01 Apr 2024 13:54:18
DLIB has written an article entitled, Sacking EtH From Utd Is Not The Answer
01 Apr 2024 14:46:24
Agree DLIB. There is a consistent theme here, notwithstanding injuries, in terms of the playing staff and their commitment to the cause. Rashford isn't showing a dip in form in my view, last season was an exception for him. I don't believe him to be the world class player some seem to including himself. He has become a passenger and a liability the team cannot afford. Strolling around the pitch, failing to challenge anything approaching a 50/ 50 nor any aerial challenge just isn't on. He constantly exposes his LB by failing to offer any defence. Bruno has become a petulant embarrassment always looking for the worldy pass and giving up possession and then not defending. He is giving away silly free kicks in dangerous areas far too often. I will have to stop ranting but it's difficult to stomach some of the appalling performances we endure over and over again.
Like you, I think sacking ETH now will simply be a rinse and repeat exercise.
I shall now sit back with a tub of popcorn and watch the fight.
01 Apr 2024 15:05:48
ETH has had a hard time with injuries, recruitment and operating in Glazer Woodward leadership.
I like him but I’m far from convinced.
Game management has been a recurring issues.
Performances against smaller clubs has been consistently poor.
People management has been horrific ETH has devalued players with his management.
Injuries seem more than coincidental and indicate there’s an issue with training.
Recruitment hasn’t been perfect but Amrabat, Antony, Malacia, Weghorst and Martinez are all seem to be his players and one has been a success.
I’m like Zidane, De Zerbi, Amorin but don’t think they would do any better than ETH but have an intuitive belief that someone like Postecoglu or McKenna would be a better fit.
01 Apr 2024 15:09:05
Very good article DLIB, totally agree. I think we know what the follow up will be, from who and what will be said.
All opinions are valid, but I see absolutely no value in removing ETH to bring in another episode of exactly the same thing.
01 Apr 2024 15:11:16
Dlib I completely agree will the last few lines.
Let the ineos team get their appointments in place and let them decide what's best going forward. You are right they are appointing experts to make these decisions. We have to trust their judgement. We all wanted a new footballing structure. Now we have one incoming. They are the best people to decide
A great statement you made, and the last few lines are really well written imo, I don't agree on any of the eth stuff as you know but great that you are calling for support for the new appointees incoming.
01 Apr 2024 15:41:34
Fizz - Nobody has been more critical of Rashford than me and whilst I don’t think he’s anywhere near World Class he did score 30 goals in all competitions last season. If you look around Europe’s top leagues there isn’t that many players capable of scoring 30 plus goals. Haaland, Kane, Mbappe, Salah, Lewanddoski, Martinez, Oshimen immediately spring to mind but beyond the obvious, not many players are capable of hitting those numbers and if you take into consideration Rashford predominantly plays on the wing that number is whittled down even further.
Im not defending Rashford, but I can kind of understand why EtH has persisted with him because he’s more than capable and I’m assuming EtH has been waiting for him to burst into form. Let’s not forget Sancho has been expelled, Antony has been just as bad and Ahmed injured for most of the season. EtH’s options have been limited. The loss of Shaw hasn’t helped either and the new, more aggressive style doesn’t suit him.
I think if EtH had put another body in midfield, sat a touch deeper, employed more of a mid block and allowed Rashford to operate higher, in the left side half spaces we’d have seen a much better Rashford.
In my opinion this team just cannot accommodate Rashford’s poor pressing, Bruno’s seemingly free role and lack of positional discipline and Mctominay in this more advanced midfield role making continual runs ahead of the ball into the box.
Unfortunately we just don’t have the balance in the squad. I’m surprised EtH hasn’t used Amrabat more in midfield instead of Mctominay and deployed Mainoo more as a No8 in the absence of Casemiro. He’s much better on the ball and more positionally disciplined than Mctominay. Ill accept he hasn’t been great however a lot of his games have been at LB, he’s also been injured, although I think we’ve seen glimpses of what he can do with decent games against Chelsea and Liverpool this season.
I think EtH has got the structure of the team wrong this season and he just hasn’t been able to cope with injuries to key players but I don’t think that means he should be sacked. I think he should be afforded a bit more time to put things right.
IWOTB - Cheers pal
Tumble - As you know I wanted a full sale but now Ineos are in charge I will support what they are trying to do. No point in banging that drum anymore.
My concern is that the new CEO doesn’t arrive until the summer and the DoF is not yet in place.
My preference would be to get these people in place first, give them
time to assess the Club and then make a decision about the manager.
Like I said I’m pretty sure that if Martinez, Varane, Shaw and Casemiro had been able to play the majority of games together along with Mainoo, Rashford, Bruno and Hoijljnd we’d have made top 4 comfortably. Of course we should be able to cope better with injuries but long term injuries to key players will adversely affect most Clubs. Even City have struggled when they lose Rodri for a few games.
