What will "Give the new manager time" mean to the United board and the fans?

[AndySmith1990]

Pep needed one transitional year at City to clear the squad of the deadwood and win the league in his 2nd season. Klopp needed 2 full seasons to challenge for the league and even in his 2nd year he reached CL final. Only at Man United will people convince you that you need 5 years to be just close to challenge for the big trophies.

With 2 proper summer markets, right players bought and shit players sold this summer and the next one, Man United should fully expect to be close to the top by Ten Hag 2nd season here.

Any other thing and yes, questions will need to be asked, like what happened with the previous managers as well.

If by the end of his 2nd season we are still a mere top 4 team, then it means our recruitment as been shit as usual and nothing has changed.

Both clubs were in a far better state when Klopp & Pep took over than where we are now. They actually had a good structure in place for a start, we're still working on that. City had won titles before Pep joined, and Liverpool were a Stevie slip away from winning a title. We're miles off and we're in urgent need of a rebuild. Anyone expecting us to go from where we are now to a position where we can accumulate close to 100 points in the league - which is needed to compete with City & Liverpool - within 2 seasons, is setting themselves up for disappointment.

I'll be happy with gradual progress.

 

[sewey89]

Pep needed one transitional year at City to clear the squad of the deadwood and win the league in his 2nd season. Klopp needed 2 full seasons to challenge for the league and even in his 2nd year he reached CL final. Only at Man United will people convince you that you need 5 years to be just close to challenge for the big trophies.

City had won the league two years before Pep arrived. And in those two years, they finished 2nd and 4th. They already had the foundations of a really good team. We don't have that stability.

Klopp arrived in October. So yes, two 'full seasons' but he also had 8 months left in the current season when he arrived.

Look, I hope you're right, I hope he can challenge quickly, but I don't think that if we're not challenging for the league title in 24 months time it'll automatically mean he's a failure.

 

[el3mel]

Both clubs were in a far better state when Klopp & Pep took over than where we are now. They actually had a good structure in place for a start, we're still working on that. City had won titles before Pep joined, and Liverpool were a Stevie slip away from winning a title. We're miles off and we're in urgent need of a rebuild. Anyone expecting us to go from where we are now to a position where we can accumulate close to 100 points in the league - which is needed to compete with City & Liverpool - within 2 seasons, is setting themselves up for disappointment.

I'll be happy with gradual progress.

Liverpool were absolute shit with a godawful squad in the year and half before Klopp took over. The year before he got the job they finished 6th.

With two proper summer markets we absolutely can come close to challenge for the title.

 

[el3mel]

City had won the league two years before Pep arrived. And in those two years, they finished 2nd and 4th. They already had the foundations of a really good team. We don't have that stability.

Klopp arrived in October. So yes, two 'full seasons' but he also had 8 months left in the current season when he arrived.

Look, I hope you're right, I hope he can challenge quickly, but I don't think that if we're not challenging for the league title in 24 months time it'll automatically mean he's a failure.

Klopp didn't sign any players in these first 8 months. He needed 3 summer markets to challenge for the league and win CL, and before that he reached CL final. So to expect us to at least come close to challenging for the top after 2 summer markets isn't a ridiculous level of expectations. That's just the normal.

No one said he will be considered a failure but by the end of 2nd season Man United isn't close to the other teams at the top so we will have to start asking questions.

It's the same for literally any manager managing any club in world football.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I'm really happy with the incoming managerial appointment but not really sure as to what expectations to set. I've seen the impact Tuchel and Conte has had at Chelsea and Spurs respectively and those first 15 games under Solskjaer were probably my most memorable post Fergie, so I'm not necessarily down for a 1 or 2 year rebuild period. Do we really need as big a clear out as is being talked about or do our players really just need to fix up?

How long does a manager really need to impose his style on a team? I look at Crystal Palace as another example. Are people going to be happy with 2 or 3 years of Thursday night football for the sake of the bigger picture?

