ETH on United philosophy: “Built a side to play direct football”… “Impossible to play like Ajax”

[FrenchRed]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...NA-admits-hes-built-play-direct-football.html

If this is true, it’s shocking. Bought a stack of players at overpriced value to be more like Ajax and change the way we play. Now realises that this will never happen and claims he is trying to build a “direct” team.

This shows that ETH is out of his depth on so many levels for me, and should not be allowed to waste any more money. I’d prefer we ship him out asap and replace him with someone with a real vision for the team and that can actually coach that vision.

Quotes:

“‘We will never play the football we played at Ajax here,' he told ViaPlay after the defeat. 'I now have other players, that's not why I came here.'

'The player material you have determines how you will play. That's why we play here in a different way than I did at Ajax. That will have to be the case, because I can't play the same way here.

That is not in the DNA of Manchester United at all. The football at Ajax is very typical, here we will play much more directly. We also have the players for that, especially at the forefront.'”

 

[clarkydaz]

The bittersweet thing is he said Pep underestimated the premier league in his first year. Oh dear

 

[2cents]

Very concerning comments.

 

[FortunaUtd]

So this is where it all went wrong. He is not even attempting to do what we were banking our hopes on him for, and what he excelled at before, and apparently the DoF has been going along with that disappointing directive. What a letdown.

Sack him and sack Murtough, bring in a DoF and manager who agree on a dominant vision of football and are prepared to see it through.

 

[El Presidente]

Yeah, these comments coupled with the post match ones from yesterday will not go down well.

 

[AshRK]

This is very damning Statement. Should not it be the manager who makes the player adapt to his style than vice versa. Then what was the point of appointing him. Could have kept Ole.

 

[FootyGirl88]

The club shouldn’t have allowed him to change his philosophy, no one seems to be singing from the same hymn sheet at this club.

 

[led_scholes]

So because they failed with FDJ, he decided that there is no other player for this role, so we just abandoned the plan? OK then why not sell Antony this summer?

Honestly, our club is so structureless. We just buy players randomly and hope for the best.

 

[fergieisold]

I'm hoping there's something not getting communicated properly here. Why would we have gone for him if we wanted to continue playing counter attacking hoof ball.

 

[Gordon Godot]

I'm hoping there's something not getting communicated properly here. Why would we have gone for him if we wanted to continue playing counter attacking hoof ball.

Because our football management (Murtough and Arnold) are clowns. Isn't that obvious. Why did we go for any of the managers over the last few years.

 

[clarkydaz]

So because they failed with FDJ, he decided that there is no other player for this role, so we just abandoned the plan? OK then why not sell Antony this summer?

Honestly, our club is so structureless. We just buy players randomly and hope for the best.

i think the penny dropped for him in pre season. He said the players aint doing what he wants

 

[RussellWilson]

Unless we fully commit to an overhaul from top to bottom of the club we won't implement a style.

Eth has no choice but to adapt the play to a style of football they can deliver or we will lose games and he will be sacked. The club isn't willing to do a full overhaul and the fans don't have the stomach for the pain it will take.

Whenever we have tried to play with a high line a dominant the game, the players can't defend transitions and we lose and are incapable of playing in tight spaces. So ETH either adapts the game plan to make it fit the players abilities or we lose more games, the pressure grows and he is sacked.

The only games we have won this year have been playing a conservative style that we played under Ole and Mourinho because that's what these players are capable of.

 

[KirkDuyt]

To be fair to Hag, you are much better than Ajax.

 

[Gordon Godot]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...NA-admits-hes-built-play-direct-football.html

If this is true, it’s shocking. Bought a stack of players at overpriced value to be more like Ajax and change the way we play. Now realises that this will never happen and claims he is trying to build a “direct” team.

This shows that ETH is out of his depth on so many levels for me, and should not be allowed to waste any more money. I’d prefer we ship him out asap and replace him with someone with a real vision for the team and that can actually coach that vision.

Quotes:

“‘We will never play the football we played at Ajax here,' he told ViaPlay after the defeat. 'I now have other players, that's not why I came here.'

'The player material you have determines how you will play. That's why we play here in a different way than I did at Ajax. That will have to be the case, because I can't play the same way here.

That is not in the DNA of Manchester United at all. The football at Ajax is very typical, here we will play much more directly. We also have the players for that, especially at the forefront.'”

Looks to me like getting excuses in before the inevitable sacking.

 

[Denis79]

I'm hoping there's something not getting communicated properly here. Why would we have gone for him if we wanted to continue playing counter attacking hoof ball.

Are you implying that we actually have a plan when we do things?

 

[ToToMarshall]

This isn't news, in a nicer, more positively spun way he told us all this back in August:

This is probably a key quote in terms of how we can expect the team to develop this season. Emphasis on transition, not possession.

Having always been a dangerous team on the counter, that in effect means the primary area we should be seeing improvement this season is in our pressing and counter-pressing.

