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littleDinosaurLuke said:
Whilst essentially the same group of underperforming, uncommitted players aren’t going to be transformed overnight, it was worrying that ten Hag seems to have coached them to play in just the same way!!
There was nothing about the team today which represented any form of improvement in any way whatsoever. In fact, they were worse. Played 50 minutes with no threat in front of goal to begin with. Brought in a 5’9” centre half who looks like he will be a liability against the threats he will face in every game in the PL. It was a good job Brighton didn’t have too many corners or set pieces. Dunk could have caused havoc.
I don’t think any other top ten team needs to fret over playing Utd. More Ronaldo miracles needed, but unlikely this time.
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It's no good saying after the match, but I looked at the lineup, then looked at the odds, which heavily favored Man U over Brentford, and went on a what the f rant. To paraphrase: "Last week Man U lost to a club that looked like it had a plan and a will to follow it when they had neither at home. This week they play a similar club away, and they're heavily favored?"

The idea of getting a ten Hag is to train a young team to play in a certain energetic style. It looks like ten Hag was either told or decided to play the same old pseudo-galacticos, with predictable results. He needs a talented, tough DM, a young striker who can score, a commanding CB, and at least one top young FB/WB. He got an undersized CB and a veteran #10 instead.

It's just barely possible ten Hag let this happen to show how desperately Man U need incomings and outgoings.
 
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redwhiteandermblue said:
It looks like ten Hag was either told or decided to play the same old pseudo-galacticos, with predictable results.
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I heard an interview yesterday where it was said that ten Hag got the job precisely because he said that he could utilise a large part of the existing squad in his team...which ran contrary to Rangnick's view that 10 of the current squad weren't fit for purpose.

If that's true, ten Hag is cast as Mourinho or Nuno, rather than Conte...just as their DoF John Murtough, is very much Steve Hitchen, as opposed to Rangnick's Fabio Paratici.

Basically, United's owners don't want to accept that they've wasted a ****ing fortune on players who just don't cut it...and aren't going to do so. Equally, the Glazers aren't going to be fronting up the cash to build a new or meaningfully updated stadium. They're currently stuck in repeating the same mistakes and appointing 'yes men' to tell them that it's the right thing to do.

Long may it coninue.
 
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Craziest thing is de Boer, **** sorry, ten Hag, looked absolutely broken.

Two games into the job and he had similar looks about him as Poch did in his final month or two with us.

A part of me has a degree of sympathy (Lol no I don’t) because he’s walked into a real cesspit of a football club nowadays but equally his early decisions are absolutely baffling.

Keeps Maguire as captain.
Selects McFred on the opening day and kept Fred in the XI for yesterday.
Benches Varane - a world class CB! - for both games, bringing him on at HT yesterday once the little hobbit cried that he couldn’t reach Mordor.
Persists with Rashford.
Persists with Shaw.
Persists with the English Pepe.
Plays Eriksen as a false 9 against Brighton then as a DM against Brentford… does he not realise he has one of the best number 10s in Europe?!

As I said after the Brighton game, new managers often tend to make changes that show one or two micro positives at the very least, even if results don’t go their way you can often see what they’re trying to do. Yet after a full pre-season with his new club, he’s managed to make Utd look even worse than they were under Rangnick and the end of Ole’s reign.

Liverpool next for them too… could be ugly.
 
humanbeingincroydon said:
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A lot of this makes sense. His background is managing the thoroughbred in a two horse race with a legendary academy and recruitment system that preceded his tenure by many decades and will survive his departure by many decades too. Ajax is the club of choice for many of not most promising youngsters in the region and their market strategy is buttressed by a long standing expectation of buy low, sell high.

Neither of these experiences is remotely useful in tackling the job at United as they are down the road from two clubs currently hoovering up young European talent and due to their size and financial clout are perforce buy high sell low.

They have an absentee owner and dysfunctional executive...a strong character as close in willpower to Fergie's is what they needed to turn this around. Instead they appointed a nice guy who plays nice football and hasn't had a tough decision to make since sanctioning the sale of promising youngster Bart Ramselaar from Utrecht to PSV in 2016 for £4m.

It's a different world.
 
Is Dean Henderson saving a penalty for Forest v West Ham good or bad for Utd?
All three sides are currently in the relegation spots.
 
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