Ten Hag's Report Card 22/23

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

What grade would you give Ten Hag for his first season and progress so far?

Note this is not the same as the “sum up the season” or the “rate the season” thread as this is about Ten Hag specifically as manager as he can only be judged against the squad he had available to him, together what he could realistically do in one window (and a January window where we were apparently restricted to cheap loans).

 

[Mike Smalling]

B+

Positives: Won trophy and got top four with a very limited squad. Dealt with sensitive squad problems in Ronaldo and Maguire. Largely brought in good players. Instilled better mentality.

Negatives: Antony doesn’t look like good business considering the fee. Persisted with Wout too long. Oversaw thrashings by City and Liverpool.

 

[AshRK]

A solid B. 7/10

Play style must improve but overall he has done a good job. That February was our peak football and if we can match that for 6 or 7 months we will be competing for the title.

 

[Livewire1974]

B+. He has brought a belief back to the club, made some very good signings, has us back in the champions league and won a cup. We really could not have expected much more.

 

[SirScholes]

C+ / B -
Pretty solid, martinez Eriksen casemiro good signings, Antony overpaid and will need upgrading if we are to win the league
Handled the toxic dressing room well
Still some deadwood to clear out which he couldnt be expected to do in his first year

Got back into the CL which would of been the brief, winning a cup is a bonus

have to keep in mind chelsea and Liverpool imploded, big summer coming up. More to clear out, first team needs upgrading, attack needs to be better next year

 

[Scandi Red]

B+

Delivered above expectations and had (in my opinion) the best season since Fergie retired.

 

[Zoo]

A-

 

[glazed]

A- Don't see how he could have done much better with the squad he had. Made us entertaining to watch again.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

Considering the absolute mess he inherited plus all the other shite he's had to deal with I'm giving him an A-

3rd place, a trophy and reaching the FA Cup final only to come up short against a team that's most likely winning the treble this season is beyond any realistic expectations United fans had at the start of the season. There are of course things we need to improve on but ten Hag has my full confidence and I really believe that if we back this man and give him the tools to succeed he can take us back to the top.

 

[Revan]

7 or 7.5 out of 10 (that would probably be a B-).

We have a Frankenstein squad, so all things considered, he did as well as you can expect. We got 75 points (second best post SAF), got third place and won a Cup, albeit the least important cup (but then we had not won anything in 6 years). If someone offered this to me last summer, I would have been very happy with that.

On the other hand, there were also quite many negatives. We got humiliated again and again and again, with Liverpool giving us the biggest beating in what, a century or so. The football quality for the most part, was dire, no better than under Ole or Jose. Our attack was absolutely terrible. And while he did a great job in removing Ronaldo and Maguire, it was a bit annoying how he didn’t give more minutes to Pellestri and some other youngsters but instead continued playing Antony and Sancho who are extremely mediocre players. The obsession to play Weghorst as much as possible, easily the worst striker in the league, was also baffling.

While in a normal world, he shouldn’t be judged in signings, unfortunately at United, the manager is in charge of that. I think that the signings were not good. Antony looks almost a 100m wasted, Malacia is terrible and not even an upgrade in Telles. Eriksen was a good free signing. Casemiro is brilliant but by the time we might challenge he will be past it so probably not money spent well. And I really disagree with Caf here, I think that Martinez is not that good. He has passion so United fans overrate him as hell, but he is essentially a good squad player in a title winning team, not a starter. For the money spent on him, you expect a Vidic, not a Heinze. And I think he is more a Heinze than a Vidic. Sabitzer barely played, and Weghorst is the worst regular United player I have seen in my time. So overall, I would say for 230m that we spent, we didn’t improve the squad as much.

Anyway, he has reached all the expectations, and happy to see what he does next season.

 

[ThanksBoss26]

B+

Some fair sized kinks to iron out which we all know about but given what he had at his disposal and inherited, issues he's had to deal with etc, I think he's done a very good job so far.

It's a fine line from here between kicking on and another false dawn but convinced he can continue the good work given the platform to do so. Just hope he is. An important summer...again!

