I shore he know moor aboot it thsn u ore me

Some very good points there Berba. I didn't know the Ajax team or it's style really, but it does seem as though ETH could replicate it, subject to, injuries and someone to take this De Jong role that isn't called Bruno,

When I uh, buy my wife, at the start she was uh, cook good, her vazhïn work well, and she strong on plow. But after three years when she was fifteen, then she become weak, her voice become deep eh, she receive hair on chest, and vazhïn hang like sleeve of wizard.

How I know this not happen to Erik Ten Hags?

comment by #4zA Napul3🤌 (U22472)
posted 12 minutes ago
I shore he know moor aboot it thsn u ore me
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Are you still spouting this sh!te attempt at patter?

comment by Polbethian (U4211)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by #4zA Napul3🤌 (U22472)
posted 12 minutes ago
I shore he know moor aboot it thsn u ore me
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Are you still spouting this sh!te attempt at patter?
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Yup

This is we aspire to be like city moment. Down-hill from here

There are certain players he insists on picking that undermine that style.

I was completely baffled when he said that it was impossible to make United play like his Ajax team did... because it wasnt in United's DNA (he will be telling us that their are faries at the bottom of his garden next)... and he is having to work with players who were at United before he came to the club.

Im surprised he has the cheek to pick up his rather substantial pay cheques if this was really the case.

Maybe he should apply to becme the head coach and football manager at United and change things. If he really thinks that playing like Ajax is the answer.

If he believes this he could try playing Four, Four phuking Two to get a tune out of his Man United.

You don’t have Frankie De Jong who really made that side tick.

I know what ETH means though, that Ajax side would have got mullered in the Prem - Spurs were destroyed by Ajax over the 2 legs but we went through because Poch discovered with about 30 mins to go that they had no answer for a direct physical style - we brought on Llorente, pushed Dele and Lucas either side of him and hoofed it up every chance we got - a combination of De ligt, Llorente, Onana and Lucas did the rest

comment by scholayScholes (U13961)
posted 14 minutes ago
This is we aspire to be like city moment. Down-hill from here
----------------------------------------------------------------------

There's a downhill from here?

He abandoned that style before he'd even managed one PL game.

If you go from FDJ to Casemiro as your main midfield target because the Barca man didn't want to join then you've basically admitted defeat right away as Casemiro is many things but one he isn't is a natural ball playing midfielder and someone who controls and dictates play

Tadic is a false 9, his system works beat with one.

The manager is out of his depth.

Fast running out of excuses and rope.

comment by Glazers Out (SE85) (U21241)
posted 13 minutes ago
He abandoned that style before he'd even managed one PL game.

If you go from FDJ to Casemiro as your main midfield target because the Barca man didn't want to join then you've basically admitted defeat right away as Casemiro is many things but one he isn't is a natural ball playing midfielder and someone who controls and dictates play
----------------------------------------------------------------------

We needed a quality CDM as well as a playmaker/passer as well. Not getting FDJ was a blow but we still needed the Schone/Alvarez player (to make comparisons with his previous team’s central midfield).

I’m actually not dogmatic in the sense that we should be seeing an exact replica of his Ajax teams. What I would expect is to see is some of the underlying principles of his Ajax teams, with adaptations & evolution of those systems and styles to meet the demands of the PL and the players he inherited.

Instead we’re seeing something outright poor both on and off the ball. If we were seeing some rather good off the ball shape and defensive work, but less than ideal football due to injuries or teething issues as the squad takes shape then I’d consider that fair enough to some degree in the short term. But for both the in & out of possession game to be so poor is the real worry.

Equally, if this “more direct” style of football was working then we’d not be having this discussion. But it isn’t working, and it largely undermines the signing of players like Onana, Antony, Eriksen & Mount.

There’s another possibility here: ETH’s CL semi-final team was a perfect storm; a collection of really talented players, many of them schooled the Ajax way, who came through and were put together at just the right time to cause a one season shock in the CL. Sometimes an unlikely team simply goes further than expected.

Ajax winning the Dutch league shouldn’t a major surprise, especially given the strength of the squads he had. It’s possible ETH isn’t as good as hoped he would be.

Wasn't he talking more about how the clubs are known to play and that he can't replicate what he did at Ajax with United because they are known to play a more direct way whereas Ajax have a history of being more fluid going back to Michels.

I've no idea how the club was sold to him but I can imagine there being some emphasis on the way Ferguson and Busby were. Whether the way he is saying he is trying to get the team to play is his prefered way I'm not really sure?

Equally, if this “more direct” style of football was working then we’d not be having this discussion. But it isn’t working, and it largely undermines the signing of players like Onana, Antony, Eriksen & Mount.
-----------------
It also hasn't been working under the previous managers.

