Guys, please stop using the Sancho and Ronaldo issues; Sancho was given an inseason multi-month sabbatical that was never credited for how quiet it was kept and then proceeded to still act unprofessionally. Ronaldo showed dissent publicly multiple times, slandered other players in the team and did an interview with Piers Morgan. Come on. You think Pep or Klopp would have that? And comparing this Utd team which has been in turmoil since Ferguson left and expecting any manager to fix it in a short time frame is ridiculous. All managers succeeding now have had time. Give him time

Taking the captancy from maguire and giving it to bruno was certainly not a mistake. Maguire is playing much better since then.

32:17 The irony of suggesting patience with the next manager in a discussion on whether the current manager should be sacked after 2 seasons is quite bemusing.

Ever since Utd beat Liverpool the press have been desperate for negativity.

Wow, not a MU fan, but so glad to read comments supporting ETH project. I think he is still rebuilding and needs time and players that can understand his vision.

So many people are ignoring the ridiculous amount of injuries he's had to deal with

It's fairly obvious why the defence sits deeper than the attack, thus opening up the midfield to opposition. Maguire and Evans can't play a high line. Martinez and Varane can play higher, and they do.

The injuries has been the worst this season for United, playing more than 60% of the season with no left back, probably it will be the same till the last game, playing evans at cb coz no body was fit, Rashford losing his form, onana having a tough start, playing mainoo an 18 year old as first team, the moment the attack was clicking rasmus got injured, to be sixth or even in conversation of top 4 is alot looking at that United squad it has no depth a few injuries again would screw any hopes of 4 for United.

Stop saying Ten Hag spent x amount of money on players, Ten Hag isn’t the one negotiating fees it’s the incompetent people above him negotiating those fees. E.g. ETH tells the board he wants Antony in May, in June Ajax quote us €45M and United deem that too high, then go back in and buy him for a ridiculous amount of money and Ten Hag is blamed?

What happened to Liverpool when Van Dijk got injured? What happened to Arsenal when Saliba got injured towards the end of last season. Have you seen arsenal performances at the start of the season when Gabriel was not playing or Man city results when Rodri hasn't played. Now compare that to Man United where most key players have been injured and others have been out of form. Also consider the fact that man utd midfielders like Bruno and Casemiro can't keep the ball while our fowards thrive on pace. Do you guys think even Klopp can do better at Man Utd than ETH with the current squad?

So to summarize, and you did it at the start of the clip. Ten hag does not have 5 players that he needs to play the way he wants. A CM that can control the game (de jong) is missing. That with a fit Martinez they can play a higher line and it’s half way there. The space in the middle is deliberate, clearly, and they are compact so to push the opposition wide and minimise clear cut chances. Playing with what he has, Eric has had to adapt.

10:50 you can only love how there is no consideration for the impact of not having shaw and martinez for the majority of the season. They are crucial to how united control the game, attack and defend

Clearly these guys did not see how Man Utd played with the two games Martinez and Casemiro were back. We comfortably won those.

Can’t believe they replaced Joe with a baby

One thing I am pleased to see is United fans united in these comments. They should stick with Ten Hag, the level of scrutiny has been ridiculous from all levels of media. Any top 6 team would have struggled this season with arguably their best players out. Mainoo only started playing in November too.

In my completely unprofessional view, Man Utd problem starts from the fact that the squad is extremely unbalanced. Defenders want to play low block, while attackers are instructed to press high, leaving midfielders to cover unrealistic amounts of space. If we had 2 Kante, maybe it wouldn't be an issue

Brighton are not an elite team. Have had multiple spankings and when they play they are rushed and give the ball away a lot. They're 8th.

Very sorry to say, but Erik Ten Hag hasn’t spent £380 million. Joel Glazer has been making the final decision on transfers. Ten Hag has had some input, but the way this has been put across in the video is inaccurate.

I didn’t expect for you guys to regurgitate what the media says and I’m a fan of you guys. ETH, for the most part of the season hasn’t had a full consistent 11 throughout the season. The majority of matches this season have been players from other managers playing bar the keeper. Mount has been injured the whole season, Martinez has been out a lot, Casemiro in and out, shaw has been injured, AWB, Hojlund in and out, Erikson, Anthony has had his problems with his court case etc. pep lost Rodri and Debruyne and started losing and drawing games. The fact that you want Man Utd to play like Man City like there is only one way to approach a football match as an elite team? It’s not every time a manager plays good football copy them that is why teams lose games because they don’t have their own ideas.

