03 Apr 2024 07:39:01
{Ed's Note - Shappy has posted a new article entitled, Concerns about Erik ten Hag at Manchester United

1.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 09:15:43
EtH and whoever is helping him out with the football operations at Man United have been an absolute disaster in my opinion. Public spats with Ronaldo and Sancho were utterly shocking man management. He's also seemingly fallen out with Rashford too and to such an extent he now ambles around the pitch. He embarrassed the club captain, Maguire, then had to go back with his tail between his legs because the players he'd signed to replace him were worse/ not robust enough for England. They treated a club legend in De Gea absolutely disgracefully, bombing him out then asking him to stay, then retracting the contract offer. They tried to sell McTominay to West Ham despite the fact he's the only senior United player who plays with any heart and is keeping EtH in a job right now. He signed some average players just because he's worked with them before (Onana, Matinez, Antony) . They signed several players who are in drastic decline (Casemeiro, Evans, Eriksen etc) . He managed to find the worst Dutch players in Europe to sign despite his Dutch connections (Weghorst, Malacia etc) . He doesn't know what tactics he wants to lay down as an identity. They're conceding about 20-30 shots a game and relying on opposition teams being wasteful to pick up results. I mean I could probably go on but that's just off the top of my head.

He had a very fortunate first season in that a lot of teams were in transition. So much so that even Howe's mid-table level Newcastle side managed to reach a cup final and finish top 4. Now the other teams are picking up though, he's being horribly exposed as the bang average manager he is. Personally, I hope United give him another contract. He's the worst permanent manager they've had since SAF and long may he reign!

2.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 09:27:59
Good objective points there MK.

3.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 10:00:58
Stop sitting on the fence and tell us how you feel about the Utd manager, MK ?.

4.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 10:09:56
I’m personally surprised how much support he seemingly has from Utd fans.

I get he’s faced his challenges with injuries but there seems to be zero sign of good football there in nearly 2 seasons. You’re not telling me that teams in our league with much worse squads haven’t played better football than Utd this season?

I think the most damming endorsement of ETH is that ALL rival fans universally want him to stay in charge. If that doesn’t state laughing stock, I don’t know what does.

5.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 10:32:22
Ten more years for Seven Hag. And for Onana too!

6.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 10:36:38
Have zero interest in Utd manager!
Hopefully Ineos and Glazers remain in charge at Old Trafford for years…. they are made for each other…… they should have a documentary team show how they operate…. how not to run a football club.

7.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 11:01:42
Good points MK. I think the analysis of players' motivation in the article was far too simplistic.

8.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 11:15:41
Utd are way off challenging for the top trophies but surely the most frustrating part for their fans is how they are set up and how they actually play.

I remember going back to the Benitez years and I fell out of love with watching Liverpool at some points due to the fact we weren’t playing to win games. Under Klopp despite us going season without winning trophies Klopp makes entertainment the forefront for supporters with our style of play.

When Klopp is relaxed I hope the new manager follows suit and doesn’t have us set up in some games with11 men behind the ball.

For me that is not entertainment and with the cost of football going up and up I think the people running the game need to remember that.

9.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 11:29:29
Shaq Attack, I'm equally surprised mate. All I keep hearing is that it's the "players" and the "culture". EtH has signed Onana, Amrabat, Martinez, Evans, Malacia, Casemeiro, Eriksen, Mount, Antony and Hojlund. that's 1 player short of a starting XI so if the players and the culture are the problem, what does that say about his business in the transfer market and the type of characters he is bringing in and putting in more prominent roles? He even gave the armband to Bruno who is probably the worst captain in the league in terms of downing tools when the going gets tough and also in terms of setting a bad example on the pitch by rolling around on the floor or moaning at the ref.

The only 4 maybe 5 players who look in any way deserving to wear the shirt right now in terms of effort and quality are Dalot, Varane, Mainoo, McTominay and Garnacho. All players he inherited. It baffles me that the fans continue to make excuses. Glazers this, culture that, players this, attitude that! Buck stops with the manager for a lot of their problems and they either can't or don't want to see it.