This is what I don't get really... We are playing the same brand of football that we have since Moyes and the day we signed Mata. I think that #10 or attacking midfield role has cursed us! It occasionally pays dividends, but gets us slaughtered too.

It's not a given that an ETH / Ajax style of play transfers well to the PL. The intensity and pace of play is another level or 2, or 3 up!

Football tactics move quickly and even since 2019 UCL SF vs Spurs, things have move on a lot. Im not even sure Hag-ball would even be effective now.

But the fundamental thing for me is that United do not aand have not had players able to press effectively. Jose wasn't this sort of manager, Ole developed a direct counter attacking style and tried to bring through a more modern, pressing and controlling style and failed, and its like ground hog day with ETH.

There are 2 or 3 key players in Utds team who do not have the work rate to implement modern or ETH style of play. To me it is so easy to see. Look at City Arsenal Spurs play, how quickly they recover possession and where they recover it. The work rate of everyone where KDB(32) or Son (31) or Sarr (20) or Lewis (19). Superstars or kids, the effort is the same

Everything stems from this IMO because a defending team can let United have the ball because they lack true creativity, and then when they recover possession, United are easy to play through - little coordinated press, one-paced, slow central midfield, poor tracking back by some.

What is odd is that this is fundamentally ETHs team. CR7 was blamed for the inability of the team to press and he was pushed out. This clearly wasn't the problem and to a large degree the goals have dried up since. He has brought in a lot of players but cannot play his way Well whose fault is that?

OP hasn’t factored in the standard of opposition those Ajax teams played against

comment by Glazers Out (SE85) (U21241)
posted 1 hour, 41 minutes ago
He abandoned that style before he'd even managed one PL game.

If you go from FDJ to Casemiro as your main midfield target because the Barca man didn't want to join then you've basically admitted defeat right away as Casemiro is many things but one he isn't is a natural ball playing midfielder and someone who controls and dictates play
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Jesus wept.

comment by Ji Sung Park's Cousin - Return of the despair squid (U2958)
posted 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
Equally, if this “more direct” style of football was working then we’d not be having this discussion. But it isn’t working, and it largely undermines the signing of players like Onana, Antony, Eriksen & Mount.
-----------------
It also hasn't been working under the previous managers.

This is what I don't get really... We are playing the same brand of football that we have since Moyes and the day we signed Mata. I think that #10 or attacking midfield role has cursed us! It occasionally pays dividends, but gets us slaughtered too.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

This.

comment by Vladimikel Artutin - committing war crimes against football since 2019 (U18355)
posted 19 minutes ago
OP hasn’t factored in the standard of opposition those Ajax teams played against
----------------------------------------------------------------------

This doesn’t make any sense. Firstly, that Ajax team competed above its weight in the CL.

Secondly, we’re talking about a *style* of play. You can implement any style in any league. How well it does will depend on the quality of the player being tasked with implementing that way of playing and how well executed the tactic is.

We have good players - experienced PL players, World Cup & CL winners and full internationals. We have some talented younger players also.

The Dutch league being inferior to the PL has no bearing on how well executed a system & style of play will be using PL players in the PL.

We don’t have the players to play like they did. They also have that style of football engrained into the culture of the club.

That’s not to excuse the shiiiiit we’ve served up, but I agree with the comment. Especially when you consider the respective qualities of the players compared to their competitors.

He's right in what he says that we can't play like Ajax with some of the players we have but there's no reason why we can't still play much better football than the shiiit we're now having to watch on a weekly basis again.

There's been enough money spent while he's been in charge to have built pretty much whatever kind of team he wanted and to have been able to demonstrate something more refined and identifiable on the pitch. If that was the case but things were still a bit rough around the edges I'd be more than content but right now there's absolutely nothing for us to cling onto and feel encouraged by.

Also if the way you play drastically changes in the absence of a couple of players, that's not a good sign.

comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 54 minutes ago
comment by Glazers Out (SE85) (U21241)
posted 1 hour, 41 minutes ago
He abandoned that style before he'd even managed one PL game.

If you go from FDJ to Casemiro as your main midfield target because the Barca man didn't want to join then you've basically admitted defeat right away as Casemiro is many things but one he isn't is a natural ball playing midfielder and someone who controls and dictates play
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Jesus wept.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

What's wrong now old man? What do you need explaining to you today? Have you had your meds?

If we'd have signed FDJ we wouldn't have signed Casemiro too. They play totally different styles as you yourself admitted the other day.

How is going from FDJ to Casemiro going to result in playing the same way? It isn't.

That Ajax team without FDJ would have been out much earlier, he was the fundamental, high end Ingredient that side could not do without. As soon as Spurs went long ball in that Semi and effectively cut him out of the game, they were done.

United should be all over Barella in the summer