Lol. Talking about squad cost and spend. Use some actual contextual arguments. Average starting 11 cost this season? Injury context? Number of Ten Hag signings in the starting 11 this season? You're analysing tactics whilst having Martinez, Mainoo, Shaw, Wan Bissaka, Mount in the 11 when they've been injured for months it's just misleading. Same agenda driven analysis that the likes rags and Talksport spout. You either analyse each of the 2 seasons individually or contextualise this season as he's had factually the most injuries and changes to his starting 11 of any team in the league.

They probably should stick with him

I mean... let's just say if they replace him with Southgate or Potter, they might as well shut down the whole institution...

Utd finished 6th before Ten Hag joined with a mixed squad and you’re saying he should be playing elite football in his first two seasons… just look at Arteta’s journey at Arsenal

Real Madrid kinda plays in transition don't they... I think they're pretty much an elite team

I really really REALLY hate this topic! You can't keep having this same debate every 18 months & we will never catch up to the top 3 if we do. Klopp and Arteta finished outside top 4 for multiple seasons and kept their jobs. Look at them now, flying. Erik proved why he deserves time in his debut season. End of discussion!

Ten hag: wins Media: GET HIM OUT! 😡

i think Arteta is a great case for people to give patience to managers

Why would they change him before the new CEO and Director of Football haven't even started their jobs? Makes absolutely no sense.

Sometimes, I feel like everyone has an agenda against Man United. Someone here actually just said Harry Maguire is a quick player. Everyone in England knows that Maguire is slower than an ocean liner. Maguire only thrives in international football because it's slow motion football. There's your proof of an agenda. They act like they forgot that when we play Varane and Martinez, WE PLAY A HIGH LINE. Ten Hag is right: he doesn't have the tools to play the way he wants. The proof is in his first 2 matches at United and in fact in every game. For Ten Hag, everyone attacks, everyone defends. How does the guy that oversaw brilliant football for 3 years at Ajax suddenly become trash? THE PLAYERS. And stop insulting us with this "Ten Hag spent all this money" rubbish. Ten Hag wanted a player, Man United sent a clown in a business suit to do the deal and he got his pants pulled down over and over again. Not Ten Hag's fault that he's working with idiots. Antony was available for 40 million pounds in July. United waited till the start of the season and Ajax were telling them a new amount every week. Martinez could have been got for cheaper than 45 million pound. And who gets a 30+ year old player for over 60 million quid, twice?! Meanwhile, United have had more injuries and injured players than literally every club in the Premier League bar none, and past recruitment means that players stepping in are a massive step down from starters. It's so easy to dump on the manager. You guys should put as much effort into the real mitigating factors as you do the criticism. I actually thought you guys were serious analysts. You might as well go start a new show on TalkSport. Complete rubbish!

They changed the title from "should united keep ten hag?" to this. A team like arsenal took 3 seasons with planning to start to look like an elite team. United under Ratcliffe will take a similar time to reach those levels if it goes well.

How can you not mention van Gaal, Moyes and some of the good managers that also couldn’t get it work.

1. Poor transfer windows 2. Injuries- Liverpool last season had similar injuries and they made the europa league, Utd is the same this season, Shaw, Malacia, AWB, Varane, Casemiro, Mainoo, Mount, Amad,Martial,Antony have been injured alot this season, add the recent injuries to Hojlund, Maguire, and youre screwed.

Personnel is the key issue with United. You can’t expect them to play with a high-line with people like Evans, Maguire, and Lindelof. I clicked on this video thinking they would notice and recognize our injuries as a reason why we play the way we do but saddened that they regurgitate the same negative agenda the media is pushing. Most United fans understand Ten Hag isn’t the problem rather the personnel and injuries that need to get fixed first. Expected better tbh

Rare Tifo miss. Utd play with the massive gap in the lines because we need to play with the press, it’s how we create a large amount of chances and our fit CBs this season are excellent box defenders and below average high line defenders. It’s an adlib. It’s not worked great, but I’m confident if we had gone full oleball sit back or full high line we’d have even less points.

The media would love a scenario where Man Utd sacks ETH and gets a far worse Manager to replace him. ETH is an elite manager and would not struggle to get a job elsewhere and succeed. He has steadied the ship and brought a bit more stability to a chaotic Man Utd structure. He has managed to beat Pep, Klopp, and Arteta in games. This shows that with a bit more consistency and limited injuries, Man Utd can compete at the top level. There is an exciting three-horse title race happening and you are still looking down the table to micro-analyze an irrelevant team.

Who on Earth sacks a manager in just two seasons ? And that is without all the injury problems Man Utd has, not to mention the massive restructuring behind the scenes. Not to mention, just look at the team that finished the game with Liverpool. We ONLY had two defenders in the playing 11, and one of them, Maguire, was playing as a forward because that is the extent of injuries we have had. We have played the majority of this season without a Left Back.

