09 May 2023 11:44:19
BadRedDevil put a good post further down about perspective and I think he is spot on top of what he said, ETH has had to deal with the Greenwood situation, Ronaldo situation, the sale of the club and a ridiculous fixture schedule. Since 13th April, 27 days ago, United have had 8 games. 6 of these away including a trip to Spain on a Thursday night and to Wembley on the Sunday and also Brighton on a Thursday night followed by another trip to London on the Sunday.

Take into account Newcastle in the same period have had 5 games, 3 at home and Liverpool 6 games, 4 at home.

Now people will say they travel 1st class etc but its the disruption between games, the recovery, the sessions in preparation for the upcoming games. It's been clear that United really drop off in the 2nd half and more evidence of needing a better squad. On top of this, you see Brighton's and Newcastles reaction in the changing rooms after they beat United, they both followed up with defeats which says to me that beating United is still a feather in the cap for these teams and work rate and effort will always be more when United come to visit.

Overall, I think ETH has dealt with the season well, including inheriting a team that for 2/ 3 years everyone questioned their attitude and desire. Arsenal a getting rewards for sticking with Arteta and I think United will, in a quicker period if they stick with ETH and resolve the sale of the club, hopefully very soon.

1.) 09 May 2023
09 May 2023 12:45:52
I think ten Hag has done an excellent job this season, all things considered. Now it is do or die time. Our fate is in our hands. I believe he will have them ready for Wolves. And a win Saturday will add some pressure on Liverpool, who have to wait until Monday to play Leicester.

2.) 09 May 2023
09 May 2023 15:56:40
Just playing devils advocate but will EtH have done an excellent job if they bottle top 4 and lose the Fa Cup final.

Always best to wait until the end of the season and take it from there.

We have been so starved of success and desperate for some positivity that we often can’t differentiate between periods of decent form and actual sustained progress and improvement.

3.) 09 May 2023
09 May 2023 16:50:07
DLIB, yes he will have done. A second trophy would be a bonus, while most pundits and fans didn't expect United to get top four at the start of the season anyway.

Last season was our worst ever finish in the EPL. 6th place with a record low points total. Top four was always going to be a challenge this year. Maybe we have been helped with the drop off of Chelsea and Liverpool. That said our fate is still in our hands.

4.) 09 May 2023
09 May 2023 17:16:50
I agree that in general Ten Hag has done an excellent job, and this will be the case whether we make top 4 or win the cup final, though if by some miracle we achieve both the question will be moot. He's not perfect, but he's playing a hand shorn of its top cards. I don't think he managed the game v WHU well. Once we went behind a change in system and personnel was indicated and it should have been at half time. Nor do I think Antony will ever justify his price tag. He just seems too slow, too one-footed and too temperamental. It's not Ten Hag's fault that he was left without a top goal scorer, and with a goal keeper, who despite pulling off a number of great saves, doesn't have the ability to become an 11th man on the field, and has very poor distribution skills, or that we spent so much money on bang average players like Sancho and Maguire, and that the club has racked up £1.1bn in debt and had no money to reinforce the squad in January, despite a very obvious need to do so, given the upcoming schedule.

If we fail to make top 4, that comes down primarily to the Glazers.

5.) 09 May 2023
09 May 2023 19:06:44
DLIB, I think if we finish 5th, it's been a poor season.

Of course many didn't give us a chance at finishing in those spots, but to find ourselves so far ahead of the chasing pack only to fall at the last hurdle will be a tremendous disappointment in my opinion.

It won't be the end of the world but it would be a setback.

Regardless of where we finish the most important thing this summer is to get the ownership situation sorted. If we fumble this window we could fall even further down the table next season.

6.) 09 May 2023
09 May 2023 19:16:15
Shaw - De Gea gets some stick and maybe to really push on and challenge consistently at the top level playing a more possession based system he may eventually need to be replaced but being the Utd No1 and especially one that is expected to play out from the back and act as a sweeper behind a high defensive line is a pressure most keepers haven’t experienced. It’s a very hard job playing in net for a team like Man Utd! The scrutiny is incredible and invariably when a GK makes a mistake it leads to a goal.

For the sake of debate would we have more points this season if we had Ederson in net or Haaland up front?!

We’ve collectively only scored 49 league goals all season I think Haaland’s got 35 on his own!

Unless we get Qatar we won’t be signing a top keeper and a striker this summer or a new CB and CM! We’ll have to prioritise.

7.) 09 May 2023
09 May 2023 19:45:28
Mumbles - I agree with you mate.

I’m not an advocate for celebrating finishing 4th well over 20 points behind the leaders our standards must be much higher than that.

