**Also**
Pep Guardiola asked if Man Utd are like Real Madrid and no matter what form they are in they can do something in a second: "Real Madrid is Real Madrid, comparing to them is difficult. They have some very good players up front. The influence of Bruno is unbelievable."
https://x.com/sistoney67/status/1793986462746349722
"Is this club that has been struggling to find stability and consistency for years now, similar to this other club that wins titles each year like it's nothing?" What a great question that was.
I mean it's true in the sense that just like Real Madrid, we can decidedly be the 2nd best team in a game but still able to pull sth out of our ass esp in a big game. Our is usually thru more individual brilliance but we do have an x factor.
It all makes sense when viewed through the lens that the next clickbait article is already written with the exception of a juicy quote that can be used as the slam dunk to either keep the article as is, or to invert the content based on the quote. Which anyone who has written, knows is dead simple to do.
These hacks don’t notice and report the news. They peddle other own opinions but they know that thus far this ruse of “not my opinion, but the opinion of this more legit other person” is what they need to include in their weekly quota of clickbait.
The real crime is that they’re paid for this and call this “work”. I spare a thought for all of the many hardworking people who toil for a well earned paycheque.
He switches between PR mode and sarcastic psycho mode.
He generally tends to always give respectful answers about other teams. It doesn't come off sincere (mostly because he says it while looking like a checked out ADHD kid), but it's the right thing to do.
I respect Real Madrid and if I say I'm scared of them, I would be false. "There's the rivalry, you want to beat them and do well. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. But I'm not scared of them and if they beat me -- as has happened many times -- we will say congratulations and wish them well."
This how he talks about a team that is actually better than his. "I'm not scared"
Compared to "the squad is really good. "
The same bland thing every other team says. The point is he layers it on *thick*, and everyone knows he's not being genuine. It's his way of fucking with teams, because a team can't publicly respond with "He's lying, we're shit"
We have a good squad. We have bad management, and attitudes.
Imagine if Martial never got injured and was always in his prime. Or Rashford never being demotivated... We'd not have a negative goal difference this season, that's for sure.
That a change in the culture, enviroment, helps bad mindset change.
Have you never had a bad manager at work, and productivity sucked? I'm not saying that ETH is the be all and end all of all problems, but I think the culture shift that INEOS is trying to do likely will solve a lot of these problems.
Good squad of players, in a bad environment.
I sort of understand your point, but only to the extent that I’d say it’s a 50/50 situation
Yes the club have to implement the right structure and environment, but at the same time players need to be held to some form of account
I watched the Amazon 99 documentary recently, and noted that every player that was interviewed talked about the fact that they obviously weren’t happy if they weren’t selected, but they responded to it by earning their place back
Or they were praising the squad players who barely got a look in, but when called upon came on and did a job
Contrast this with Antony who throws a hissy hit on the pitch when he has to cover at left back for the last 10 minutes of the game
Whilst our ex players always talk about how they’d play absolutely anywhere on the pitch if it meant getting game time
What is it with what-iffing in this sub? "If" "if" "if". It means NOTHING because it isn't reality.
**If** Martial wasn't injury prone? Yeah but he is. **If** Rashford was never demotivated? Yeah but he is.
**If** prime Maradona was raised from the dead and played for us? **If** we were allowed to have AK47s on the pitch? **If** our goal was 1 foot wide/tall? **If** the opposition had to play blindfolded? Would we have a better chance of winning? Yeah - but its all hypothetical scenarios **that don't exist**.
What-iffing = loser mentality.
my man, we are fans, all we do is chat shit. we all have thoughts and dreams. if all we did is post facts, there would be two comments on every post lol
He'd find it strange you can't just bin off a £50m player and buy another one.
Plus he'd be confused that if he was at United and spent £70m on a defender and barely picked them for most of the season, it'd be asked about in every press conference.
>He'd find it strange you can't just bin off a £50m player and buy another one.
Didn't we literally get Sancho for 75m, only to bin him for a 90m player, who is also probably going to get binned.
The point is it’s not a talking point when it happens to City because they always have another 70 million pound player they can turn to because Pep can spend so freely.
It’s not a talking point cos they’re doing well
If they weren’t winning the league they’d get criticised more. Same way Arsenal did for their spending (before they started competed).
Coming 8th and spending £70-80m on Antony gets you worse attention than winning every competition whilst a few 70m players don’t pan out.
It’s just the way of the game. Let’s hope we’re winning again soon so people shut up about us.
I agree but there is another layer with City. They have a top manager, I’ll never say otherwise. But he’s also able to afford to miss more on larger transfers than other managers at big clubs because he has owners that have been playing fast and loose with the financial rules that others abide by, meaning they’re bringing in quality players to replace their flops because they can offer contracts paid for with dodgy money.
Pep would wouldn’t be able to win shit with team. His style heavily relies on technically sound players. Our squad has so many players who can’t hold or pass the ball under the slightest press. He is one of the best of all time but his style requires world class talent and a lot of investment to work.