Of course strength in transition and possession aren't mutually exlusive, but rather complementary. Klopp's Liverpool were known for their strength in transition but in their best years were still only second to City in terms of average possession in the PL. And of course City while being seen as a possession side are excellent in transition. The best teams are elite in both regards, with one aspect aiding the other. And with our team being far from the finished article, we can expect further development beyond this season. There's a reason the bookies have us finishing fourth this season, nobody expects us to be the finished article yet.

But for this season the "we want to be the best transition team in the world" quote is probably telling in terms of how we should judge stylistic improvements. And this aligns with our transfer business and team shape, with the addition of Mount (whose biggest strength is his off the ball work) and the younger, hard-working Hojlund in advanced areas no doubt giving us the personnel to improve.

I don't even really blame him, look at our squad. We don't have 11 players we can play together that are good enough that would be able to play a dominant heavy style.

-----------------Onana
Dalot-Varane-Martinez-Shaw
----------------Amrabat
-----------Mount-Eriksen
Antony-----------------------Sancho
----------------Hojlund

That's probably the best 'possession XI' we could pick, but there's 1000 reasons why he wouldn't pick it or anything like it.

 

[FortunaUtd]

It is a failure of the board to demand the football Ten Hag was hired for. They are the ones who are in charge of this. But Ten Hag is obsolete if that is how he envisions his task here, he is quite clearly not successful in implementing whatever 'United way' style he has in his mind. He should have been hired to do what was good at, and encouraged to see it through.
Board needs to go, manager needs to go. The board because it is clueless, the manager because he is too weak and quite apparently confused.

 

[Marcelinho87]

He said as much in the summer with his “aim to be the best transition team in the world” malarkey.

 

[DWelbz19]

Extremely concerning quotes. Beginning of the end.

 

[MadDogg]

Wow, those comments are damning. Honestly, as someone who hasn't been in the 'ETH out' camp at all (although I have been getting increasingly down on him the last few weeks), that instantly swings me significantly further in that direction.

I guess the question is just how direct is he talking about? Klopp's Liverpool play more direct than ETH's Ajax team, but obviously they are (were?) still a very dominate team who enforce their playstyle on the opposition. So if that's the idea of what he's trying to do then fair enough and it's just poorly communicated (and so far poorly built and coached). But if ETH is deliberately building us to just play super direct and rely on individual brilliance and counter-attacks then we need to get ready to move on. In saying that, most likely it's the directive from the DoF above him which instantly makes me far more critical on Murtough than I have been before, and which also means any new manager would get the same directive.

 

[DWelbz19]

This isn't news, in a nicer, more positively spun way he told us all this back in August:

I don't even really blame him, look at our squad. We don't have 11 players we can play together that are good enough that would be able to play a dominant heavy style.

-----------------Onana
Dalot-Varane-Martinez-Shaw
----------------Amrabat
-----------Mount-Eriksen
Antony-----------------------Sancho
----------------Hojlund

That's probably the best 'possession XI' we could pick, but there's 1000 reasons why he wouldn't pick it or anything like it.

If an XI with 7 of his signings cannot play the style of football he wants to play, the issue is the manager, not the players.

 

[AndySmith1990]

Get big Sam in and let's go route one I reckon

 

[Roboc7]

It’s not really surprising, we look pretty much the same as we have since SAF left. Could be Moyes, Ole or ETH in the dugout.

The club has needed a complete reset since SAF left and it’s never happened and there just isn’t the desire to have one. We always end up playing in this manner and it just leads to the same results.

 

[IncyWincySpider]

Sir Jim and Dave Brailsford are already calling the shots and Hag has been told to play Brexitball. Pump it up the park. They don't like it up em.

 

[justboy68]

Just bemusing comments. If that's the case then why did he sign the players he did, a number of which from Ajax no less? Feeble attempt at saving face by the looks of it.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Sir Jim and Dave Brailsford are already calling the shots and Hag has been told to play Brexitball. Pump it up the park. They don't like it up em.

 

[ToToMarshall]

If an XI with 7 of his signings cannot play the style of football he wants to play, the issue is the manager, not the players.

I don't disagree with you. I'm just making the point that the squad (that he has had a significant hand in assembling) doesn't have enough players that A) can play in a possession heavy system/style, and B) are good enough to play anywhere near the top level in the Premier League. With what he has at his at his disposal, I wouldn't try to 'play like Ajax' either.

Don't take this as a defence of ETH, all he's doing here is lying in the bed he's made for himself. I'm just not at all surprised by the admission.

 

[FortunaUtd]

Wow, those comments are damning. Honestly, as someone who hasn't been in the 'ETH out' camp at all (although I have been getting increasingly down on him the last few weeks), that instantly swings me significantly further in that direction.