 

[Sky1981]

I'd say 7 or about Par

Pros :
1. Dressing room seems united
2. Lots of players progressing well
3. Deadwoods dropped without much fuss (Ronaldo, Maguire, DVB)
4. 3rd
5. League cup ( i dont really count league cup. We never take this shit seriously in the past we even kinda throw the game just to get out of it)

Cons
1. He spend 80m on Anthony
2. We look like on handbrake the last 20% of the season. Fatigue might play a part but still
3. Our supposedly good tactical play went missing lately

So... he's earned next season and 150m kitty and we shall see if he remains his upward trajectory. Depends on how shrewd he is during transfer

 

[Samid]

B- / C+

Overall a solid season but the shocking away form with regular spankings (Manchester United should never ever concede 6-7 goals in a game never mind twice in a season), persisting with Weghorst for far too long, lack of rotation against shite cup/EL opposition, and using attacking players out of position (especially Bruno) in key games means there have been way too many mishaps.

Those saying A- must be taking the piss. Man Utd fans love going on about the club lacking ambitions but the fans themselves are overwhelmingly satisfied just by reaching top 4 and going on cup runs.

 

[Andycoleno9]

7.5/10
Positive:
1. Finishing 3rd after debacle from last season is excellent achievement.
2. Lc trophy.
3. Martinez, Case and Eriksen are excellent transfers.
4. Our home form
5. Brought discipline in changing room

Negative;
1) Sevilla tie. That is completely on him.
2) Liverpool 7:0 defeat where he also made a tactical mess with players positions (Rashford not playing on left wing, Wout at no10)
3. Hugely overpayed for Antony (club overpayed but he insisted on him).
4. Away form in big games.

 

[GaryLifo]

I hope he stays for ten more seasons at least.

B+ for this season. 3rd place and a trophy and another cup final largely with a squad he inherited who had given up by January last season.

Next season we should start seeing more of his tactical vision on the pitch as he gets more players of the right abilities.

 

[peridigm]

Transfers / Sales / Loans - B+
Ronaldo situation - A
Player managment - A
Player selections - B
Tactics - B
Subs - B-
Objectives - A

Overall for the season I give him an A for finishing 3rd in the league, League Cup winners and FA Cup final. Edit: with the squad he had to deal with.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

I’d say a solid B+

Got the most out of a fairly limited squad and smashed the first transfer window overall. Going into the season I thought that we would struggle to get top four and yet we achieved that quite comfortably in the end. The League Cup was a nice bonus and added to that, another final and a decent European campaign.

The only reason I didn’t give an A was those matches where we imploded (especially the defeat against you-know-who down the East Lancs)

 

[SAFMUTD]

7/10.

Positives:
Solid top 4
Carabao cup trophy
FA final

Negatives:
7-0 lost
Away form
Europa league meltdown


If given the chance of having this results a year ago I would've take them without flinching. The 7-0 though that'll stick with me for some time.

 

[Skills]

B: won a trophy and top 4. Generally improved the mood around the club, man managed his way through difficult situations well. Seems a good guy and a capable coach. Improved the players at the club - got Rashford back up and firing, and the fullbacks have improved massively. I'd say Bruno's a more rounded footballer too thanks to him.

My issues stem in the fact that I think he's maybe put the club in a massive pickle going forward with some of his transfer business. I can't see any of his signings bar Lisandro playing a starting role when we are ready to win a title on the current trajectory. Antony's just never going to be good enough, and Casemiro and Eriksen are too old if we are to believe everyone's current project timescales. Malacias also not good enough, but who cares at £12m. So inevitably once we plug the gaps we have now (that too because of a reduced transfer budget because of last season's overspend), we'll have to go back and fix the same positions again. Making it a never end cycle.

Secondly, though ultimately we met our target this season for top 4 and a trophy - the way we did it has lot a left to be desired. We haven't fixed our ability to score goals - our goal total is pathetic. Teams with far less up front manage to score more so I don't buy this whole issue being blamed solely down to the lack of a striker. How many did city score last season without one?

The other part of this is some of the capitulations have been jarring. You can forgive one, but getting thrashed by 6 and 7 goals at the Etihad and Anfield in the same fecking season is shocking and displays a lot of tactical naivety. I'd say part of his remit this season should've been to restore a bit of pride in the club, after last season's batterings but somehow we ended up on the end of two that were even worse than that. And the fact that even the return games at OT that we won were just smash and grabs, where we played like minnows at our own home ground (we ended up with less than 30% possession in both games) makes it harder to write them off as freak results.