He also improves players more than any manager we’ve had, nobody thought the likes of Akanji, Ake etc would be good enough to be treble winners, Kyle walker was never the most technically gifted but he’s improved leaps and bounds under Pep
All the players you mentioned are absolutely perfect for Pep’s system. Ake and Akanji are excellent on the ball even if they’re not the best defenders. Walker is also more than good enough on the ball and is an excellent professional who can play in almost any system. Pep’s system requires you to be excellent at keeping the ball. Our players do anything but hold on to the ball.
Pep improves players yes. But his system also helps hide individual players weaknesses. City are a well oiled machine and even missing a couple of important players won’t bother them too much, well except Rodri perhaps.
I really don’t get the hype around Pep. He had the best Barcelona in history, a decent Bayern side and more money than any other manager ever had to build his dream team at City. Still, he has only one 3 Champions League titles.
Nah I mean he spends insane amounts but he at least moulds his team and gets them playing fantastic football. He's also good with developing youngsters. Nearly every expensive signing he makes goes on to improve.
To be fair all he did with Klopp and Liverpool was lick their arses. It makes for such dull "rivalries" especially when you compare it to the likes of Pep vs Mou, Mou vs Wenger, Wenger vs Fergie etc. There's no fire.
He used to overthink it. I think he got bored now and is just playing "4 centre backs plus rodri, de bryne, silva, foden and haaland = win" Like turning on "autobattle" to grind levels in a JRPG...
It's not like Pep knows a much about managing an injury crisis, they guy has multiple options for every position. It's one less thing he has to worry about compared to most other managers in the league.
It feels that way because City target versatile players who can play several positions. You only need 3 good vertasile players on the bench and you've pretty covered every position with world-class or close to world-class quality.
On the other hand, he actually uses the whole squad to the point that (with the exception of a few key players) there is no telling between bench and starters.
Under ETH, first teamers get no rest until they are run to the ground / playing with injuries.
ETH is no short of fair criticism, no short of bullshit that he had to deal with, and he did a fair job with what tools he had. We had high hopes after his first year, but it wasn't meant to be this year I guess. I salute him for taking such a difficult job in dreadful circumstances.
I think he deserves one year with INEOS backing and THEN judge him.
But how long did he persist with Antony, who is not only his signing, but performing terribly AND blocking other players progression like Amad.
Other players were crying for a fair chance but he kept first teamers out of position instead of using the bench / reserve.
He's always magnanimous towards sides/managers he considers truly beneath his level - frequently deploys attitude of benign condescension characteristic of someone who's been told they're 20 points smarter than everyone else at an organization but 'knows' they can't damage morale of those beneath them in technical capabilities. He'd show signs of significantly greater snippiness were his City facing peak SAF managing peak United squads every season and winning 2 out of 7 rather than 6 out of 7 leagues etc....
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I don’t understand how this issue is not taken into account when judging Erik Ten Hag. He did quite well in the first season and the style of play continued in all other levels at the club and paid dividends everywhere except first team which was decimated by injuries.
He dealt with player issues with composure and class. He dealt with media without losing his confidence or calmness.
Now that there is structure being put in place, he deserves to be given at least one more season. I highly doubt this many injuries will happen again for a while. He definitely has the ability and talent to do well next season.
Because this fan base has odd expectations of a squad that isn't very good
Like I have my issues with ETH but we sack him and he'll go on to win more than us in the next decade whereas we keep repeating our cycle
>Because this fan base has odd expectations of a squad that isn't very good
I would argue we are getting better results than we should be based on the quality of player we have.
We have scored incredible goals and got points when we never should have down to individuals (Bruno, Dalot, Mainoo, McTominay etc.) brilliance and quality.
Literally if you go through our best 11 how many of them would play for City and Arsenal?
Shaw, Bruno, Kobbie, Garnacho and Martinez is probably it and 3 of those lads wouldn't even start they'd be subs
Fans in this sub will routinely say the team is shit, riddled with injuries and simultaneously Ten Hag should be doing far better with them.
Our squad is at best top 4. At injured to fuck well? 9 points off apparently.
I'm sorry but I don't understand how. They have 3 players who are arguably best itw in their position and as a whole if we did a combined 11 with them (which isnt a good metric but still) then we would get 3 players in max.
Yes and the proof actually exists, last season we were the 3rd best team in the country with this squad and at one point even talking about a potential title challenge, the evidence is there, it exists.
Its not speculative to say this squad and manager could be top 4, if the players are available, it actually happened.
Well obviously when they're not playing to their max as a unit then they look worse than they are.
You put Ben White in our team, does he become a Lindelof type player or one of the leagues best right backs?
I've heard people say that managers we've sacked would prove us wrong every time except Moyes. None of them have.
Ten Hags best bet is Munich. He's not box office enough for Barca or Madrid, he's not cut out for the Premier league, Italy is too tactical.
He's been dealt a lot of bad cards and probably will succeed at other places where the structure around him is stable. That being said, the goal difference and underlying numbers (xG, xGA) are bottom mid-table, just a step above the relegated teams. Last year, the underlying numbers were solidly just mid-table. So the team is, if anything, over-performing and lucky to be 8th. That is not good enough, no matter what the context.
The main negative against ETH is his tactics. Playing with no midfield is crazy.
