have been terrible and it's hard to still keep that opinion, but I'm still in the position that we should keep him for another season.

We've been going through this managerial merry-go-round for a decade and it hasn't gotten us any stability. Would like us to stay with a manager that has shown previously he can play with a clear plan and look forward. The recruitment definitely has to improve alongside though otherwise no manager will be successful here.

I feel like people who hold this opinion don’t watch us regularly.
Yeah the structure, the injuries and what not but the tactics are so fecking weird the way he sets us up is all wrong it’s obvious to everyone

 

[Berbaclass]

I think it's time the manager and coaches do their jobs also, the worst coached side in the league.

I said get rid of them all, that includes the coach.

 

[afrocentricity]

He’ll be gone soon.

Terribly coached side. The sooner I see Steve bloody McLaren out of United, the better. I can’t stand that we have him as a coach.

Why go after him?

 

[Smithy89]

I said get rid of them all, that includes the coach.

Fair one, his coaching staff can all go too.

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

Don't believe a word about the decsion already been made.

 

[Remember the geese]

Don't believe a word about the decsion already been made.

You should do. It's obvious that it has.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Why go after him?

There’s always someone to witch hunt. Under Ole, it was Carrick and McKenna and now a majority would be clamoring for McKenna as the next manager.