I accept we were poor last season but we still have some very good players and with Liverpool and Chelsea having unexpectedly poor seasons I think it would be a catastrophe if we let Liverpool off the hook now.

If we finish in the top four and win the Fa Cup that would represent tangible progress and will probably mean we’ve stopped City winning a treble.

I think you must assess a season as it unfolds. I’ve said on numerous occasions that I didn’t think last summers transfer window was particularly well planned or executed. Only Malacia went on tour and EtH started the season without Casemiro and Anthony. Having said that once those players were brought in I fully expected us to be pushing for top 4 with the likes of Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal.

I didn’t predict Liverpool to implode so spectacularly, Arsenal to be so consistent or Newcastle to make so much progress. I don’t know what’s happened to Chelsea.

I’m not sure we can say it’s been a good season if we blow top 4. That’s not to say there hasn’t been some progress or I don’t think EtH is a good manager but to blow it at the end would be very disappointing in my opinion.

8.) 09 May 2023
09 May 2023 20:46:13
DLIB. Not only was de Gea's error extremely costly over the weekend, but his pass to Maguire in the Sevilla game had the same effect. Yes, you could blame Maguire primarily but de Gea should have been able to assess the situation and not make the pass. He nearly gave another one away against West Ham. We'll never achieve Ten Hag's objectives with de Gea in goal even if he's the best option we've got next year.

As for what difference Haaland and Ederson would make, I would say that if we'd darted the season with Haaland rather than Ronaldo we would not be sweating top 4 now. Of course, we don't have anyone nearly as good as de Bruyne to dirt him up.

9.) 09 May 2023
09 May 2023 21:07:38
Shaw - I think we need EtH to enforce his style of play on this team and those that aren’t up to standard must go.

I posted the other day that after some defensive mistakes EtH has allowed De Gea to go a bit longer which I believe only masks the problem and divides opinion.

Of course I fully understand this is easier said then done as the scrutiny at Man Utd means we must try and win every match but if we adapt the style to suit certain players it only perpetuates the status quo.

If I’m being brutally honest I don’t think our style of play has improved that much. I’m not saying there hasn’t been progress but I still think we still look more dangerous as a counter attacking team.

I appreciate these things take time but feel we must be fair and honest in our assessment without getting carried away or proclaiming EtH as the next messiah. (Not that you’ve done that by the way) .

Finish the job, get top 4 and I think it’s a promising start but still much work to be done.

10.) 09 May 2023
09 May 2023 22:19:30
Give ten hag resources and time then I have a feeling we can become a force again. He inherited a bad bunch of players and improved us, the bad results have coincided with injuries. Lisandro has been a massive loss. Top 4 and a trophy is better than most expected, and you never know we might beat city in the final.

11.) 10 May 2023
10 May 2023 01:32:03
Shappy - 6th was our worst finish? Pretty sure we finished 7th under Moyes.?

12.) 10 May 2023
10 May 2023 06:41:03
Mrlee, we did finish 7th under Moyes, with a total of 64 points.

However I said "Last season was our worst ever finish in the EPL. 6th place with a record low points total".

Key point, RECORD low points, where we only managed 58.

In the 2013/ 14 season we won 19 league games and lost 12.

Last season we only won 16 games and lost 12.

So last season we won our fewest ever games (not even winning 50% of our games), and collected our lowest ever points total. So I think it's far to say last season was our worst ever season in the EPL.

13.) 10 May 2023
10 May 2023 12:14:03
Shaw that's a routine pass to any decent and competent player. My kid is 8, plays CM and they are encouraged to make those passes all the time to increase scanning and awareness. I can't have De Gea blamed for that pass when a player, playing at that level should've been more than capable of dealing with that.

ETH has had a great season, whatever way we finish. We are well behind in terms of quality, first and foremost, let alone the crap he has had to train out of most if not all of the squad. He has been swimming against the tide since the day he took over. He doesn't even know who he can buy for next season, nor could he get in a decent CF pre of mid season.

I think its a minor miracle we are where we are. 1 cup won, another final, Europe league SF and top 4 on the horizon.

14.) 10 May 2023
10 May 2023 13:37:28
It's painful watching Utd play out from the back.
Watching City last night and how any of the defenders and Ederson were interchangeably exchanging passes and being constructive with the ball, forming simple triangles to play themselves out of trouble. OK so City are infinitely better but this is all basic stuff yet watching Utd, moreso when de Get and Maguire are both playing, in those situations is cringeworthy. You can read what any of them are going to do half a minute before they do it. Literally other than when Martinez or Varane are involved my heart is in my mouth when the ball is in our third.

{Ed014's Note - if you re watch your game against Brighton they did exactly the same against yourselves.