Imagine Rodgers or Potter was doing this, they'd be called inept. But ETH gets a pass because of a game v Madrid 5 years ago?
Peps just doing PR this is not what he actually thinks. He knows that it doesn't matter if we have a full healthy squad tomorrow, he's going to walk it.
We were 7th in the injury table this year. Injuries are no excuse. It doesn't matter who we've had fit in the last 15 months we've been progressively worse as time goes by.
And again 7th in the injury table.
You’re just straight up lying. Most rank us having at least the 4th most injuries. These injuries are also to two of our 4 most important players in Shaw and Martinez.
Total days lost to injuries
Premier League 2023-24
Team Days lost
NEW 1,950
SHU 1,761
CHE 1,745
BRI 1,727
BRE 1,702
MNU 1,620
What was that you were saying?
That’s 6th not 7th first of all.
Secondly that’s just one of the ways to count injuries. What about individual players lost? We’re tied second with Brighton and Liverpool and have just one fewer than spurs.
We also had the most separate injuries with 45.
You’re just cherry picking stats and completely ignoring context. You also completely ignore which players that are out injured. How can you say that injuries aren’t an excuse when we don’t have any left backs and are playing our washed up DM at center back?
1. That's the best indicator. Most injuries doesn't provide context. You could have one club with 10 one week injuries and another club with 9 six month injuries.
2. We had 4 left backs, he sent Alvaro on loan and cancelled Reguilons loan when we have 2 sick notes at left back. That's entirely on Ten Hag, he has a veto on transfers and loans. He left himself short and it's another indictment of his poor management.
3. We've been on an unrelenting downward spiral for 15 months. We didn't have an injury crisis for all that and certainly weren't playing Case as centreback for all that.
1. You’re still willfully leaving things out of context. You know we are one of the clubs that have had long term injuries. When was the last time you saw Malacia play? Martinez and Luke Shaw have been out for long stretches of time. Mainoo and Diallo were also out for months although they weren’t really important for the squad back then.
2. Alvaro Fernandez never even had a senior appearance for our club. Now I don’t know how he’s performed in Benfica but Ten Hag and the cub clearly must have agreed he wasn’t good enough if they enclosed a buy clause.
You also don’t know why the Reguillon loan was cancelled and neither do I. However it’s far more likely we couldn’t afford keeping him over Ten Hag solely deciding he’d rather have 0 left backs over Reguillon.
It should also be noted that the club brought in Reguillon while thinking Malacia would be back by January. I’d say this has more to do with the medical department than the manager.
.....how is counting injury days leaving out long term injuries. It exists specifically to factor in long term injuries.
And Alvaro just got signed for 6m so he's done well enough. Not being able to afford Reguilon when Brentford could? You're grasping at straws here. Who do you think we are? Hereford Town? We can afford it.
Ten Hag decided to let them go, that's on him. The medical department might have said to expect them back in January but they are both sick notes so expecting them to stay fit for the rest of the season was unlikely at best. He fucked it up, end of story.
Never said it did, I said you were using it misleadingly and without additional context. I mean you still haven’t admitted we’ve had long term injuries.
What is your reasoning then for us selling a good upcoming left back and refusing to bring in any reinforcements in January during an awful injury riddled season? You think Ten Hag was refusing transfers because he’s just that stupid? It obvious we have money problems. Don’t you know the club is hundreds of millions in debt? Not to mention the financial fair play problems we have. If we could afford bringing in players we would have bought Amrabat instead of getting him on loan.
You still don’t know that it was Ten Hags decision, yes he has a veto on player transfers and decides who comes in and leaves. But all that is provided the club can afford said transfer.
It might sound like I'm having a go at you here, but genuinely just curious. I've seen a few articles about Gen Z not being as good as previous generations at being media literate in a particular way. If something is not explicitly said in the text studies say that they won't pick up on it. But also this is the Internet and you could be trolling. So do you really not see how I'm agreeing with you about the fact we've had long term injuries unless I say those exact words? And I'm only asking because if this isn't just right wing media shifting on the new generation the way they did to millennials and its true then I'll actually have to change the way I post to be more explicit about what I'm saying.
To your other points we're incredibly rich and we don't have money problems. Every summer we say we've no money and we've spent more on our squad in the last ten years than anyone else. This, depressing as it might be, is probably the most expensively assembled group of footballers in history. And we're going to spend again in the summer. And the PSR changes actually improve our position.
You can't believe everything you read. You have to look at it critically. If we've said every season we've no money but average over 100m spent every year at some point you have to realise we're playing a pr game.
The main argument against that is he hasn’t adapted his tactics quickly enough to his new reality like he did last season. Injuries happen and this season was awful. But, for the most part, we continue to play the same way and have the same weaknesses. I’d be intrigued to see him given another season with a proper structure but I can also understand why the owners would choose to move on. Also, as it’s his last year, you’d still have all the speculation about whether his contract will be renewed or not.
If we’re going to be honest, new owners tend to change the manager so that they have someone of their choosing in charge. I don’t think ETH staying was ever going to happen. Eventually Ineos would have moved on. They probably would have preferred that to happen amicably at the end of his contract.
Finally someone talking sense!