Reports suggest that Ten Hag wanted a 3/4-year deal to allow time to realise his vision. Why?? How did Tuchel turn things around completely at Chelsea in 3 months? And how are Spurs now favourites for that 4th spot?

What wil the minimum expectations be from the board and fans next season?

• The whole 3-4 thing is spot on as we are miles behind the top teams now.
• You cite Conte and Tuchel but aside from one cup win, I'm not exactly seeing either challenging for the league. The 3-4 year time-frame is to challenge I'm sure not finish in the top 4.
• My expectation is visible progress in the quality of our football and the implementation of a style of play that is attractive and something we can all get behind.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Klopp's first season at Liverpool was shite. It's not a given that a top coach will come in and have an immediate impact, especially when they're trying to completely change the way a team plays.

First part season with those two cup finals? Or first full season with them finishing with 76 points and in the CL places for first time in a few years and looking like a top side in the making? That first full ”shite” season was better than all but one of our post SAF seasons.

 

[Frank Grimes]

I just don't think it's particularly realistic to expect a title challenge in his second season. Context is very important, and you can't ignore the fact that our two biggest rivals have two of the best managers in the world. No matter who we bring in, he's not going to be as good as them. They also have settled squads with a proper club structure in place. And that's just City and Liverpool. You also got Chelsea to contend with.

I'm not saying we should accept mediocrity but simply acknowledge reality. I suppose it comes down to your definition of "title challenge". I would agree that if we find ourselves in a similar position we're in now in his second season (i.e., 20 odd points behind) then that would be unacceptable. But I don't think it's realistic to expect us to be within 2 points of the leader going into the last couple of weeks of the season. Obviously, there's a middle ground between these two extremes that I would be content with.

This, also we need to take the cups seriously. Ending our trophy drought is important.

 

[sewey89]

Klopp didn't sign any players in these first 8 months. He needed 3 summer markets to challenge for the league and win CL, and before that he reached CL final. So to expect us to at least come close to challenging for the top after 2 summer markets isn't a ridiculous level of expectations. That's just the normal.

No one said he will be considered a failure but by the end of 2nd season Man United isn't close to the other teams at the top so we will have to start asking questions.

It's the same for literally any manager managing any club in world football.

But he had 8 months to implement his style and work with the team...? Football management isn't just about signing players. It's working with what you have, developing a style etc.

When we talk about 'Full seasons' and if we're going to compare ETH and Klopp eventually, then Klopp is always going to have an 8 month head start.

 

[lex talionis]

We really do need to be patient with the new manager. I think we all know what that means. There should no expectation of a major trophy in the first two years, but we should expect progress in weeding out non-performing players over the next few transfer windows as their contracts run toward their termination and we should expect the development of a few reserve/youth players as well as fresh blood through the transfer market.

If we're looking for something more tangible than just "progress", I would say we need to immediately stop dropping ridiculous points to clubs relegation-bound clubs. It's one thing to get hammered by Liverpool and scraping a draw to Leicester City, but quite another to have our heads dunked into the toilet by clubs like Norwich. That's got to end before we sustain any kind of top four challenge.

 

[NicolaSacco]

All fair questions.

Personally, I'd be absolutely fine with any league position next season (short of relegation) as long as there is a plan in place, one that we can all see taking shape. I don't care one iota who the manager wants to clear out as, quite frankly, I've no particular attachment to any of them. I'd be happy to run with a squad of kids for the remainder of this season and the following.

I can't speak for everyone, of course. For starters, the Twitter crowd will be all over ETH if we're hovering around midtable in January, that's a certainty, demanding his resignation and possible prison time if we're anywhere close to 16th place. If we've learned anything about our club post-SAF, it's that we have a very impatient fanbase.