One thing that ETH has done is that these so called big teams no longer bully us. If he is given the players he wants, he will make us formidable. For Christ sakes he has already stringed results with an already depleted squad.

Eth is the man with the plan , in Eric we trust

Simple answer, no ETH shouldn't be fired.

The damn low line argument bs critiques when he has to play jonny evans and Maguire are making me sick, his whole backline has been out all season stop pretending you dont understand

'Ten Hag admitted that at United, he doesn't have players to play like he wants to/used to at Ajax' - see, but this is why you can't blame one person for this mess, a coach or a player, yet the whole press and the fans ganged up on Ronaldo last season, the Athletic included. And it was a pathetic display. As you said in this video: the most crucial thing in football, for a football club, is to have a modern, great power structure, like a director of football, whose task is to shape and implement the football philosophy for the particular club, and then together with the scouts and finance/budget people, make sure that adequate candidates for a coach and players are recruited. Period. Everything starts with solid fundamentals, in football, that means a well-oiled machine of a power structure. Players don't sign themselves, that's the point! Each player poses his own style of play and his own football philosophy, especially a veteran like Ronaldo, the club knows this in advance, so when the club goes out of its way to buy the player, then the player assumes that the club knows what its doing, and has a PLAN for him, how to use him on the pitch! Cristiano expected that United knew what they were doing when they went for him! This is why it was so annoying to watch how everyone blamed Cristiano: how is it his fault that it turned out the current United contradicts itself when building the basics because they literally didn't do it just with Ten Hag, they do it over and over again: pursue coaches who don't exactly fit the players they already have, and then after the first seasons with a particular coach, they buy the new players who also, still, don't exactly fit the particular coach's style, desires, and plans! So there was no real attempt at implementing any kind of philosophy first, like you said, just to get results here and now. Ridiculous! And it's over and over, the same mistake for a decade since Fergie left! It was never Ronaldo's fault, Ronaldo trusted United and he was thrown into this mess too, just as coaches and other players, thinking United had a plan! Like all of us. So I agree with your general diagnosis: the essence of the problem at United was and is, the lack of the modern, great, well-functioning structure of power within, the director of football in particular. And this sick cycle of bringing a coach with one philosophy and then the players who don't fit the profile of this philosophy/to execute it on the pitch - is the main issue. The only hope now is, that with INEOS takeover, it will finally change! But just a reminder for the fans: stop blaming players and coaches, if the club stays unreformed for so many years, and has the whole structure outdated and rotten, as United did, the fault lies with the management, the board, etc.

People seemingly forgetting that casemiro has been out over half the season too

It's the wildest thing to me how any manager at this club can be truly criticized with the clown show going on in the backgrounds. Even Fergie suffered to some extent from that, but it all completely fell apart with 'Big Ed' (or the loss of Gill). How can one of, if not the biggest club in the world be run without a sporting director with a long-term vision and a real project behind it? Even the stadium is now bottom tier at best. It would be sad if it honestly wasn't comical at this point. The Glazers have completely ruined this club and the prospects of what it could be the moment they bought it, and it would take a lot to turn this ship around. But they made a lot of money off it...

For the entire current season, the United team looks utterly chaotic on the pitch, there are absolutely no clear tactics or visible philosophy here no matter what Ten Hags says about it, the pressing is still a giant issue and no one of the young forwards does enough pressing, and goals only come from sporadic, individual brilliance, but then the atrocious mistakes also often come from a few individuals not-focused enough. The mentality of the whole team is very weak, too many players stroll on the pitch when the team is losing and it seems they don't care. So tell me what exactly improved during the last 10 years? Absolutely nothing! Yet if you look back a year or a few months at the analysis of the so-called 'experts' in the media like your magazine, and 'expert fans' although that is an oxymoron, it was all about Cristiano! How he is the one who is not pressing, and magically, no one even mentioned how Rashford, who is more than a decade younger than Ronaldo, doesn't press either! Rashford media pals, in your magazine, wrote articles about how Cristiano 'blocks Rashford' from reaching his full potential, yet still, now, Rashford is an absolutely awful, awful player, and he was exactly this way during his entire 10 years at the club on the adult level. I guess Cristiano still blocks him, right? Hilarious (sarcasm). There was no mention when you were all busy attacking Ronaldo (only much later, after his departure, only a few months ago you wrote the article that mentioned this), of how the current state of the club's structure of power is a complete mess and ruins sports efforts on the pitch because the power structure at United, at that time, was partly very old, and partly built from the not so great football people, and all kinds of football people with all kinds of philosophies, who simply didn't fit together! Which made United look and act like a Frankenstein monster, where all the parts of the body do something completely unpredictable and different. And that exactly was, and still is, visible on the pitch. Yet we know, that in the modern football world, the power structure of a club is the main element that shapes the entire philosophy of the club, also on the pitch, and that has the tools to take specific steps to make this vision come true. And this still is, as it was in the past, the essence of the problem. It was NEVER Ronaldo's fault! Just think about it: Ronaldo was a veteran thrown into a completely toxic club where nothing worked, and he was supposed to win all by himself in this environment? What a joke! The fact that even your magazine, where the real, solid, and thoughtful football 'experts' are supposed to work, failed to recognize all of it, and also blamed Ronaldo, just shows how agenda-driven and pathetic most of the modern football analysis is!