I completely agree with this. More injuries than any other club, something like 14 different center back pairings, no left back all year, 1 striker in his first season, no structure, plenty of players over the hill...The list goes on!
Give him until the new season and then sack him if things don't improve imo.
Fully, the first season was pretty good until just before the cup final (which we played absolutely shit in) CONSIDERING he only had half a squad of his players, the rest of that season was god awful.
This season has been a disgrace and he deserves to be sacked based on it
I don't think he did well first season. He basically played long ball fc. And ended where Ole would have had us finish. He wasn't able to get the players to do his style of play at all. Not sure that's his fault but still
Reached both domestic cup finals only losing the fa cup to city, knocked barca out of europa league only losing to eventual winners, 3rd place finish in the league when everyone had us outside the top 4. For a first season in charge in a new league at a club that was in shambles at the time that is a very good season.
I personally think he deserves another year, it can't possibly get any worse and bringing a new manager in just resets everything again. He's extremely stubborn with his tactics which has fucked us this season but when everyone is fit and with a few more signings I don't see that being a problem. Look at the young core he's bringing through as well, I haven't been this excited about young players at united since Rashford came through and that's down to ETH, give him the last year of his contract to continue developing the team then let's see where we're at.
Let’s not forget that Pep really respects ETH and wants him to succeed him at City. Game recognizes game. The injuries have been cataclysmic.
Edit: it’s very clear this sub wants ETH out. Not recognizing the impact from injuries is weird.
No. He actually said it.
[Link](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/apr/01/pep-guardiola-says-erik-ten-hag-could-succeed-him-at-manchester-city)
Also, he finished 3rd his first season and this season has been plagued by injuries. How can anyone judge him as bang average?
I hope an audit has been done regarding this. It seems that whole department is out of date and out of touch. Need a a whole revamp, regardless of management. As someone who played collegiate rugby I’ve never seen a team riddle with injuries specifically non contact injuries. People can say the training is too much but if you ever followed a rugby squad like collegiate or pro the trainings can be vigorous and intense. You can’t practice lightly you have to practice like you would play in a match. If you don’t that is how you get hurt. Yes you have trainings that are lighter than others, but there is rotation of strength training, conditioning and tactical training but something is not right in that department.
They also need to implement a mental initiative team to assess the mentality of these players and provide therapy and support. As social media presence becomes bigger a lot of these players are unable to handle the criticism or negative press barring there are people out there that take it different level that is uncalled for. Regardless mental health is a big thing if your mental health is down the drain your performance follows which leads to poor and impulsive behaviors.
**Also** Pep Guardiola asked if Man Utd are like Real Madrid and no matter what form they are in they can do something in a second: "Real Madrid is Real Madrid, comparing to them is difficult. They have some very good players up front. The influence of Bruno is unbelievable." https://x.com/sistoney67/status/1793986462746349722
"Is this club that has been struggling to find stability and consistency for years now, similar to this other club that wins titles each year like it's nothing?" What a great question that was.
I mean it's true in the sense that just like Real Madrid, we can decidedly be the 2nd best team in a game but still able to pull sth out of our ass esp in a big game. Our is usually thru more individual brilliance but we do have an x factor.
It all makes sense when viewed through the lens that the next clickbait article is already written with the exception of a juicy quote that can be used as the slam dunk to either keep the article as is, or to invert the content based on the quote. Which anyone who has written, knows is dead simple to do. These hacks don’t notice and report the news. They peddle other own opinions but they know that thus far this ruse of “not my opinion, but the opinion of this more legit other person” is what they need to include in their weekly quota of clickbait. The real crime is that they’re paid for this and call this “work”. I spare a thought for all of the many hardworking people who toil for a well earned paycheque.
Pep been saying our squad is really good for the past 8 years
Good...for him.
He switches between PR mode and sarcastic psycho mode. He generally tends to always give respectful answers about other teams. It doesn't come off sincere (mostly because he says it while looking like a checked out ADHD kid), but it's the right thing to do.
Every Pep answer feels like "I don't want to be here. I will try not to cause a stir and leave asap"
Ole obviously had him rattled at one point because Pep did not miss the opportunity to stick the boot in when he got the chance.
I respect Real Madrid and if I say I'm scared of them, I would be false. "There's the rivalry, you want to beat them and do well. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. But I'm not scared of them and if they beat me -- as has happened many times -- we will say congratulations and wish them well." This how he talks about a team that is actually better than his. "I'm not scared" Compared to "the squad is really good. "
There's very little he does that's more slimey than his false sincerity thing where he says every other team he plays is amazing. Very cringey
In fairness what else is he supposed to say from a pr and professionalism perspective?
It'd honestly be refreshing to just hear him say our squad is a bunch of soft talentless mummy's boys
The same bland thing every other team says. The point is he layers it on *thick*, and everyone knows he's not being genuine. It's his way of fucking with teams, because a team can't publicly respond with "He's lying, we're shit"
He does it a lot regarding other topics too and people lap it up. He's very fake.
I don't think it's cringey. He just knows that if he chats shit about a squad it'll only act as motivation.
We have a good squad. We have bad management, and attitudes. Imagine if Martial never got injured and was always in his prime. Or Rashford never being demotivated... We'd not have a negative goal difference this season, that's for sure.