I’m not a Utd fan but I’m inclined to agree with you. If he just plays largely the same team as OGS and RR have over the past 3 years, and you end up 6th or 5th, or even 4th then it would be difficult to argue that there’s been a real, palpable progression. I think Utd are currently in a position where more than ever they really need to grasp the nettle, even if that involves having high profile, high fee, high wage players who maybe stay on the books for a year or two, but don’t play. But it’s also one of those things that’s easy to say and less easy to do. I do think that it’s quite possible that the Utd hierarchy are coming round to that point of view, but I guess time will tell.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Both clubs were in a far better state when Klopp & Pep took over than where we are now.

Absolute nonsense. Liverpool had finished 6th the season before Klopp came, and ended up 8th the following season.
They, post Suarez and Gerrard were utter shite, in a right mess. I mean, look at the state of his first 11….

We should expect a strong Summer, and a huge inprovement next season. And the same the following year. Then see where we are.

 

[Roboc7]

I can’t see it taking less than 3 years, Ten Hag is such a big move away from he pragmatic and counter attacking Jose and Ole and the squad is in such a poor state that it’s going to take a lot of time and money.

I don’t think fair to compare Ten Hag with what Klopp and Pep did, they are on a completely different level. I think the Liverpool team Klopp took over needed similar amount of work to what we need and if it took him two and a half seasons Ten Hag is going to need that and a fiat bit more.

 

[#07]

Ultimately, my expectations will all depend on the Board. If the Board don't get rid of the wasters then my expectations are for 8th.

Ten Hag's a good coach but he's not King Midas. He won't be able to turn s-t into gold. If we think we're going to be playing total football with the squad we have now...Delusional.

Also, if Ten Hag wants players out and the club refuses his authority will go up in smoke. Expecting him to be able to convince the players to do what he wants when they know the Board is undercutting him from day dot is also delusional.

So it all comes back to: What is the Board willing to do to make Ten Hag a success? If we see Ten Hag come in and he's able to ship out 5,6,7 players and get in players that suit his style of football. Then I'm expecting at least Champions League qualification and, if he gets real backing, I don't think challenging for the title is unreasonable.

But I don't expect Ten Hag to get real backing. I don't expect the Board to let him reshape the squad so we play high tempo, high risk, pressing football. I expect the Board to dump players on him and say: 'Why can't you make X play like Johan Cruyff, aren't you from Ajax?' Same s-t, different season.

8th is my expectation.

 

[Bilbo]

I'm really happy with the incoming managerial appointment but not really sure as to what expectations to set. I've seen the impact Tuchel and Conte has had at Chelsea and Spurs respectively and those first 15 games under Solskjaer were probably my most memorable post Fergie, so I'm not necessarily down for a 1 or 2 year rebuild period. Do we really need as big a clear out as is being talked about or do our players really just need to fix up?

How long does a manager really need to impose his style on a team? I look at Crystal Palace as another example. Are people going to be happy with 2 or 3 years of Thursday night football for the sake of the bigger picture?

Reports suggest that Ten Hag wanted a 3/4-year deal to allow time to realise his vision. Why?? How did Tuchel turn things around completely at Chelsea in 3 months? And how are Spurs now favourites for that 4th spot?

What wil the minimum expectations be from the board and fans next season?

I always hate the idea of putting down hard targets because they never take into account what is happening outside of our control. Our expectations should be constantly evolving, but if Redcafe has taught anybody anything then it's that there is no standard set of expectations. If we are 6 games in and playing poorly some fans will turn on him, and some of the more easily led fans will start agreeing with them. Obviously that would be ridiculous but there is a 100% chance of that happening.

We have to assess our own unique situation here at this club. Doesn't matter what happens across the street. If anybody is of the opinion that this squad isn't on the floor right now in terms of belief and confidence then they are mistaken. Ten Hag will have to figure out what makes them tick. Ideas and habits will take time to bed in. Some players will thrive & some will not take to this new way of playing and besides, even if they all did we will still need more new players than we can realistically purchase in one summer because some of them just aren't good enough.

Ultimately if he is good enough to compete with the very best then we will start to see the foundations of that over the course of next season.