speaking for humanity they NEED to keep him

Sounds like you speaking with a very clear agenda fellas

Where was Liverpool thos time last season? With van dike injured weren't they well down league? An only when they got him back they made a push for top 4. Ten hag with martinez out all season has done better an oh lets not forget how bad man city stats are if they lose rodri

Disappointed in this one, felt like it followed mainstream outlets in their narratives and use of stats. Normally look to you guys for impartial insightful analysis with a fresh take/perspective

The manager is not the problem at United. We've chopped and changed managers with no sustainable improvements. If the actual issues are not solved, every manager we get will suffer the same fate as those who preceded them. It's ridiculous, at this point, to still think sacking a manager can make United better. How many managers must be sacked until you realise that this doesn't solve anything, we've been doing this for over a decade. You think firing the restaurant host will solve your food poisoning issue? You need to do better as people who provide football journalism. This was a massive waste of everyone's time. -1 subscription

I'm halfway through Ten Hag's biography and it feels like a no brainer to stick with him. He's had pretty much the same experience every where he's coached and has always proved the endless doubters wrong. His reign begins with a teething phase where everyone (players, fans, journalists) gets used to what he wants to implement (never a quick fix, but always a deeply considered plan that he will stick to at all costs) and then slowly but surely the positive changes become obvious. He's calm under pressure and always sticks to his guns and as long as blinkered journalists don't influence the United board, he'll come good. Despite the rollercoaster season, a lot of players have really improved or looked impressive. I have faith.

What people continuously fail to appreciate is how insightful reuben is, considering he is just a baby boy

Took a shot every time they said “elite football”, I am now asleep

Yes. Next question.

Agree with everyone pointing out that this video was made in bad faith! Do better Athletic. Shockingly biased and ignored all the incidents and injuries that ruined ETHs season. Give the guy time.

United have been really unlucky this season. Onanna having such a bad start to his united career while the left defensive side has been missing all season plus the constant issues with any natural right forward. If ETH can get his front line to continue improving like they have since new year and a new partner for mainoo i see them improving if the injuries also stop

We need go get more possession players that are aggressive. The window will hopefully present Ten Hag with that. Currently Mount, Martinez, Shaw can allow us to control the games more. We are short of technical players. We aren't only going to just be transitional, we will be the best in the world in transitioning.

How are you going to play a high line with those defenders? When we have Martinez, we are able to have a higher line

Ten Hag has shown enough glimpses of his potential during his 18+ months to be given a third season. Ultimately, it's about winning trophies, and he's already delivered one, came close in another, and are still in with a chance to win the FA Cup this season. Whenever Ten Hag has had his best XI available, the results and performances have been excellent! United's early Champions League elimination has a lot more to do with individual player errors, but that side, United were the most exciting team to watch in 5 of their 6 group games! I also think the younger players are the ones who have responded best to Ten Hag. In Garnacho, Mainoo, Hojland, Diallo, Hannibal, Pellestri, etc there's a nice group there that Ten Hag can continue to develop, while the likes of Mctominay, Rashford, Martinez & Dalot have all been solid under the manager!

Full of contradictions- points out the injuries then admits don’t have the players. Then asks why United are not doing well.

manchester united fans really do not want, and would not put up with a manager who wants to spend loads of time with the ball in the defensive third. I agree with the comment below saying we want to be compared more to Liverpool or Real

I like EtH however some of the performances have been diabolical. Whether thats on the players or Manager is up to those in charge .but regardless to be promoting Southgate who has had no experience or has ever won anything is utter insanity.

