14 May 2024 09:25:51
36 games into the season and Ten Hag finally changed the tactics to be more compact and solid at the back. It nearly got us a point on Sunday, but I'd imagine arsenal had another couple of gears.
My major issues with ten hag has been his persistence with the rubbish we had seen in every other game this season. Basketball matches, no control and just allowing teams to walk through midfield and have shots on our goal. A high press with a deep defence. If he had changed up in say November/ December, I reckon we could easily have another 10-15 points on the board.
I don't know if it was arrogance or naivety that the previous system would work. Constantly talking about injuries being the reason we are having such poor results, yet with a fully fit team we saw the same issues. Against arsenal, I think if we had Martinez, shaw, rashford and Bruno in that system we would've had a better chance.
Sorry if this is a ramble, but I'm just baffled at why he's finally made a change in the bloody 36th game of the season.
14 May 2024 10:10:35
Hard to know the why.
Perhaps it's under instruction from wilcox who knows.
But the mistake from casimero aside we were competitive to a large degree.
As you say they probably had more gears to go through.
14 May 2024 10:54:46
Caolon,
We are so depressing i just stopped watching us play. I will watch us next year when eth is out.
14 May 2024 11:20:55
I read a really interesting article the other day suggesting that EtH believes this is a personnel problem rather than a system or tactical issue.
If you remember in the summer EtH stated he wanted us to be the best transitional team in the world.
His system is designed to maximise transitional opportunities, encouraging the opposition to commit players forward, thus leaving space for counter opportunities if/ when the move breaks down. This is why many games this season have been more akin to basketball than football.
The article suggested it was the Utd defenders inability to cope and win important defensive duals and bad decisions and wasted opportunities by the attackers rather than the system?
Obviously the ever changing back 4 has placed great pressure on the defence and the loss of form to key players such as Rashford and Bruno has severely impacted the team’s ability to create chances and score goals.
I’m not saying I necessarily agree with this position but it certainly made me think.
14 May 2024 11:54:22
DLIB- that’s all well and good. But football and all elite level sport is problem solving. Like I said above, when he’s had a full team available the same issues have persisted.
Last season I’d praised ten hag for his flexibility and how we adapted in game to opponents. This season he’s cut his nose off.
From what I can see to my untrained eye, we go man to man in midfield, and it kills us every game. This is why I’m so fed up of what I’ve seen this season. If I can spot these issues, I know for a fact he can. Adaptability is key. Every great manager adapts. We’ve flogged a dead horse tactically.
14 May 2024 12:39:15
That's a bit extreme backpass.
No appointment or individual being kept or sold would ever stop me supporting the team or club.
It's of course entirely your own perogative but supporting the team and club imo should not come down to one or 2 transient employees.
So your support and others like you is dependent on you getting what you want or the club sacking who you don't want.
If sjr and team decide eth is the man then I'm good with that I may not be happy but it won't stop me watching or wanting them to win and watching and supporting them in every single game.
14 May 2024 14:28:48
I challenge any manager to cope with the amount of injuries we’ve had to contend with this season.
If Arsenal turned up to Old Trafford on Sunday without Saliba, Gabriel, White, Odegard and Saka they’d struggle. For context we were without Martinez, Varane, Shaw, Bruno and Rashford!
EtH has used over 14 different combinations at CB and been without a recognised LB for most of the season. In addition he’s had only fit 1 recognised CF in the entire squad and that’s an inexperienced 20 year old with only 1 previous season of top flight football under his belt!
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and for everyone insisting that he should have been more pragmatic forgets the lessons of the past!
Most supporters hated the football under LvG and it quickly unravelled for Jose once results suffered. Many posters at the time boldly proclaimed they’d rather see the team lose, trying to attack than playing negative, defensive football. The evidence is still there in the chat if you can want to look for it.
I don’t think we can argue the football this season has not been exciting. It’s been end to end, we’ve enjoyed thrilling comebacks, we’ve given up some commanding positions, we’ve scored and conceded late goals, we’ve had some great wins and took some heavy defeats.
What we’re now saying is we don’t like transitional football as well. It’s only exciting if we winning or there’s a structure that makes sense and we can understand. We now want a return to more pragmatic football. My advice, be careful what you wish for.
Liverpool suffered last season with injuries as Newcastle have done this season.
If people want EtH out, I respect their opinion but let’s not yearn for a return to pragmatic football we didn’t like that either!
14 May 2024 16:22:10
My advice would be don't expect a new management team and dof to make the same mistakes as non football people like Woodward when it comes to making crucial decisions and appointments.
14 May 2024 16:50:59
DLIB.
The football has been crap. What’s exciting about watching your team concede 20+ shots a game, vacate midfield and fall apart like a wet cake late in games after being exhausted playing basketball.
To me that’s not entertaining football at all. I’m not asking for full Jose football at all, but ten hag should’ve gone much more pragmatic with the personnel available to him. We could end up with 16 defeats. Yet if we were more solid in I’d say at last 5/ 6 of them we would have 15 more points.
Too much excuse making for poor decisions.
15 May 2024 05:24:56
Yup. I’d prefer entertaining football that gets results, but would settle for crap football that gets results or entertaining football that doesn’t; at least for a while, if needed, while a manager attempts to imprint their style on the team. Sadly, we’ve been treated to garbage football that’s yielded garbage results for quite a while now, and I think most of us have had just about enough of it.