 

[dubplate warrior]

Its a great question, I would say that next season is a write off in terms of where we finish. Its more about embedding a distinct style of play and philosophy on the team. Hopefully we can see this style drip feed into the academy too.

 

[Bebestation]

At this point all i want is to see a genuine style of football being built up.

Whether we are good at it or not is matter - I want an obvious style so we know how we are playing no matter the opposition.

 

[el3mel]

But he had 8 months to implement his style and work with the team...? Football management isn't just about signing players. It's working with what you have, developing a style etc.

When we talk about 'Full seasons' and if we're going to compare ETH and Klopp eventually, then Klopp is always going to have an 8 month head start.

Implementation of a play style doesn't really take as long time as people make it out it be. Klopp fully implemented his style within the first few months of the job. From his first few games Liverpool were pressing their opponents like hell.

Any proper coach will implement his style within 6 months or so. Ten Hag should be the same. It will come down eventually to getting players suitable for such style.

 

[UpWithRivers]

All anyone has wanted for years and years is effort, a happy camp, a style of play and progress. Is that too much to ask!

 

[bosnian_red]

It always depends on what your targets and expectations are for each stage of the rebuild. Rebuild until we are a true ETH team and should be competing at peak levels/competing with the top in Europe, then yes 3 seasons. But you should see signs of progress continuously and improvements pretty quickly.

• 22/23 - Season 1 - address holes in squad with signings, clear out obvious players who have no role. Start to implement style. Biggest teething issues for both us and ETH. Fight for top 4 but probable inconsistency throughout. Some great performances, some bad performances. Probably tier 3/4 in terms of European top clubs.
• 23/24 - Season 2 - Upgrade on positions where we "made do" with what we had but weren't good enough, ETH also adapts to the league and where he should improve. Should take a step up in consistency. Should be a comfortable top 4 finish, maybe some decent cup runs. Probably tier 3/pushing tier 2 (like Chelsea/Real Madrid right now) by the end of the season
• 24/25 - Season 3 - upgrade to make the step up to tier 1 hopefully. Challenge for trophies playing in the way of the manager. But being the first season at this level, will depend on competition as well if we can do a big title challenge or a "soft challenge" (will Pep or Klopp be there still hitting 100 points?)
• 25/26 and later - should be cemented as a tier 1 team in Europe, if he has the potential to take us there. Serious challenging across all competitions, though of course you need the luck to win.

Basically the earliest possible time is 24/25 to get to the point where we feel like we can win any trophy, but you need the luck to get over the line and if it's the first year of it, it might not happen right away. 22/23 and 23/24 let's call the transition/rebuild years where we lack the consistency but start hitting good heights in cup competitions or one of games.

In terms of transfers:
Summer 2022

• 2 goalkeepers probably leaving (Henderson and Grant)
• Bailly/Jones leaving
• Pogba/mata/Lingard/Pereira leaving
• Ronaldo/Cavani leaving
• Sign a backup goalkeeper (Johnstone)
• sign a DM (Kamara?)
• Sign a CF (Would love Gerard Moreno)
• Sign a RW (Antony?)

January 2023/Summer 2023

• Martial, Matic, Wan Bissaka, Telles out
• Possibly Van de Beek out
• Possibly De Gea out
• Garner/Hannibal promoted to senior squad and get regular minutes
• Address goalkeeper issues, fullback issues, possibly Timber as a rotational piece in defence/future starter

January 2024/summer 2024

• Upgrade/buy/sell whatever is required to make the step up to the top level. Probably at this point buy a top CF to replace Moreno if that's who we get (age), if DM still an issue, go for Rice at a much more reasonable price (would have 1 year left at this point). Replace Fred/Garner or whoever if required.

Squad could be something like:

New Striker
Sancho Bruno Antony?
New CM New DM
New LB Varane Timber? New RB
New GK

Moreno
Rashford Hannibal Elanga
Garner Mctominay
Shaw Maguire Lindelof Dalot
Johnstone​

Amad/Fred/Laird/Mengi probably there in some way too.