I don’t get why everyone has this obsession with style of play. The aim of football is to win games, not to play beautiful football and lose. Every so often you get a team like prime Barça that does both, and that’s 🦆ing great. Stop using “style of play” as a magical pill to winning trophies. Stop using Brighton as an example for an “elite” team. They have nowhere near enough injuries as United and are still below us with their “elite” mentality. A style will emerge when we have a deep squad that can play players in their assigned positions consistently. Also, this sort of desk jockey analysis will never ever take into account what it takes to 1)run a club, and 2) get a bunch of disparate players from 5 managers to not just hit top 3, but win a trophy and get into a final. I didn’t see a “sack Klopp” campaign last year. Oh, right - because it’s ok to come 5th as long as Liverpool have an “elite style of play”. Rubbish analysis.

ten Hag didn't pay or sign off on the fees for the players. Were there alternatives looked at or was it Woodward 2.0 with De Jong? Antony was half the price in May, but the braniacs decided to rebuff that, dither and then pay twice that when they were panicking as they hadn't done their job earlier in the summer. We paid too much for Hojlund and NEVER should have bought Mount this past summer when he was free this coming summer. Then there's the stark inability to move on players (cough apparently a quick defender for example). Both of these issues mean that we can't then strengthen in other areas and we end up relying on a back up striker who has barely been available regularly for more than 3 years. But sure, ten Hag gave the OK on all of that. This Utd team is not ten Hag's yet. The injuries this season are given lip service and not covered in any detail compared to how they're too transitional in the absence of those injured blah blah blah. Ronaldo deserved to go after his antics pre-season, on the bench vs Tottenham and then his interview with Morgan. Not to mention him not doing anything when not in possession and about as much that season when we did have the ball (only scored against Everton and a Cypriot team if memory serves correctly). Sancho has flattered to deceive, some might argue found out in the PL (ie it's too quick for him), showing a fleeting glimpse, every so often, of the player that was bought from Dortmund. He was given time out and support last season, I dare say further help/tolerance was given between then and the Arsenal match. He's refused to apologise, even though he's taken down his tweet (if he stood by his words, why take it down and not say sorry). So fair's fair where he's concerned after 3 seasons at Utd. He won a cup, went deep in all cup competitions and did OK in the League last season. His first and only full season at Utd. But we should get in and give a new manager time? See any conflicting/contradictory thought processes there?

Media has become a effing joke..

I believe they should, they’ve been through too much managers and I’m sure that that’s one of the reasons for their bad performances

He's only had 18 months guys. Compare both Klopp and Pep after a similar time and I don't think it would be much different. Injuries have been horrendous, he didn't negotiate the transfer fees himself, he didn't always get his first choices, he has also had a lot of crap to deal with (Sancho, Ronaldo, Antony). His goalkeeper single handedly ruined them in the CL in a statistically freakish run of poor form that would only happen once in a career. Rashford ended a relationship and had a family bereavement in the last 6 months which has obviously fucked his head and his form. None of this stuff is under the managers control. Virtually everything has gone against him in a nightmare season and he's still pushing for 4th or 5th (unlike Chelsea) and will likely make his 3rd cup final in 18 months (which is actually a promising sign). They are still a flawed side obviously but if you change him now it will take just as long if not longer for another manager to build a side. He is still finding his feet.. his win percentage is good but he just needs to learn how to fight for a draw from a losing position and game management situations when they just need to sit in sometimes or try and keep the ball in certain situations when they are vulnerable. He needs another transfer window, another pre season and for other stuff (medical staff and physios etc) to be improved behind the scenes. If it's still not happening in Nov/Dec then obviously he'll be gone but if you bin him now you'll never know if it would have worked and you've just wasted 2 seasons of an attempt at cultural change which was the thing you needed most in the first place.

Felt like this was regurgitating points you have made about United and other clubs in other videos just put into a new order. I would love if you could include in a discussion like this Ten Hag's success with Ajax (which is a well run club above the manager) and how Manchester United hasn't had that. This is evidenced by having been signing players for far higher price tags than everyone agrees they should, signing big name players vs developing young and unknown players, and bringing in players ( Ronaldo especially ) mostly as a money making venture. At the end of the video when John asks "Have we seen any evidence that Ten Hag's teams can control every phase of play?" and comparing them to a side that Pep has built for 7 years in order to do that seems unfair. I think it would be interesting to compare Ten Hag year 2 with Arteta and Klopp's year two at their respective clubs. This feels like a more fair comparison of two clubs that were in the relative muck. Just doing 5 minutes of googling, Klopp in his second year at Liverpool finished 17 points off the top of the league. Arteta in his second year at Arsenal finished 25 points off the top of the league. Ten Hag is currently 17 points off of the top of the league. The biggest problem with Manchester United since SAF is the lack of a unifying vision of what the team should be because the owners value monetary success over footballing success. The only way to break this cycle is to stick with one. I also noticed you guys did not do a section in the vein of 'These are the mangers who could have done a better job than Ten Hag in these circumstances', because I don't think Pep or Klopp could be doing any better with this squad. This felt like a video made in bad faith. Generally like your guys' stuff, but this one irked me.