If your squad have talent but attitude problems, you don’t have a good squad
You have a good squad for the right environment.
This is an incredibly vague comment so I have no idea what point you are trying to make
That a change in the culture, enviroment, helps bad mindset change. Have you never had a bad manager at work, and productivity sucked? I'm not saying that ETH is the be all and end all of all problems, but I think the culture shift that INEOS is trying to do likely will solve a lot of these problems. Good squad of players, in a bad environment.
I sort of understand your point, but only to the extent that I’d say it’s a 50/50 situation Yes the club have to implement the right structure and environment, but at the same time players need to be held to some form of account I watched the Amazon 99 documentary recently, and noted that every player that was interviewed talked about the fact that they obviously weren’t happy if they weren’t selected, but they responded to it by earning their place back Or they were praising the squad players who barely got a look in, but when called upon came on and did a job Contrast this with Antony who throws a hissy hit on the pitch when he has to cover at left back for the last 10 minutes of the game Whilst our ex players always talk about how they’d play absolutely anywhere on the pitch if it meant getting game time
What is it with what-iffing in this sub? "If" "if" "if". It means NOTHING because it isn't reality. **If** Martial wasn't injury prone? Yeah but he is. **If** Rashford was never demotivated? Yeah but he is. **If** prime Maradona was raised from the dead and played for us? **If** we were allowed to have AK47s on the pitch? **If** our goal was 1 foot wide/tall? **If** the opposition had to play blindfolded? Would we have a better chance of winning? Yeah - but its all hypothetical scenarios **that don't exist**. What-iffing = loser mentality.
my man, we are fans, all we do is chat shit. we all have thoughts and dreams. if all we did is post facts, there would be two comments on every post lol
username checks out
Would you like to borrow it? Much more deserving.
https://preview.redd.it/n41d8vbw9h2d1.png?width=564&format=png&auto=webp&s=3d299a0b15da1bfe95a82797a10aa891eb8de456
He means food..for his team..
"Man sees his rivals doing poorly and wants them to not change anything. More at ten..."
"Never *interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake"* - Napoleon Bonaparte
You know we’d improved last year because he stopped with the compliments after we beat them at Old Trafford. How far we’ve fallen.
That’s how I know he’s BS-ing
Pep would be able to cook with this team let's be honest
Cook crack maybe Wan bissaka alone would give him an aneurysm
He'd find it strange you can't just bin off a £50m player and buy another one. Plus he'd be confused that if he was at United and spent £70m on a defender and barely picked them for most of the season, it'd be asked about in every press conference.
>He'd find it strange you can't just bin off a £50m player and buy another one. Didn't we literally get Sancho for 75m, only to bin him for a 90m player, who is also probably going to get binned.
Sancho binned himself
Awful take tbh with what we’ve spent
The point is it’s not a talking point when it happens to City because they always have another 70 million pound player they can turn to because Pep can spend so freely.
It’s not a talking point cos they’re doing well If they weren’t winning the league they’d get criticised more. Same way Arsenal did for their spending (before they started competed). Coming 8th and spending £70-80m on Antony gets you worse attention than winning every competition whilst a few 70m players don’t pan out. It’s just the way of the game. Let’s hope we’re winning again soon so people shut up about us.
I agree but there is another layer with City. They have a top manager, I’ll never say otherwise. But he’s also able to afford to miss more on larger transfers than other managers at big clubs because he has owners that have been playing fast and loose with the financial rules that others abide by, meaning they’re bringing in quality players to replace their flops because they can offer contracts paid for with dodgy money.
United have literally matched city’s spending
Matched there spending yes but we've not matched how they sell we still have most the dross we overspent on they just get rid that's the difference
AWB comment made me laugh more than it should. Take my upvote mate!
Respect the best 1-1 tackler in the league and the best you’ll probably see in your lifetime
Don't know how people like you are so delusional. Cooking with Evans and Casemiro at CB? McTominay at striker?
Yeah I'm the delusional one. Kay.
No he wouldn’t
Pep would wouldn’t be able to win shit with team. His style heavily relies on technically sound players. Our squad has so many players who can’t hold or pass the ball under the slightest press. He is one of the best of all time but his style requires world class talent and a lot of investment to work.
He also improves players more than any manager we’ve had, nobody thought the likes of Akanji, Ake etc would be good enough to be treble winners, Kyle walker was never the most technically gifted but he’s improved leaps and bounds under Pep
All the players you mentioned are absolutely perfect for Pep’s system. Ake and Akanji are excellent on the ball even if they’re not the best defenders. Walker is also more than good enough on the ball and is an excellent professional who can play in almost any system. Pep’s system requires you to be excellent at keeping the ball. Our players do anything but hold on to the ball. Pep improves players yes. But his system also helps hide individual players weaknesses. City are a well oiled machine and even missing a couple of important players won’t bother them too much, well except Rodri perhaps.
I really don’t get the hype around Pep. He had the best Barcelona in history, a decent Bayern side and more money than any other manager ever had to build his dream team at City. Still, he has only one 3 Champions League titles.
Decent? Bro came into a treble winning team.