10.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 12:39:45
The United fans are as culpable as the people in the
football operation. It’s almost like they have crowdsourced decisions from the hive mind. They deserve to be where they are now as a result of that.

Let’s now see if the INEOS installed operators will have the vision and fortitude to make good long term decisions to build a healthy culture at the club or slip into the same fan pleasing mode of previous folk.

Ps give ETH a 10 year deal.

11.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 15:58:49
How can anyone say you can’t change a player’s motivation? You are basically saying there’s no point in having a manager. The players are either motivated or they’re not and that’s it.

So why can some managers get players playing for them and some can’t?

It’s about building a team, with a clear plan and a clear identity and selling that to the players. The very best managers will get the players to buy into his ethos and get them all pulling in the same direction. That way the players will naturally be motivated because they don’t want to be the one to let the team down and their team mates will pull them up on it if they do.

To say that ETH is hamstrung because he has less than 11 motivated players is a damning indictment of him as a manager. Motivating the squad is his main job and what he gets paid extremely well for. If he can’t motivate the players then there’s no point in him being there.

Give him a lifetime contract I say.

12.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 16:29:50
MKS, I'll leave you with this statement made by a Utd fan regarding Ten Hag. He said that Utd are the WORST coached team in the PL. Why? He said that you can watch them win, draw and lose games but most of all, you can NEVER tell what they are trying to do nor what the strategy is. I fully agree with his statement cos the receipts are WAY too many to prove this. Just look at their last two games vs Brentford and LFC for starters.

13.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 16:33:17
Ten Hag strikes me as a very average manager and I hope he stays at united for years.

However, he hasn't been helped by what seems to be a toxic group of players. Public spats with players like Sancho and Rashford who aren't pulling their weight isn't something he should be judged on imo. Bruno Fernandes wearing the captains armband is a disgrace and united fans should be demanding he leave the club. but that's me being a hypocrite as not long ago I supported Luis Suarez. In hindsight that was very poor judgement on my part.

United are a shambles and while Ten Hag clearly isn't the man to. turn that around he shouldn't hold all of the blame.

14.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 16:48:32
Only a guess and this is a stab in the dark.

If Klopp or Pep went to Utd for say 5 years then I’d bet my house on it that the players would be better under them. Id also bet my house that by the end of the 2nd season 95% of their current squad would be replaced with new players.

So I think that says that Ten Haag and the players are the problem.

15.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 17:04:36
I think Ten Hag rushed to some conclusions early in his united tenure which were wrong. He then did not have the humility to own up and change, instead he is trying to defend that as the right thing to do and that is compounding the problem. Not helped with injuries but fully agree on the man management and man selection part.

16.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 17:06:25
Exactly jk…. : we all say ten Haag is crap; because he’s well out of his depth. However the players don’t show any desire…. big time Charlie’s the majority of them. To be fair to him maguire and garnacho are the only ones trying. The rest are a disgrace and robbing a living. Total collapse of a once great club. Rashford is a disgrace. But the players that ten bought are even worse haha. Guys no clue and long may it continue.

17.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 18:43:54
Magico1234, that simply means that Utd just like Chelsea, are a complete ship show from top to bottom.

18.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 19:39:14
United are a very pleasant diversion these days. I said a while back that the constant at United for the past 20 years, or thereabouts, has been the Glazers. In my opinion I believe that they couldn’t run a p*ss up in a brewery. Great to see they will be staying around and hopefully they keep their current manager too. I’d hope he gets another 5 years at least. Like I say, great fun to watch.

19.) 03 Apr 2024
03 Apr 2024 20:16:22
Why so much time and energy wasted on Man U? They are a nothing team.

20.) 05 Apr 2024
04 Apr 2024 23:53:46
@Langland 3 - 2 up after 99 minutes and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory …… like I say they have been the gift that keeps giving for ages now. Can’t wait for Shappy to get his pencil out and give us the next navel gazing, angst ridden insight.