Haven’t seen the video yet but I don’t understand the obsession over ten hags job. Most United fans understand where the club is at in terms of infrastructure and understands this manager does a great job of getting us great results despite this. As United fans we want to see stories about all the other exciting things about our club rather than should we keep the manager or not. I’ll come back to this comment after I watch the video. Edit: I appreciate JJ for providing insight on the terrible infrastructure of United but to then follow it up by saying Ten Hag has one season to fix United is insane. It seems like the producers want to push negativity around United despite the facts saying otherwise.

First of all, they literally almost said nothing about Ronaldo here. They just mentioned at the end that Ten Hag's doesn't exactly have 'people management' talent, and mentioned Ronaldo's and Sancho's cases, and it absolutely looks like Ten Hag isn't managing people/players in a good, effective way. It's hilarious how you still blame Ronaldo or just Ronaldo. Did you even watch his interview with Morgan, or just read the manipulated clickbaits about it? it looks like it. Cristiano literally said in the interview that he will always love the people who built the club, and the fans, but he doesn't respect Ten Hag and a few 'new' people in power at the club who didn't want him there in the first place and treated him awfully. Cristiano said that the club doesn't have a philosophy, has old training facilities that are not up to the modern times, and that most of United's young players, with just a few exceptions, are lazy. I mean, Cristiano said nothing but facts that come true more and more every day now! So what was exactly wrong about what Cristiano said? Every single thing he said is nothing but the brutal truth that the Glazers and United fans, and the club needed to hear from the mouth of a big, active player of Cristiano's status! Yes, we as United actually needed this! It's amazing how you all still refuse to understand the reality of this whole Cristiano - Ten Hag conflict was much more complex and deeper than you and most of the British media assessed it was. First, imagine you blaming Ronaldo, while he had a perfect reason to hate Ten Hag. Because this conflict with Ten Hag, was not all about just things on the pitch and how he was treated as a player, it was also personal! This is why it was so bad. It was about the fact that Ten Hag, as Ronaldo said during the interview, didn't believe Ronaldo when he said he had to be in the hospital during the pre-season's first weeks because his daughter was sick in the hospital. And since then the photos resurfaced online of Ronaldo, Georgina, and Alana in the hospital, from that time, so it proved that Ronaldo told the truth! Cristiano clearly articulated during the interview, that Ten Hag treated him without respect as a player, which was bad enough, but what's much worse, is that Ten Hag treated him without respect as a human being! Add to this the fact that at that time, it was only a few months since Cristiano's literally lost his newborn child! Yet the fans attacked him, and most of you still have zero empathy toward him, amazing! Such horrible trauma affects humans long after, it can take years and in reality, parents NEVER recover from the trauma of losing a child. So Ronaldo had every right to be still emotional, confused, angry and to react to things in an uncontrolled manner! This is what you people don't get! Really people, if you want to talk about Ten Hag and Ronaldo's conflict, then at least have the facts straight, and think a little deeper. Also, it was wrong to blame Ronaldo for all the wrongs on the pitch, and the British press and media, as always, plus the international media like the Athletic, and the fans, made a scapegoat of Ronaldo which was utterly unfair and disgusting! He was our top scorer during his first comeback season and was trying and doing all sorts of things during his second season, rewatch his matches, and you will find out Ronaldo actually was doing all sorts of things on the pitch: he defended, he pressed (yes, not enough but he still DID), he passed, he also tried to fix the mistakes of others. The context: he was a 38-year-old veteran, who suffers from tendinosis in his knees, yet you still blamed him for 'not pressing'. Yet at the same time you had Rashford and other youngsters, also not pressing. Imagine. Look at United now - other players are still not pressing at all or not enough, so why suddenly we don't see and hear about the 'pressing issue' as much from the fans and the media as we were when Ronaldo was at the team? See what this is: Ronaldo was made a scapegoat, period! Ten Hag's tactics are in shambles, mostly there is chaos on the pitch, we manage to only score thanks to Garnacho or other youngsters' individual brilliance, but that's it. Yet according to the toxic media, and most of the so-called 'fans' like you, it was all Ronaldo's fault - Ronaldo, who is the icon for this club, and again: he was a veteran doing his role - of a striker - perfectly! Analyze all of this once again, and tell me how Ronaldo was wrong in this whole messy situation, no - he wasn't! Ten Hag and the club were wrong! The fact is that we weren't there behind closed doors. United's coaches always have most of the British media behind them, doing PR for them, so of course they all manipulated this story so Ronaldo would look like a villain. Still, since then enough of the facts confirmed that Ronaldo was the one telling the truth. Ten Hag and some people in power at the club acted awfully toward Cristiano, and this is why this conflict was so big and so bad. Sancho's case is completely different, Sancho was lazy, period, and Cristiano actually spoke about it too - that the youngsters at United are lazy. You conflate the two which is completely wrong.