Overall - I'd say, he's earned to stay on as our manager. There isn't a better option on the market and there's enough promising signs there. But if you're not a little concerned, you're delusional and might be in for the same sort of shock the Solskjaer/Mourinho fan clubs were in for when the results could no longer hide the systemic underlying issues that were always there. Then I'm guessing we'll just go back to blaming it on the players being bad eggs and throwing managers under the bus, rather than recognising there were some signs of this all along.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

B- / C+

Overall a solid season but the shocking away form with regular spankings (Manchester United should never ever concede 6-7 goals in a game never mind twice in a season), persisting with Weghorst for far too long, lack of rotation against shite cup/EL opposition, and using attacking players out of position (especially Bruno) in key games means there have been way too many mishaps.

Those saying A- must be taking the piss. Man Utd fans love going on about the club lacking ambitions but the fans themselves are overwhelmingly satisfied just by reaching top 4 and going on cup runs.

Or maybe they’re capable of taking into account that this is the manager’s first season, where he was given a hospital pass due to the Ronaldo SNAFU and a squad with loads of obvious flaws. Literally nobody is trying to argue that our achievements this season will be satisfying if they’re all we ever manage under Ten Haag.

 

[tenpoless]

B- / C+

Overall a solid season but the shocking away form with regular spankings (Manchester United should never ever concede 6-7 goals in a game never mind twice in a season), persisting with Weghorst for far too long, lack of rotation against shite cup/EL opposition, and using attacking players out of position (especially Bruno) in key games means there have been way too many mishaps.

Those saying A- must be taking the piss. Man Utd fans love going on about the club lacking ambitions but the fans themselves are overwhelmingly satisfied just by reaching top 4 and going on cup runs.

C+ is harsh. Its like you decide to ignore all the things that happened. If Martial was available and he kept playing Weghorst, sure he is in the wrong. He loaned Weghorst because he had to and the owners were looking to sell the club, its obvious they didnt want to spend. Top 4 and a cup trophy was almost unrealistic at the start of a season, let alone progressing to EL QF and FA final, pushing our squad to its limit.

B- or even B seems more fair. Its not lacking ambition, its being realistic. And for all those games against rivals, if you look at the xG, we arent that bad including yesterday. That tells you that the system is at least working and we dont rely on luck for result, over time and with better finishers those xG should be represented in the actual results. As for subs, everyone has an opinion on subs. Even Sir Alex did subs that made us scratch our head at times. For every bad one he made (because hindsight is 10/10), he also made the good one.

 

[Amadaeus]

Getting thrashed 7-1 and 6-3 weighs ETH grade down significantly. Top coaches never get thrashed like that in a single season. Moreover, our record away from home was really poor. However, I believe we are heading in the right direction and I m more confident in ETH than any other United manager post SAF. So, I would give a C+. Would have been a B if he had won the Fa Cup

 

[Samid]

Or maybe they’re capable of taking into account that this is the manager’s first season, where he was given a hospital pass due to the Ronaldo SNAFU and a squad with loads of obvious flaws. Literally nobody is trying to argue that our achievements this season will be satisfying if they’re all we ever manage under Ten Haag.

Made that petulant child captain at Villa, after he had gone AWOL all summer and was sulking because he was getting benched. Thanks for the reminder, another one for the mishap list.

 

[Lights Out]

B+

The objective at the start of the season was achieve top 4

He did that pretty comfortably whilst missing 2 of his main signings for large chunks of the season. Look at the team yesterday, he inherited them all bar Eriksen & Casemiro.

Bar the odd major hiccup we look a lot more solid and our home form has been outstanding.

In contrast our away form and lack of goals is a major concern.

 

[Jericholyte2]

Signings - 8.5/10
- Martinez has transformed our defence
- Casemiro has transformed our midfield
- Eriksen is quality for a FT and will be a good squad player next season
- Malacia is raw but has potential and was cheap
- Antony will be forever (unfairly) judged by the £80m fee, but I see quality in him. He will hopefully progress more next season
- Wout & Sabitzer were poor signings but ETH was hamstrung by Glazers who wouldn’t release funds for purchases

Player Management - 8/10
- Handled Maguire well, knew he wasn’t what he wanted and has phased him out well
- Managed Ronaldo perfectly, tried to work with him but once it was clear it couldn’t work he got him out
- Didn't rotate as much as most would have liked, but when you see the options you can understand why. Should potentially have sacrificed a cup for rotation, but many would have eviscerated him for that

On-Pitch Performance - 7.5/10
- Shown many examples of the new way he wanted the team to play, with some excellent performances and results
- As above struggled with the 3rd quarter due to squad limitations
- Home form was brilliant
- Away form was rather shit, needs a lot of work
- Rather naive blurting Eriksen in a midfield 2 vs bigger teams
- Overseen some embarrassing results that cannot be allowed to be repeated

Achievements - 9.5/10
- Finished 3rd, won a cup, got to FA Cup final and latter stages of Europa
- Collapse in Europa was poor (but timing may well have helped us get top 4, so swings and roundabouts)
- We’d have snapped people’s hands off for that at the start of the season

Overall - 8.5/10

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Made that petulant child captain at Villa, after he had gone AWOL all summer and was sulking because he was getting benched. Thanks for the reminder, another one for the mishap list.