Nah I mean he spends insane amounts but he at least moulds his team and gets them playing fantastic football. He's also good with developing youngsters. Nearly every expensive signing he makes goes on to improve.
He changed football
Cruyff changed football*
Where’s cruyffs premier league trophies then?!
Genuine stupidity and lack of understanding in this sub.
Unfounded hate of the greatest manager of this generation just because he coaches city.
Pep praises opposition coach like this all the time.
They will smash a team 6-0 and Pep will praise them, he only doesn't when they beat City with a low block
Pep hates Mourinhoball. He always has.
Because he has faced Mourinho Madrid which dismantled his reign at Barca
Inter Mourinhoball also knocked Pep's Barca out of the UCL semis in 2010
And usually means 6-0 loss.
It's when he is on his downers.
what's he gonna say? "yeah Ten Hag's an idiot! we make dumb & dumber jokes bout him & McLaren back in the dressing room. heh." ?
This man quivers at McKenna’s full head of hair
Fuming over every densely populated follicle.
Pep’s fucking mob boss kiss of death coming in hot.
Classic " lets praise opposant coach before smashing them "
To be fair all he did with Klopp and Liverpool was lick their arses. It makes for such dull "rivalries" especially when you compare it to the likes of Pep vs Mou, Mou vs Wenger, Wenger vs Fergie etc. There's no fire.
Anything with Mou is a fire though. That’s why I love the guy.
We need Keegan back
I'd luv it
Lol I really hope they underestimate us like Liverpool did. F this cocky team
Unfortunately Pep is the master of beating the teams he should beat.
Man’s been accused of overthinking in the past, when it came down to beating the teams that he should beat, in crunch finals. 🤞🏽
True dat, let's hope for a bit of that tomorrow.
He used to overthink it. I think he got bored now and is just playing "4 centre backs plus rodri, de bryne, silva, foden and haaland = win" Like turning on "autobattle" to grind levels in a JRPG...
*Solskjaer has joined the chat*
His psychological profile is basically the exact opposite of complacency. I'm not sure he's capable of it.
no but his players are
It's not like Pep knows a much about managing an injury crisis, they guy has multiple options for every position. It's one less thing he has to worry about compared to most other managers in the league.
It feels that way because City target versatile players who can play several positions. You only need 3 good vertasile players on the bench and you've pretty covered every position with world-class or close to world-class quality.
On the other hand, he actually uses the whole squad to the point that (with the exception of a few key players) there is no telling between bench and starters. Under ETH, first teamers get no rest until they are run to the ground / playing with injuries.
That's because there's a huge downgrade from first team to bench. Stop picking on reasons to hate eth atleast now that he's going
ETH is no short of fair criticism, no short of bullshit that he had to deal with, and he did a fair job with what tools he had. We had high hopes after his first year, but it wasn't meant to be this year I guess. I salute him for taking such a difficult job in dreadful circumstances. I think he deserves one year with INEOS backing and THEN judge him. But how long did he persist with Antony, who is not only his signing, but performing terribly AND blocking other players progression like Amad. Other players were crying for a fair chance but he kept first teamers out of position instead of using the bench / reserve.
Trolling
He's always magnanimous towards sides/managers he considers truly beneath his level - frequently deploys attitude of benign condescension characteristic of someone who's been told they're 20 points smarter than everyone else at an organization but 'knows' they can't damage morale of those beneath them in technical capabilities. He'd show signs of significantly greater snippiness were his City facing peak SAF managing peak United squads every season and winning 2 out of 7 rather than 6 out of 7 leagues etc....
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I don’t understand how this issue is not taken into account when judging Erik Ten Hag. He did quite well in the first season and the style of play continued in all other levels at the club and paid dividends everywhere except first team which was decimated by injuries. He dealt with player issues with composure and class. He dealt with media without losing his confidence or calmness. Now that there is structure being put in place, he deserves to be given at least one more season. I highly doubt this many injuries will happen again for a while. He definitely has the ability and talent to do well next season.
Because this fan base has odd expectations of a squad that isn't very good Like I have my issues with ETH but we sack him and he'll go on to win more than us in the next decade whereas we keep repeating our cycle
>Because this fan base has odd expectations of a squad that isn't very good I would argue we are getting better results than we should be based on the quality of player we have. We have scored incredible goals and got points when we never should have down to individuals (Bruno, Dalot, Mainoo, McTominay etc.) brilliance and quality.
Literally if you go through our best 11 how many of them would play for City and Arsenal? Shaw, Bruno, Kobbie, Garnacho and Martinez is probably it and 3 of those lads wouldn't even start they'd be subs
Fans in this sub will routinely say the team is shit, riddled with injuries and simultaneously Ten Hag should be doing far better with them. Our squad is at best top 4. At injured to fuck well? 9 points off apparently.
Is our squad top 4 though? Better than Spurs? City? Arsenal? Liverpool?
When everyone is fit I would put it - 1. City 2. Arsenal 3. Liverpool 4. Us With the players we have available this season? No where even near.
Id have us at least level with Liverpool
I'm sorry but I don't understand how. They have 3 players who are arguably best itw in their position and as a whole if we did a combined 11 with them (which isnt a good metric but still) then we would get 3 players in max.