you dont go from winning titles to being useless in a span of 2 years. back him and see what he does.

This is not rocket science guys, you guys are supposed to be the experts. ETH needs fast, ballplaying defenders he has said it several times he needs his centerbacks pushed high to support the midfield but the current centerbacks apart from Martinez DONT like pushing high at all, this is why united always have that huge space in midfield because our centerbacks always drop deep to a low line.

I'm glad to see everyone supporting Ten Hag in the comment section. Keep it up, guys!!!👊

Saying Brighton as elite team and comparing it with united shows agenda. Never gonna read and watch another piece from athletic ever. The agenda is too much, chill we ain't chelsea.

Just like Ole said in the stick to football podcast he tried to move on from the counterattacking/transition style but the players couldn’t do it. It’s the same issue over and over again, players aren’t capable.

Really enjoyed the analysis especially the comparison between the 3 ways elite teams play in posession. I am looking forward to trying this out with my team this season!

Absolutely not, EtH In❤

Where’s Joe ☹️

Yes, he MUST be asking the defense to keep a low line... Because they can't RUN. Give him two FAST CBs and see what happens next season.

The floating definitions, roadmapping, supplemental commentary at the top of the screen works really well also 👌

Guys, i usually like your videos but saying „it has been two years now“ and you have not seen evidence that ten hag‘s team can control games might be right to some part but don‘t forget that during this season, he played with a majority of the players ge brought in to play his football. Licha, malacia, mount, antony, højlund out for big parts. Besides that shaw, wan bissaka, and the rest of the defence also out or at least in and out all the time. Maybe you can explain me how any team is supposed to control games with the defence consistently changing. Look at pep, he build his control through immense spending in his defence. Furthermore when the team was fit last season, we saw in games against tottenham, barcelona and newcastle that they were very able to control games. So give it time for the players to come back and you will see it next season. No reason to panick now.

So in the past 3 to 4 seasons, Arsenal tried to sign Onana, Martinez, Kudus and Timber. I wonder why?

This podcast always makes me want to watch football, and in much more depth too. Best podcast in the business!

@theathleticFC you continue to miss the obvious here and its incredibly frustrating. Lets just forget the fact that we've had over 24 different back lines. The most important player in Ten Hag's system as the team stands right now is Lisandro Martinez. Not just because he is an incredible defender, or one of the two best ball playing center backs in the world (John Stones the other). He is fast and aggressive, and he is the team's clear leader. What does this result in? He pushes the defense up and condenses the lines. Do you guys simply forget the level we played at last year with him? Do you forget the fact that you never once spoke about the space between our lines last year? After he got injured everything changed. And why is that? You simply suggest that Ten Hag needs to coach the players he has at his disposal to play the style he wants, and that because you're not seeing a style that Ten Hag isn't the right guy. This is such a lazy argument. Why do you think he was so desperate to get rid of Harry Maguire this summer? We've played games with Harry and Jonny Evans, two of the slowest centerbacks in the world. Not just that, watch the sidelines when they play or even when Varane plays... (specifically against Liverpool where it was clear) Ten Hag constantly tells them to push up, and they constantly drop back... This isn't a coaching problem.. it is players who are slow, making decisions based on their weaknesses. Maguire hasn't even played badly this season, he just isn't a stylistic fit for Ten Hag. Furthermore, everyone for some reason makes the argument that when Spurs cbs were injured, Postecaglu's side still played the same style. This is true, but he played 2 fullbacks at centerback, despite having Dier and other cbs on the bench. Why did he do this? Because he wanted speed in his back line so they can continue playing the high back line, to keep the space between their lines compact when they press. The reason this was less of a problem for Ten Hag last year when Martinez got injured was because Luke Shaw slotted right in. A Luke Shaw who is fast and good on the ball. This hasn't been possible this year because he's also been injured 90% of the year. Oh and his backup is also injured (Malacia), oh and our backup right back has also been injured half the season (AWB). We've effectively played the entire season with 1 healthy fullback in Diogo Dalot. You guys portray yourselves as the tacticion experts, and reporters who dive deeper than traditional reporters/media. Then actually do legitimate analysis. I don't see constant videos of you guys SKEWERING Eddie Howe, De Zerbi (who has had a torrid time this year, injuries as well), or Pochettino, and god forbid you say 1 bad thing about Ange after his side gets absolutely destroyed by a Fulham team that scored a last second winner against Manchester United. If you want to be viewed as good analysts, and not just the Sun or Daily mail, stop feeding off the hysteria of Manchester United with click bait posts. You also changed the title of this video after you probably realized it was just a click bait title bashing Ten Hag, knowing the billion ManU fans would watch it. The last thing I'll say is this, you still are far better than those other media outlets, and you do really good analysis out side of some of the lazy reporting on ManU this year, but ask yourselves this: if Ten Hag was still at Ajax and dominating the champions league, getting to the semi-finals and beating the powerhouse real madrid, Juve, etc. and playing beautiful possession based football that you guys love so dearly, would he be your number 1 target? Probably, outside of Xabi Alonso.