Wow. That is one petty fecking list.

 

[CloneMC16]

B-

Postives:
Finished 3rd after the disaster of last season.
Made it to two finals.
Won a trophy.
Home form.
Signed Martinez. A lot of people said this would be a bad signing. He is unreal and will be a key player for us for a long time.
Apart from the few games we capitulated in, stopped us from conceding so many goals.
Dealt with Ronaldo well.
Benched Maguire and didn't feel the need to keep attempting to bring him back.

Negtives:
Away form.
Multiple terrible losses. The worst loss we've had in around 100 years. Absolutely unacceptable.
Can't score goals. Too reliant on Rashford to score.
Overplayed certain players.
Not enough rotation.
Signed Antony. Ridiculous fee for a mid player that will never be good enough.
His transfer targets. Too many players that he's watched play in the Netherlands and/or he's managed.


Overall, he did better than I was expecting. The main thing I hoped for this season was to stop conceding so many goals. That has been mostly achieved. We've had quite a few games where the players defended very well to hold on to 1-0 leads. The few shocking results we had were really bad, though. I hoped that would be behind us. Anfield result is unacceptable. He needs more players to compete better next season. We absolutely have to be better in possession and creating chances. We don't score anywhere near enough goals. If we're still not scoring goals next season, I will be concerned.

 

[Trigg]

Wow. That is one petty fecking list.

This forum is where you want to be if you want petty. A cup final loss and its gone to shit again.

 

[JustinC00]

A just for making Old Trafford a fortress again after the previous managers had turned it into a place the likes of Burnley, Palace, Norwich City, Cardiff City, Sheffield United, Watford, and Spurs came in and took it to us. Not to mention it was the first season since '10-'11 that we beat City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea at home in the league in a season.

 

[ROFLUTION]

He gets judged too much for Antony at 80m.

he’s probably a 60m player these days, but Ten Hag had to go into the season with players he could trust. The last 20m we got back by qualifying for Champions League which definitely wasnt a given with the shitshow he inherited.

Dealt with both the Sancho and Ronaldo situation really well. On top of that the club had an ugly situation with Greenwood and we started off by having snakes in the dressing room (Henderson probably) who leaked stuff. He unegged Garnacho too.

A for me, the 7-0 trashing wasnt good, but overall he couldnt have done that much more. Let’s be honest: Two trophies in his first season would have been phenomenal - you’d have to win against the currently best team in the World, and we werent that far off.

 

[daba]

League Performance: 8/10
Cup Performance: 9/10
Home Form: 10/10
Away Form: 6/10
Transfers In: 8.5/10
Transfers Out: 6.5/10
Tactics/Style of Play: 7.5/10
Player Improvement: 9/10
Dressing Room: 9/10
Situation Management: 10/10

Total Score = 83.5/100

 

[RoyKeaneReborn]

A- for me. Measured against expectations of him in his first season at the Club; first time in EPL; didn't have a proper full pre-season; facing a season disrupted by a winter World Cup; transitioning through a squad with fragile mentality & initial dressing room disharmony (CR, Greenwood, etc); transitioning through a potential Club sale by the Glazers, as well as new CEO (Richard Arnold), whom I presumed was also learning & stablising the ropes post-Woody. I think we need to put into context & perspective all the above factors when we "grade" him.

He instilled fighting spirit again in the squad & sent a strong message that you only play if you give your best & if you have the right eptitude. Shades of SAF in the past. This guiding principle allowed him to manage out CR and Harry and keep his credibility; and kicked on from the opening defeats to Brighton & Brentford.

He spoke about the "bond" with the fans during his speech at the last game at OT. I think he IS largely responsible for this strengthened bond with all of us since he came to the Club. He is charismatic & largely says & does the right things.