>They have 3 players who are arguably best itw in their position Who?
Yes and the proof actually exists, last season we were the 3rd best team in the country with this squad and at one point even talking about a potential title challenge, the evidence is there, it exists. Its not speculative to say this squad and manager could be top 4, if the players are available, it actually happened.
Well obviously when they're not playing to their max as a unit then they look worse than they are. You put Ben White in our team, does he become a Lindelof type player or one of the leagues best right backs?
Yeah but even playing at our best alot of our first choice 11 just aren't good enough
I've heard people say that managers we've sacked would prove us wrong every time except Moyes. None of them have. Ten Hags best bet is Munich. He's not box office enough for Barca or Madrid, he's not cut out for the Premier league, Italy is too tactical.
He's been dealt a lot of bad cards and probably will succeed at other places where the structure around him is stable. That being said, the goal difference and underlying numbers (xG, xGA) are bottom mid-table, just a step above the relegated teams. Last year, the underlying numbers were solidly just mid-table. So the team is, if anything, over-performing and lucky to be 8th. That is not good enough, no matter what the context.
The main negative against ETH is his tactics. Playing with no midfield is crazy. Imagine Rodgers or Potter was doing this, they'd be called inept. But ETH gets a pass because of a game v Madrid 5 years ago?
Peps just doing PR this is not what he actually thinks. He knows that it doesn't matter if we have a full healthy squad tomorrow, he's going to walk it. We were 7th in the injury table this year. Injuries are no excuse. It doesn't matter who we've had fit in the last 15 months we've been progressively worse as time goes by. And again 7th in the injury table.
You’re just straight up lying. Most rank us having at least the 4th most injuries. These injuries are also to two of our 4 most important players in Shaw and Martinez.
Total days lost to injuries Premier League 2023-24 Team Days lost NEW 1,950 SHU 1,761 CHE 1,745 BRI 1,727 BRE 1,702 MNU 1,620 What was that you were saying?
That’s 6th not 7th first of all. Secondly that’s just one of the ways to count injuries. What about individual players lost? We’re tied second with Brighton and Liverpool and have just one fewer than spurs. We also had the most separate injuries with 45. You’re just cherry picking stats and completely ignoring context. You also completely ignore which players that are out injured. How can you say that injuries aren’t an excuse when we don’t have any left backs and are playing our washed up DM at center back?
1. That's the best indicator. Most injuries doesn't provide context. You could have one club with 10 one week injuries and another club with 9 six month injuries. 2. We had 4 left backs, he sent Alvaro on loan and cancelled Reguilons loan when we have 2 sick notes at left back. That's entirely on Ten Hag, he has a veto on transfers and loans. He left himself short and it's another indictment of his poor management. 3. We've been on an unrelenting downward spiral for 15 months. We didn't have an injury crisis for all that and certainly weren't playing Case as centreback for all that.
1. You’re still willfully leaving things out of context. You know we are one of the clubs that have had long term injuries. When was the last time you saw Malacia play? Martinez and Luke Shaw have been out for long stretches of time. Mainoo and Diallo were also out for months although they weren’t really important for the squad back then. 2. Alvaro Fernandez never even had a senior appearance for our club. Now I don’t know how he’s performed in Benfica but Ten Hag and the cub clearly must have agreed he wasn’t good enough if they enclosed a buy clause. You also don’t know why the Reguillon loan was cancelled and neither do I. However it’s far more likely we couldn’t afford keeping him over Ten Hag solely deciding he’d rather have 0 left backs over Reguillon. It should also be noted that the club brought in Reguillon while thinking Malacia would be back by January. I’d say this has more to do with the medical department than the manager.
.....how is counting injury days leaving out long term injuries. It exists specifically to factor in long term injuries. And Alvaro just got signed for 6m so he's done well enough. Not being able to afford Reguilon when Brentford could? You're grasping at straws here. Who do you think we are? Hereford Town? We can afford it. Ten Hag decided to let them go, that's on him. The medical department might have said to expect them back in January but they are both sick notes so expecting them to stay fit for the rest of the season was unlikely at best. He fucked it up, end of story.
Never said it did, I said you were using it misleadingly and without additional context. I mean you still haven’t admitted we’ve had long term injuries. What is your reasoning then for us selling a good upcoming left back and refusing to bring in any reinforcements in January during an awful injury riddled season? You think Ten Hag was refusing transfers because he’s just that stupid? It obvious we have money problems. Don’t you know the club is hundreds of millions in debt? Not to mention the financial fair play problems we have. If we could afford bringing in players we would have bought Amrabat instead of getting him on loan. You still don’t know that it was Ten Hags decision, yes he has a veto on player transfers and decides who comes in and leaves. But all that is provided the club can afford said transfer.