I guess the question is just how direct is he talking about? Klopp's Liverpool play more direct than ETH's Ajax team, but obviously they are (were?) still a very dominate team who enforce their playstyle on the opposition. So if that's the idea of what he's trying to do then fair enough and it's just poorly communicated (and so far poorly built and coached). But if ETH is deliberately building us to just play super direct and rely on individual brilliance and counter-attacks then we need to get ready to move on. In saying that, most likely it's the directive from the DoF above him which instantly makes me far more critical on Murtough than I have been before, and which also means any new manager would get the same directive.

Yes. I was strongly for Ten Hag and for letting him work, but if he is not even intending to do what we are hoping for it makes no sense. The performances are too poor for it to continue making sense, if there is not even a light on the end of the tunnel to be expected since he is not even moving forward.

It is incredibly disapponting and frustrating. It is also, as you say, ultimately the DoF's and the board's fault. Murtough will need to go, because this is a horribly, tragically confused approach and there really is no excuse for this kind of failure.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

If we are playing direct why are we not utilising Hojlund more, direct balls that he can run onto and use his pace and strength.

 

[Red Star One]

This is super worrying. Fecking hell, he’s a dead man walking

 

[Conor]

I guess the question is just how direct is he talking about? Klopp's Liverpool play more direct than ETH's Ajax team, but obviously they are (were?) still a very dominate team who enforce their playstyle on the opposition. So if that's the idea of what he's trying to do then fair enough and it's just poorly communicated (and so far poorly built and coached). But if ETH is deliberately building us to just play super direct and rely on individual brilliance and counter-attacks then we need to get ready to move on. In saying that, most likely it's the directive from the DoF above him which instantly makes me far more critical on Murtough than I have been before, and which also means any new manager would get the same directive.

I can almost guarantee that it is poor communication, there is no way he is trying to play like Stoke, he is just saying that he has to adapt to the players he has and the culture around the club. Not that it's particularly working, but these comments are definitely going to be blown out of proportion by the frothing at the mouth section of the forum.

 

[tomaldinho1]

I don't read those comments as bad, it's just factual. Any coach coming into United would be mad to try and displace Rashford or Bruno (the same would have been the case for MG) and therefore you simply can't play possession football to a high level because you have 2/4 of the attack whose game revolves around counter and low percentage shots/passes/take ons.

 

[Rozay]

This man is a clown.

He built this squad himself. Sorry to add to the continuous conversation on them, but ‘not having the players’, when he arrived, can only mean Rashford and Bruno. Otherwise, he’s just get new players, as he has for every single other position. So I’m interpreting as what he immediately saw as his two mainstays can’t play a certain way, and as a result, his approach is out of the window.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Same thing he said in first interview

 

[AndySmith1990]

I don't disagree with you. I'm just making the point that the squad (that he has had a significant hand in assembling) doesn't have enough players that A) can play in a possession heavy system/style, and B) are good enough to play anywhere near the top level in the Premier League. With what he has at his at his disposal, I wouldn't try to 'play like Ajax' either.

Don't take this as a defence of ETH, all he's doing here is lying in the bed he's made for himself. I'm just not at all surprised by the admission.

But thats the point of hiring coaches and having daily training sessions isn't it, to train players to play a certain way. I don't understand how clubs with the fraction of the budget of ours are able to play this way, but it's a seemingly impossible job at United?

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...NA-admits-hes-built-play-direct-football.html

If this is true, it’s shocking. Bought a stack of players at overpriced value to be more like Ajax and change the way we play. Now realises that this will never happen and claims he is trying to build a “direct” team.

This shows that ETH is out of his depth on so many levels for me, and should not be allowed to waste any more money. I’d prefer we ship him out asap and replace him with someone with a real vision for the team and that can actually coach that vision.

Quotes:

“‘We will never play the football we played at Ajax here,' he told ViaPlay after the defeat. 'I now have other players, that's not why I came here.'

'The player material you have determines how you will play. That's why we play here in a different way than I did at Ajax. That will have to be the case, because I can't play the same way here.

That is not in the DNA of Manchester United at all. The football at Ajax is very typical, here we will play much more directly. We also have the players for that, especially at the forefront.'”

Just brutal. Get rid now. I am ETH out now.

 

[littlepeasoup]

Said this exact thing in the ETH thread:

"Feels like he abandoned his progressive style and attacking nous when he came here, and adopted a more pragmatic attitude geared to winning games first and foremost, forgetting what made him such an attractive prospect in the first place."

 

[RedChisel]

Reasons for hiring him are no longer relevant in that case. If he just wants to play the same dross Ole played then what's the point?

Basically admitting he isn't up to the job. Needs to go asap, things will get much worse if not I fear.

 

[Carl]

Floundering and very clearly miles out of his depth.

 

[Stobzilla]

If we are playing direct why are we not utilising Hojlund more, direct balls that he can run onto and use his pace and strength.

Exactly, it is nonsense. He is a Head Coach philandering as a Manager, the quicker he and Murtough are gone, the better.