He actually gave us some belief at 1 stage of the season that: (a) We could have a dark horse shot at the title; and (b) Do a potential treble/ quadruple too (what the hell, haha!).

I think he has done a fantastic job given the resources at his disposal and given the context in Para 1. If any, some of the players continue to let him and the Club down. Some are not good enough for Man Utd's level and need to be moved on, period. Others were probably too tired & fatigued with too many games (plus a Winter disruptive WC) & Europa Thursday night exertions which seriously can disrupt the team's rhythm & results on EPL. During SAF's time, midweek CL games had an impact on our weekend EPL results too. We must also expect that ETH will need time to move on the dross and he has to play with the cards he have on hand. While the newer players like Antony, will need some time to bed in before jury's out on him.

I can look past the Liverpool 7-0. We had gotten thrashed in the past before - Saints 6-3, Newcastle 5-0, Chelsea 5-0, City 1-6, etc. Doesn't mean the Pool thrashing doesn't sting & won't be forgotten, but we were decent in the 1st half and wouldn't let this game define the other good areas which ETH had done.

And ultimately, he delivered the Champions League placing, a trophy & a cup final, amidst the challenges & context.

Cheers!

 

[Raoul]

A - imo. Managed everything nearly flawlessly in year one despite the Ronaldo saga and various injuries and suspensions. Beat Man City, Liverpool, and Arsenal . Won a cup, got us back into the CL, moved us up three spots in the table, added 17 more league points from last year. Hard to criticize anything he did in year one in what is arguably the most challenging job in world club football.

 

[The Hilton]

There are some delusional posts in this thread, as far as I'm concerned any grade below a B is complete nonsense given what he started with.

As for my grade, I'm giving him an A, he took us over at our lowest ebb in decades, and managed to get a squad filled with deadwood and toxicity back into the CL, while trying to revolutionise how they play (and learning who is and who isn't capable of it).

With the right signings this summer, this is the most excited I've been for a new season in ages.

 

[DOTA]

A - imo. Managed everything nearly flawlessly in year one despite the Ronaldo saga and various injuries and suspensions. Beat Man City, Liverpool, and Arsenal . Won a cup, got us back into the CL, moved us up three spots in the table, added 17 more league points from last year. Hard to criticize anything he did in year one in what is arguably the most challenging job in world club football.

That really is a lot. It wasn't that long ago people were occasionally bringing up the 'we are only x points better off than the same stage last season'.

 

[Raoul]

That really is a lot. It wasn't that long ago people were occasionally bringing up the 'we are only x points better off than the same stage last season'.

Agreed. And that's even before we get to the needless points dropped v Brighton & Brentford. Our total could've just as easily been in the 80s. I think the target next year should be 90, since that's where City seems to live.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

B- / C+

Overall a solid season but the shocking away form with regular spankings (Manchester United should never ever concede 6-7 goals in a game never mind twice in a season), persisting with Weghorst for far too long, lack of rotation against shite cup/EL opposition, and using attacking players out of position (especially Bruno) in key games means there have been way too many mishaps.

Those saying A- must be taking the piss. Man Utd fans love going on about the club lacking ambitions but the fans themselves are overwhelmingly satisfied just by reaching top 4 and going on cup runs.

Because we're taking into context of where the club was when he took over and not just doing lazy comparisons to when we were great and pretending like winning the title or even challenging for it was ever a realistic expectation this season.

If he's backed this summer and we're able to improve the squad then expectations will be raised. That's how it goes.

 

[Raoul]

There are some delusional posts in this thread, as far as I'm concerned any grade below a B is complete nonsense given what he started with.

As for my grade, I'm giving him an A, he took us over at our lowest ebb in decades, and managed to get a squad filled with deadwood and toxicity back into the CL, while trying to revolutionise how they play (and learning who is and who isn't capable of it).

With the right signings this summer, this is the most excited I've been for a new season in ages.

An A would be fair imo. I don''t think anyone expected him to walk in and win the league in year one, so improvements in every area despite significant headwinds (Ronaldo etc) could easily be viewed as an A. The only reason I gave him an A- were the obvious Brighton/Brentford/City/ and Liverpool defeats, in which we looked utterly tumescent, as well as our inability to score goals during a stretch towards the end. Other than that, he's been fantastic.

 

[JJ12]

8 - done a lot better than what I expected with this squad.

 

[Andersonson]

B+

Delivered above expectations and had (in my opinion) the best season since Fergie retired.

Better than FA cup win and Europa League win?...