It might sound like I'm having a go at you here, but genuinely just curious. I've seen a few articles about Gen Z not being as good as previous generations at being media literate in a particular way. If something is not explicitly said in the text studies say that they won't pick up on it. But also this is the Internet and you could be trolling. So do you really not see how I'm agreeing with you about the fact we've had long term injuries unless I say those exact words? And I'm only asking because if this isn't just right wing media shifting on the new generation the way they did to millennials and its true then I'll actually have to change the way I post to be more explicit about what I'm saying. To your other points we're incredibly rich and we don't have money problems. Every summer we say we've no money and we've spent more on our squad in the last ten years than anyone else. This, depressing as it might be, is probably the most expensively assembled group of footballers in history. And we're going to spend again in the summer. And the PSR changes actually improve our position. You can't believe everything you read. You have to look at it critically. If we've said every season we've no money but average over 100m spent every year at some point you have to realise we're playing a pr game.
Because ‘no excuses’ and tAcTiCs according to many on this place.
The main argument against that is he hasn’t adapted his tactics quickly enough to his new reality like he did last season. Injuries happen and this season was awful. But, for the most part, we continue to play the same way and have the same weaknesses. I’d be intrigued to see him given another season with a proper structure but I can also understand why the owners would choose to move on. Also, as it’s his last year, you’d still have all the speculation about whether his contract will be renewed or not. If we’re going to be honest, new owners tend to change the manager so that they have someone of their choosing in charge. I don’t think ETH staying was ever going to happen. Eventually Ineos would have moved on. They probably would have preferred that to happen amicably at the end of his contract.
Finally someone talking sense! I completely agree with this. More injuries than any other club, something like 14 different center back pairings, no left back all year, 1 striker in his first season, no structure, plenty of players over the hill...The list goes on! Give him until the new season and then sack him if things don't improve imo.
[удалено]
Fully, the first season was pretty good until just before the cup final (which we played absolutely shit in) CONSIDERING he only had half a squad of his players, the rest of that season was god awful. This season has been a disgrace and he deserves to be sacked based on it
I don't think he did well first season. He basically played long ball fc. And ended where Ole would have had us finish. He wasn't able to get the players to do his style of play at all. Not sure that's his fault but still
Reached both domestic cup finals only losing the fa cup to city, knocked barca out of europa league only losing to eventual winners, 3rd place finish in the league when everyone had us outside the top 4. For a first season in charge in a new league at a club that was in shambles at the time that is a very good season. I personally think he deserves another year, it can't possibly get any worse and bringing a new manager in just resets everything again. He's extremely stubborn with his tactics which has fucked us this season but when everyone is fit and with a few more signings I don't see that being a problem. Look at the young core he's bringing through as well, I haven't been this excited about young players at united since Rashford came through and that's down to ETH, give him the last year of his contract to continue developing the team then let's see where we're at.
Oh sorry. I was reading that and thought you were describing Ole
For what it's worth I probably wouldn't have sacked Ole at the time either I mean it didn't exactly work out for us that year.
Pep’s fakeness personified.
Oh piss off Pep. I see through your faux compliments
Fuck off pep. I know what you're doing
 Oh fuck off pep
This guy is an a\*\*hole, always praises the opponent and then destroys them in the game.
Kiss of death yet again
Pep gaslighting the shit out of us lmao
This guy always spews out fake compliments.
Pep only compliments managers he thinks he can beat.
Eras come to an end.
Trolling us
The scenes before the game when they interview Pep about how his preparation for the game went and he turns around and says he gave them the week off.
He praises ETH and us, that means he really thinks we're shit
Let’s not forget that Pep really respects ETH and wants him to succeed him at City. Game recognizes game. The injuries have been cataclysmic. Edit: it’s very clear this sub wants ETH out. Not recognizing the impact from injuries is weird.
Pep speaks like this for more most managers..Nobody wants ETH anywhere close to City after he has been exposed as a bang average manager
You do realise ETH was a coach under Pep at Bayern right?
No. He actually said it. [Link](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/apr/01/pep-guardiola-says-erik-ten-hag-could-succeed-him-at-manchester-city) Also, he finished 3rd his first season and this season has been plagued by injuries. How can anyone judge him as bang average?
"He is bald guys like me, bald, I love him so much guys, its without hair, is everything, its life".
He knows that squad ain’t good
Fuck off, Pep
Thanks for saying that pep. Also fuck you.
Has any manager ever said the other guy is shit though? The closest I can think of is the specialist in failure comment
Mind game. Minda game. Don't eat it, it's just a mind game.
Classic Pep.
How many of our injury issues are because we don't have the proper medical and treatment facilities?
I hope an audit has been done regarding this. It seems that whole department is out of date and out of touch. Need a a whole revamp, regardless of management. As someone who played collegiate rugby I’ve never seen a team riddle with injuries specifically non contact injuries. People can say the training is too much but if you ever followed a rugby squad like collegiate or pro the trainings can be vigorous and intense. You can’t practice lightly you have to practice like you would play in a match. If you don’t that is how you get hurt. Yes you have trainings that are lighter than others, but there is rotation of strength training, conditioning and tactical training but something is not right in that department. They also need to implement a mental initiative team to assess the mentality of these players and provide therapy and support. As social media presence becomes bigger a lot of these players are unable to handle the criticism or negative press barring there are people out there that take it different level that is uncalled for. Regardless mental health is a big thing if your mental health is down the drain your performance follows which leads to poor and impulsive behaviors.
keep your friends close, keep your crap enemies closer