Is ten Hag still *the one* (for you) or another placeholder?

Em765

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Sep 4, 2023
Messages
102
He is the one for me.
Things I didnt like however are the signing and insistance on playing Antony and I wasnt a fan of Mount.
He is showing some warning signs esp with Antony, you can easily draw the conclusion that he is favoring his own signing.
Other than that hes been brilliant.
I hope he is the one and we dont look for any other managers. Im willing to give him time and all, hes done great in his first season
 

Castia

Full Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2011
Messages
18,483
The dressing room atmosphere must be at a all time low and the manager will struggle this season.

Greenwood gone
Antony absent
Maguire still there after being transfer listed/stripped of the captaincy
Sancho situation/unrest

Fecking toxic
 

Ludens the Red

Full Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2009
Messages
17,527
Location
London
I have to be honest I was confused at how sure people were on here that he was “the guy” before he came and that he was definitely a world class manager.
I didn’t watch loads of Ajax games and I am confident in saying that a lot of other people on here hadn’t either yet they were able to be so conclusive in their opinions of him.
He won trophies at Ajax but that didn’t and doesn’t strike me as a standout thing for a manager. The dozen or so times I did see Ajax I wasn’t blown away by any of their football. But it was such a small sample size it would be unfair to pass comment. The CL run was impressive but it was followed up by exiting at a group stage and then by losing to Benfica. And then I remember watching a Dutch cup final after he’d agreed to come here and he was outwitted by Roger Schmidt (who psv sacked despite winning trophies)

I will admit to not being sure about him before he came and im not convinced now. I was really impressed by how he ran the team through the post World Cup and up untill the league cup final period, but since that league cup final something hasn’t been right and I don’t think he’s been able to light the fuse in the team since then. Several players form has been poor since then and any decent opponent we’ve come across has been better than us.

Of course the club above him is a mess and the freedom he’s been given in the transfer market says more about those above than him.
But there’s certain things elite managers just don’t fall prey to that he has, numerous times already…since being here. The hammerings, the away capitulations, the strange signings, the lack of a defined style. I like his personality, interviews and the way he’s binned off and tried to bin off those not good enough and he’s obviously a very competent manager but anymore than that? Not sure.

I’ll get criticism for this post probably but logically for United fans who were on the fence before he came or genuinely just didn’t think he had a cv that equated to bringing success here, it has to be understood why they’d still be on the fence. It is still very very early days though in the grand scheme of things.
 
Last edited:

RuudTom83

Full Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Messages
5,656
Location
Manc
The dressing room atmosphere must be at a all time low and the manager will struggle this season.

Greenwood gone
Antony absent
Maguire still there after being transfer listed/stripped of the captaincy
Sancho situation/unrest

Fecking toxic
Slightly dramatic to call it an all time low.

Greenwood hasn't been in the dressing room for 18 months.
Sancho is having a sulk, but by all accounts he is a shy lad, so I can't imagine its to the levels of Ronaldo last season.
Maguire has never said anything negative in the press about the club, so his only crime is being a bit shit at his job.

Sure the club isn't bouncing with excitement but 90% of the current mood is just online bollocks and external matters NOT in the dressing room.
 

Castia

Full Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2011
Messages
18,483
Slightly dramatic to call it an all time low.

Greenwood hasn't been in the dressing room for 18 months.
Sancho is having a sulk, but by all accounts he is a shy lad, so I can't imagine its to the levels of Ronaldo last season.
Maguire has never said anything negative in the press about the club, so his only crime is being a bit shit at his job.

Sure the club isn't bouncing with excitement but 90% of the current mood is just online bollocks and external matters NOT in the dressing room.
Yeah all time low was pushing it admittedly but it can’t be good. I mean there’s other factors I didn’t even bother adding like the uncertainty of a sale, players like Donny still here when it’s clear he’s not wanted, the simple fact that we’ve already lost 2 games and now we have this Antony thing just to top it all off
 

RuudTom83

Full Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Messages
5,656
Location
Manc
True, I see what you mean @Castia

As the great SAF once said, there is never a dull day at United.

Constant fires to put out :/
 

ScholesyTheWise

Full Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2022
Messages
1,097
I see him as a placeholder, this aura of certainty I had of him is definitely gone. However our club is impossible to manage considering the situation with the owners so when/if his sacking happens, he won't be 100% responsible
I didn't know what to think of him before he came because I only saw Ajax in their CL run and this wasn't enough.
Then there was this first half to the season where I was like "holy shit, I thought no one would be able to transform us but this dude has...", and then, thanks to many factors, I went back to "ah ok, as I thought in the beginning, there's still a very very long road ahead".

Like you, my belief in him has somewhat shrunk to more reasonable sizes, but I still think he's a very capable manager, and am happy that we have him.

Should the club get sold to a very rich new owner,

Which other managers would you like to see at United, if any?

Pep seems to be the only sure thing in football, and he needs a lot of time + isn't relevant in our case anyway... :/
 

pocco

loco
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Messages
22,699
Location
Keep a clean shit tomorrow, United is my final bus
I have to be honest I was confused at how sure people were on here that he was “the guy” before he came and that he was definitely a world class manager.
I didn’t watch loads of Ajax games and I am confident in saying that a lot of other people on here hadn’t either yet they were able to be so conclusive in their opinions of him.
He won trophies at Ajax but that didn’t and doesn’t strike me as a standout thing for a manager. The dozen or so times I did see Ajax I wasn’t blown away by any of their football. But it was such a small sample size it would be unfair to pass comment. The CL run was impressive but it was followed up by exiting at a group stage and then by losing to Benfica. And then I remember watching a Dutch cup final after he’d agreed to come here and he was outwitted by Ruud van Nistelrooy (who psv sacked despite winning trophies)

I will admit to not being sure about him before he came and im not convinced now. I was really impressed by how he ran the team through the post World Cup and up untill the league cup final period, but since that league cup final something hasn’t been right and I don’t think he’s been able to light the fuse in the team since then. Several players form has been poor since then and any decent opponent we’ve come across has been better than us.

Of course the club above him is a mess and the freedom he’s been given in the transfer market says more about those above than him.
But there’s certain things elite managers just don’t fall prey to that he has, numerous times already…since being here. The hammerings, the away capitulations, the strange signings, the lack of a defined style. I like his personality, interviews and the way he’s binned off and tried to bin off those not good enough and he’s obviously a very competent manager but anymore than that? Not sure.

I’ll get criticism for this post probably but logically for United fans who were on the fence before he came or genuinely just didn’t think he had a cv that equated to bringing success here, it has to be understood why they’d still be on the fence. It is still very very early days though in the grand scheme of things.
Yeah, this is my feelings exactly. The first part about his Ajax team and the football people claimed he played, whilst going mad for us to hire him, particularly annoyed me.

Because I did a little digging into Ajax match stats after seeing how he set us up last season early on and I realised then that he wasn't going to be what we were told by all his big fans on here. They even double down and said I was wrong. Now that ETH himself has confirmed what I suspected, in that we want to be a transition team, those same posters are saying how great this will be. Yet they were saying how great his high press and possession football will be just last season.

I do think there was a huge element of a few people making incorrect claims about him and his football, which in turn whipped up such a frenzied backing for him and ultimately got him the job. To say I'm dubious is selling it lightly. I don't like to call him a fraud but I think he's got a touch of the stubborn, very left-field views on football like Van Gaal did that will ultimately either make him or very much break him. And I'm leaning towards the latter right now.