01 Apr 2024 15:52:55
Martinez, Shaw, Varane and Casemiro are never all going to stay fit.
01 Apr 2024 16:05:20
very good article Dlib. agree with everything you said.
01 Apr 2024 16:26:11
Great article DLIB
Yes Ken, 100 percent, trust the people when they ARE in place. but they aren't yet and won't be for months. Meaning they won't be able to properly assess ETH.
So, in agreement, get the football structure in place, and let them judge ETH fairly.
01 Apr 2024 16:35:22
Porsche - I accept that mate and it’s a big problem, but to replace them with players of an equal standard will be expensive. I’d personally keep them all and be looking to offload the likes of Maguire, Lindelof and Mctominay before Casemiro and Varane. Could we not offer Varane a one year extension on the same terms? He’s only 30 and if he’s stays fit and plays well, offer the same next year as well. I’m sure under SAF older players were on rolling one year contracts. We could look to sign a younger CB, possibly Tobido and integrate him into the team . I still think a Varane/ Martinez CB pairing is one of the best in the league.
Ed001 can probably put me straight, but when Liverpool were at their best Allison, VVD, Robertson, Trent, Fabinho, Salah, Mane and Firminho all seemed to be fit and play the majority of the games. I think it’s far to say they lacked a bit of squad depth, which is to be expected when you don’t have the finances on offer at City, but they struggled on occasions when they suffered long term injuries to key players.
Its been a bad season ravaged by long term injuries to some of our key players, I’d say give him another season, let Ineos put the structure in place and let the experts make the decision once they’ve had time to assess the situation. Anyway I’ve said enough, enjoy the rest of the bank holiday guys!
01 Apr 2024 17:08:05
Whilst I am reticent about sacking or replacing ten hag there are 2 things I look at.
1 ed002 has said a conversation needs to happen will ten hag even want to work in the new set up, undoubtedly it looks like the managers role will be scaled back to focus on coaching with less say over transfers, would ten hag be happy working under whatever set up this is?
2. Let's say you keep ten hag you make all the changes new dog new technical directors all the new back room staff, you make your desired player changes along with ten hag in the summer. These transfers should be heard towards a longer term view which is good. You start the season and there's no improvement 3 months in were still having games like Fulham and Brentford and it looks like another difficult season your then forced to make a change and although decisions have been made with longer term ideas it's a wasted 5 months (including preseason) .
Yes the same could happen with a new manager but a new manager having a difficult first few months is easier to explain and doesn't lead to a reset of coaching staff and having to find a new manager at a much more difficult time.
For me I make the change based on both of these I think even if ten hag did agree to the new set up he wouldn't necessarily be happy with it, and having a new manager gives that set up a little more time to get adjusted and have their own man.
There also seems to be a number of players who aren't exactly happy with ten hag and while I expect the majority of these to leave, ten hag seems to have issues with favouritism and conflict resolution.
01 Apr 2024 18:01:45
Ken
I think where you think some EtH inners differ is exactly where we actually agree.
I want the new competent manager structure to make the decisions, why else bother bringing them in? I just don't trust that the management structure is in place yet, so I question who is making the decisions. The new CEO is not in place yet I believe, but will be shortly. Ashworth is obviously not yet part if the decision.
I don't want EtH hounded out by the press. I would rather the management team was in place and then they start to make some of these big decisions. After the year of injuries I am happy to give more time and feel far more frustration towards the players than EtH. But EtH has also made some questionable decisions, like playing rashford and bruno almost every minute of every game.
Good article DLIB.
01 Apr 2024 21:40:29
I have said for some time ETH needed to show he has what it takes. It’s an audition for Ratcliffe and ETH is failing it. If he has a great plan, wants to stay and Ratcliffe buys it, then he will be here next season but that plan is not in front of us. However, the Brentford game was an utter shambles in terms of teamwork and organisation, ETH should have to explain that to his bosses. If after nearly two years, a managers team in any type of business fails and continues to fail that badly it would put anyones position in jeopardy.
After the Liverpool game we should have been on a high, come out organised, ready tactically, yet it was a shambles. We were not prepared and that is the managers job, had nearly two years to set a team up and we were not prepared, there can be no excuses for that utter shambles.
That finally made me feel a change was needed. I suspect ETH will not fancy being a coach rather than the manager, he took the role on that basis and may resign let alone get sacked. It is clear change in role parameters is coming. We cannot lurch from one design to another with some shouting give x more time, because none of us know whether giving him more time will work, we are all guessing, just basing those calls on SAF, whilst ignoring Sexton and Atkinson examples.
The question is where we are going, where is ETH showing the supporters and bosses what a great future we have with him showing what he is doing is going to give us all what we want? We just see performances like Brentford and similar without any semblance of design, plan or structure so we are bound to crack.
I can take losing, but Brentford showed a lack of planning, tactical set up and poor selection, that’s down to the manager.