Harry Maguire is a quick player?? 😂😂😂😂😂

There is simply no system with ten hag we may have sporadic postive runs or good results but we'll never be able to transition into a contending team being able to compete for the league and champions league with this system we do not control games and we play football like a mid table side not a side trying to compete and if you can't see that you lack football knowledge

Believe it or not, weve tried to play dominating football with these players. For years we couldnt score from the tight spaces with mourihno and van gaal. Every squad would just park the bus knowing we couldnt get through the compact defense.

As a rival fan, I would like to see how far ETH can bring United to, be it back to the summit or down to the bins.

one thing I know for sure is both Utd lovers and haters want ETG to stay. So there's some disconnect somewhere

I love how '1/2 decent' showed up as a stat. Its the little things.

The best snippets of Man United's season were when they treated a game from the start like they were loosing. Aggressive, fast-paced, like they were willing to break legs on the way to goal if there were no cards. That is not only exciting, but it is the identity Man United built over decades. You can play "modern" while keeping the personality of the club. That said, to achieve this, you need aggressive players with little regard for their own wellbeing, and with a stubbornness to never quit. Man united used to have that under Ferguson, and that was built by selecting players based on their personality as much as their technical skills. I don't see that any more. They are mostly kids with fragile minds, or glorified good-ish players who think they are better than they are. In the Fergie era, those players would be kicked out, not matter how good they were in comparison. That kind of hard-ball needs to be played again to get long-term results.

New Owner Syndrome suggests they will bring in their own manager and staff. As an Arsenal fan: a fantastic outcome for us would be that United, having been through painful, disruptive and expensive struggles to adapt their strategy/squad/culture to a new system and vision of football, via lots of player turnover, then bin off their manager and bring in a new boss with new ideas. I'm not even going to comment on the potential upside (for us) of that new boss being Gareth Southgate.

4:05 You are saying, that we meant to play compact and high, when Martinez and Varane is on the board. But this is simply not true because of the injuries - we didn't have those 2 CB all the time like in the last season. Wolves away is the game where Ten Haag showed his style of play, when all of key players were fit and on the pitch. Medical department and Administration is the key, and also bigger squad with players, who are suited to play this style of football.

ten Hag winning % is higher than Arteta and on par with Klopp. He is a good manager.

good to hear someone mention rest defense in england but it is called offensive cover on the continent and it applies to more than just possession phase support players. it starts to be taught in 2v2s. so 6 year olds learn this in spain.

This is a bit unfair. The majority was talking about why he should leave and what the next Manager needs to do. He’s world class, so let’s not give up on Eric too quickly eh? That’s been the problem before.

Where is JOE DEVINE? i need to be in the warm hand s and the cool embrace

I may be a Liverpool fan but I always think when rival club's supporters are all praying for you to stick with a manager (as we did with OGS and Moyes), you know it's time to move on. The only trouble is if Southgate is the alternative, then it may be better the devil you know.

Yess. Look i was ten hag outer once but credit where it's due, hes been great with the young talents at our club. The kids are developing well under him so why would we want to cut it short?

Give him Todibo and Ignacio, maybe Branthwaite/ Antonio Silva as well if we spend big and also definitely Neco Williams, Khepren Thuram, Brian Bobbey or anyone as a cover for Hojlund, maybe Wirtz/Olise as well if we spend big. If he still fails miserably with all the tools at his disposal then we may think of sacking him. Also, if he wins FA cup this season, he should stay there for at least the next couple of seasons

Manchester United should rename themselves Unchested Manited