 

[JeffFromHK]

I won't care our position in the first season as long as we don't fall into the 2nd half of the table, as long as he shows that we are building up something up

 

[MoskvaRed]

Season 1 - show signs of a coherent style and the formation of a core of players. Top 4 not essential.
Season 2 - a solid Top 4 finish, showing we have put daylight between ourselves and Arsenal, Spurs and West Ham (can’t believe I am typing that….). A domestic cup run.
Season 3 - a title challenge and a strong showing in the Champions League

 

[R'hllor]

Give him time and support blindly? You guys have a laugh, after all these wasted years and money, after everyone taking advantage of us, players earning mental wages for achieving feck all, managers getting bags after being sacked for doing shit jobs, there is no way i will just stay silent for 3 years regardless of his work. Its not really hard to just sit back, praise shit you like and critic shit you dont like under him, while hoping that he is the one.

Regardless of who the manager is, his time will depend on decisions he makes from day one, miss me with whole 4 summers, 500mil. bullshit. Said it already, if he comes out on first presser and says some drivel like "We have great bunch of players here, great guys, past is the past, clean slate for everyone, they will all get a chance to prove themself" , making sack thread on a spot, radical changes are needed to weed out specific bunch of players, if not majority of them. Will be looking for mainly for performances that will look turning into wins in the future, idea of play style and its progression etc. Dont care about whole top 4 nonsense and similar drivel, sick and tired of whole signing world class players that turn into Sunday league feckers after few months of joining. Youth, desire, effort, hunger on low wages that wanna earn their new decently improved contracts, by their body for work and not giving their all in last 3 months of expiring one.

 

[Lentwood]

Chelsea have this weird invulnerability to rebuilds. It's very odd. They've had a self governing dressing room for most of their recent history so the constant managerial changes haven't really affected them.

It's not the case with our team and it needs serious work in terms of personnel and attitude. I would give ETH 3 years and judge him then. Hopefully of course we would see progress sooner but there's a lot to be sorted.

It's because by and large the really big football decisions at Chelsea are not made by the manager...which is the model we should really aspire to.

The "manager" should just oversee coaching, tactics and team selection. That's it.

 

[DJ_21]

Hopefully he can come in and hit the ground running straight away, we don’t have the squad like Chelsea though to make it a quick turn around../ we have a lot of players with bad attitude and are only playing here for the money. We’ve also never had a manager that plays expansive attacking football and possession based. Can’t really say LVG did. That will take a lot of time and effort to drill into the players, I’d say he needs at least a full season to get his ideas across and then the second season we should be competing to a much higher standard. You never know though he could bring a trophy or 2 whilst developing the team. We’re not as far away from competing as some people think and the table shows. We just need a class manager with the right coaches and a few players bought for the starting 11, aswell as developing some of the current starting 11. I don’t believe it should take 3 years though. We’ve a miles better team then what Liverpool left klopp with when he took over, that’s why it took him like 3 years to start winning.

 

[Amadaeus]

We gave Ole time and that lead us no where. If ETH fails basic object he should be achieving, then he should be sacked. First season objective is simply gets us back to champion league football, get to the semi or finals of a cup competitions* and make us play attractive football (yes the mighty United has lowered our standard). Second league objective is to challenge for the title and win a trophy. There is no way that with the resource we have at the disposal, we shouldn't be in the Champion league yearly. Even spurs did that on a tight budget and it looks like Conte might bring them back to those good times.

* indicates cup competitions are sometime luck based, so that objective can be overlooked for his first season

 

[DanielofLeyland]

Within the first few weeks we should be able to see a genuine structure in our style of play. The players will have had a pre-season with the boss to understand and implement this in a way Rangnick wasn't afforded. The way we play now it should be pretty obvious from the very beginning of next season if we have a style and structure in games.

Beyond that it's just a more consistent approach to games and better attitudes with players. I don't give a fudge about league positions next year I just want to see the players follow the philosophy of the manager and perform well. They may come unstuck against the likes of City and Liverpool if our players try but lack that final quality. Its then that ETH should be able to identify better players in those positions. We should certainly be winning most of our games against sides below us in the league and seeing games out unlike this season.

Implemented philosophy, good attitudes and good game management. The league positions will inexorably improve if this is our mantra going forward.

 

[caid]

I think until every first team player has been replaced and heads have rolled at board level the manager will get my support regardless basically. I just dont rate any of them, think they're all amateurs and losers and a liability for any coach. Any and all the managers were being linked with are at a minimum good and ill back them until they're the last man.

 

[Rooney24]

He's the best available manager I think. But at the same time its a leap of faith, managing in the Dutch league is a completely different ball game to the EPL.

Im so despondent about United at the minute that in my head Ive written off the next three seasons. People saying Klopp took x amount of years at Liverpool are of course correct. The thing is though you could feel them coming before that, you could see his mark on the team and the squad, you knew they were improving and becoming a threat. Picking up a trophy was just the next step when the finally did it.

Id settle for the same with ETH in years 1-3 to be honest.

 

[Skills]

Chelsea have this weird invulnerability to rebuilds. It's very odd. They've had a self governing dressing room for most of their recent history so the constant managerial changes haven't really affected them.

It's not the case with our team and it needs serious work in terms of personnel and attitude. I would give ETH 3 years and judge him then. Hopefully of course we would see progress sooner but there's a lot to be sorted.

Chelsea's model isn't to rip it all apart and rebuild. Their model is continuos improvement.

 

[Lastwolf]

For me, as a fan, it depends how the team is playing rather than positions (in the short term) and if I can see something is like remotely building, the overall position doesn't matter as much to me. Obviously I'd prefer he smash it and we win the league, but 4th -6th would be "alright" for now. A comfortable champions league qualification and few deep cup runs would be "good".

This squad needs major surgery at this point, it's not anywhere close to fit for purpose, the majority (including myself) thought a title push might be on the cards this year, thats off the table for atleast 2-3 years. There's the meme of "5-year" cycles but if this is a full restart of the 5 year cycle it's a big reset.

I was listening to some stuff the other day about LVG's idea of 15 first team spots, the rest to the squad slots made from the academy, that's a bit mental. But I thought to myslef, push that out to 18-20 it's not the worst idea, so I did some paper squad building, so you know might not be accurate or anyway useful.

There's 5 contracts expiring this summer, all should be let go, baring maybe Pogba renewing but you know that's not happening so, whatever, there's 11 next year. Of that 11, at a push I'd renew 5 of them, (Rashford, Shaw, De Gea, Lindelof, Fred) but each one is gonna be wanting north of 200k or waaay north in De Gea's case. So with 0 sales, there's 11 players down in two summers time, and 5 fat contracts that you better pray you aren't stuck with now, like all the others, just through contract expiry and I was struggling to fill in 15 from what remained that I wanted to keep, nevermind my 20. ETH then also needs to get a song out of some players that haven't looked good in along time, on longer term contracts or sell them (Maguire, Martial, Donny).

So yeah, that task in hand is a large one, realisitically the Glazers aren't going to allow that level of squad turn over, at net spend of -£150m per year. He's got time as far as I'm concerned, feck it roll the dice on 3 year project, see what happens.

 

[sullydnl]

One thing I will be looking out for is whether our underlying data is improving ahead of our results.

Take City when Guardiola took over in 16/17, for example. That season they finished third in the league, 15 points behind the winner, with the 3rd most goals scored and 4th least goals conceded. But in terms of the expected stats they were 1st for xPTS, 1st for xG and 2nd for xGA. And they won the league the next year.

Klopp had a slower start when he took over in October 2015, with them still only finishing 4th (25 points behind the winners) in the 16/17 season, scoring the 2nd most goals but conceding the 5th most. Again though the underlying stats painted a brighter picture, with them finishing 2nd for xPTS, 2nd for xG and 3rd for xA. And the following season they indeed finished 2nd, closing the gap to just one point.

In other words in both cases it wasn't just that most (though not all) could see the improvements in the way they were playing in those seasons via the eye test, it was also being backed up by the underlying stats.

Meanwhile we've experienced the opposite in recent years. While our 2nd place finishes under Mourinho and Ole seemed positive on paper, many (though not all) believed those results were flattering our level of actual performances. And the stats backed that up too, with us finishing 6th for xPTS in Mourinho's season and 4th in Ole's. In fact at no point since SAF left have we ever finished better than 4th in that xPTS model.

So when we say the most important thing is for performances to improve next season, I'd like that to be backed by both the eye test and the stats. If that's happening then I'll be a lot more patient with ETH, regardless of whether those improved performances are immediately reflected in our league position. Because it will be a clear sign that we're on the right track.

 

[Flying high]

Everyone seems to be talking about how many years until we compete. But before that, what about if we never get into the top half of the table next year? Or we're near the bottom of the league at christmas?

Will this guy be a (PE) teacher too?

 

[sunama]

I believe ETH will be fired within 3 years of his arrival....just like every other manager we've had.
I hope I am wrong, though.

 

[GaryLifo]

The club could go some way to helping take the initial pressure off Ten Hag by including in his reveal a statement of how they believe so much in this appointment they are placing no short term milestones (e.g. must finish top 4) in place for his tenure. They could also talk about how they are working to put in place the structure needed for long term building and eventual on pitch success down the line with the support of Ragnick, the new manager and coaching team. They might go further and speak of how their plan will be to only offer performance enhanced contacts for any new players and the plan to place an emphasis on promoting youth in the best traditions of this club etc etc.

 

[AdamColeBebe]

Without sounding too Game of Thrones, who has the actual power at Manchester United? The fans? The players? Ronaldo? Woodward? Why is there even talk about the players being consulted over the new manager? Since when have they ever had that kind of power? I've never heard this be a thing at any other club.

 

[USREDEVIL]

I'm convinced the players are to blame for poor performances. I will give him 2 years at the very least until i even question him unless he puts Shaw in goal or something.

 

[Foxbatt]

Ralf implemented a style in his first game and all of us were happy. Then something happened and it all went as if before Ole was sacked.
So obviously it's not the manager alone. If the players are not willing to do as ETH instructs then he should be given time to get rid of those players and get a new backbone of the team.

 

[Polar]

No manager is able to make United top3 with the existing squad. People say we have a talented squad, but that is 100% bullshit.

I don’t expect anything from the new manager until the owners and the board have replaced half the team (first 11). When that have happened, I give the manager 6 months to perform like hell, and the team should win a title within 12 months.

 

[flameinthesun]

Time should be demonstrable and achievable objects agreed by the board and the manager. The fans patience shouldn't be factored into it and neither the players.

 

[charlenefan]

Klopp's first season at Liverpool was shite. It's not a given that a top coach will come in and have an immediate impact, especially when they're trying to completely change the way a team plays.

Didn't Klopp go and beat City 1-4 away from home in one of his early games? That's the kind of signs I want to see from ETH in his first season, it might not all be rosey but a taste of things to come has to be the aim for next season

I'm personally just fed up of watching the team play and be genuinely confused as to what they work on in training, it was evident with LVG, I guess they were doing what Mourinho asked as his Spurs side did the exact same after us and it's been evident again watching us under Ole and now RR. I want to see clear signs of change in how the team perform, I don't expect us to be a well oiled pressing machine but just better movement, players being in the right places etc things that other sides just make look so simple just we make look the hardest thing in the world

If after a few months of ETH nothing has changed and we're as useless as we are now then at least that'll confirm it is the players that are just uncoachable and need sticking in the bin but right now I don't believe that's the case especially as like I said our team have looked completely uncoached for years now and the XI under LVG to Mourinho to Ole/RR has changed massively