Ten Hag throws another Man Utd star under the bus with his ‘unacceptable’ iron fist rule
Erik ten Hag is a manager who should be defending Marcus Rashford rather than publicly shaming him. That and much, much more on Manchester United in the mailbox.
Zeitgeisty Man Utd A few people in this morning’s mailbox were asking why the obsession with all things United, and I’ll just offer a few thoughts on this.
Man United are the most Zeitgeisty club of all time. They always seem to be doing something remarkable at the point of most significance. When European football was starting to take root, the Munich air disaster happens (tragic but hugely iconic) sending the Busby babes into the consciousness of anyone remotely interested in football
10 years later they are the first English club to win the European Cup, 10 years before Liverpool, Forest etc ushered in an era of English dominance. With the swinging 60’s at their peak and the world going crazy for all things English (along with the 66 World Cup win), Best (the original pin up star who was bigger than his role in any team), Charlton and the rest embodied the era like no other.
It all went a bit quiet then, with Liverpool taking over, but just at the perfect point again, they win the first Premier League title and all the glory and, most importantly, money that comes with it. Fathers who grew up on 60’s glory pass the obsession down to their kids. Ferguson, the perfect manager at the perfect time ushered in an era of control at a time when the financial rewards were never greater. This, combined with their position in the worldwide football landscape they had established with their previous notable accomplishments (at this point surely only Real Madrid were in the same league) allowed them to exploit all the financial opportunities available.
My recollection of this time was a media obsession with all things United, class of 92, you’ll win nothing with kids, the treble, Beckham mania (George Best 2?) and a hairy Ryan Giggs waving his jersey around. All the United fans I knew were happy enough with the dominance, happy enough with the noodle partners that allowed them to buy all the best players from all the other teams (Andy Cole hurt quite a bit to be honest, I expect Arsenal fans feel the same about RVP) and happy enough to think it could never end. So many of today’s pundits are culled from the ranks of those Ferguson teams, so many people of a certain age have only them as a yardstick of success and so many people jumped on the bandwagon of what appeared to be a never ending party.
And finally now, in the era of extremely angry, extremely online fan bases, they are once again the ultimate team for their time. A team that promises new dawns every other year only to break hearts at every turn. But most of it stems from that Ferguson period where they won all around them in style and exploited that success for every penny they could get. It probably isn’t helped by the fact that their place at the top has been taken by Man City (rather than Liverpool), who just don’t have that romantic, long established image to really get the pulse racing.
So, sorry we’re all a bit obsessed, but remember, you wanted it this way. Derek from Dundalk
Ten Hag’s mediocre Man Utd If you look back over the last couple of decades at the most successful managers in the EPL (SAF, Pep, Klopp), they all have one key fact in common – they were all given time to build teams. Yes, MUFC is currently but what is changing the manager going to achieve? There may be a new manager bump for a short while but the team will then regress back to the same levels that saw the demise of Moyes, Van Gaal, Mourinho and Solksjaer. It reminds me of the old saying “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing expecting a different result.” Who would we get in? Zidane? Fat chance. I’m waiting for someone to mention Big Sam! And we’d start all over again. It’s Groundhog Day.
We, or at least those who care (especially YOU the former players) need to take off the red-tinted glasses and accept the fact that we are currently a MEDIOCRE team. The fact that we are even close to Newcastle and Brighton is astonishing, considering we are playing with our 3rd, 4th and 5th choice center backs and no recognized Left Back.
Sure ETH deserves some portion of the blame but only last season he won one trophy, was in two finals and finished 3rd. Did he suddenly become a bad manager or, more likely, he has realized how poor the current squad is. Is there any player, on current form, who could get into any of the top four sides?
Just consider for a moment the rebuild ahead… Varane, Casimiro, Ericksen, Maguire and Evans are all over 30. They were most likely gambles as stop gaps which hasn’t paid off. Now look at the lazy, limited or toxic players such as Martial, Mount, Rashford, Fernandes, McTominay, Sancho and Anthony. What is left is barely an indoor team.
Every single MUFC fan knew for certain we would not beat City and I suspect most of us expected a thrashing from Newcastle. That is, unfortunately, where we are. The sooner we ALL recognize this harsh fact, the quicker we can get started on the hard work instead of our current state of sulking entitlement. Adidasmufc (And yet we are somehow STILL higher than Chelsea if you can believe the weat!)
Every single MUFC fan knew for certain we would not beat City and I suspect most of us expected a thrashing from Newcastle. That is, unfortunately, where we are. The sooner we ALL recognize this harsh fact, the quicker we can get started on the hard work instead of our current state of sulking entitlement. Adidasmufc (And yet we are somehow STILL higher than Chelsea if you can believe that!)
Under the Ten Hag bus Imagine the scene… You’ve had a crap day at work. You’re not particularly responsible, the whole of your department has had a shocker, including your boss.
But, hey ho, it’s your birthday, so you go out for a quiet, controlled party that had already been arranged. You arrive perfectly fit and sober for the next day’s shift .. all’s good right?
Apparently not if Ten Hag’s your boss.
Is there any wonder why the players can’t be arsed to put a shift in for him?
Has Ten Hag ever taken an ounce of blame for a team’s poor performance, or has he always chucked players under the bus?
I’ve worked for bosses like that and surprisingly it leads to negative morale, results and eventually their P45.
I am convinced that Mr Ten Hag is not a good man manager, and this is a big factor as to why United are misfiring. Now, perhaps Marcus Rashford is full of remorse for having the ridiculous notion that he is allowed a social life, but perhaps he has seen what happens to players who don’t apologise to the manager when the manager picks a fight with them.
Every account I have seen suggests the night out was a pretty sober affair. There is no suggestion that Rashford was drunk or misbehaving. He got to training on time the following day. So, what did he do wrong, exactly? I know that elite footballers live incredibly privileged lives, but surely this shouldn’t preclude them from a night out every now and again?
Does he have to seek permission from his employer to go out after losing a game? Would he be under this kind of scrutiny if he was playing well and the team were performing better? Is it not a leap to conflate a sensible night out with poor form? If they were top four right now, would anyone give a toss about a late night out?
This seems like bullshit to me. If I was the manager, I would have defended Rashford, explained that he needs downtime like everyone else, and would have pointed out he didn’t act unprofessionally when he was out, he trained fine the next day and is a model professional. Instead, he is dressing him down, demanding an apology and criticising him in the media, who seem to perceive Ten Hag as a performing monkey who will provide them with plenty of headlines simply by asking him loaded questions. He’s out of his depth here, clearly.
I still think United need to stick with him for the time being, but in a sport where we often talk about a manager losing the dressing room, does he really sound like he is the captain of a happy ship?
With apologies to United fans who are (understandably) sick of all the chat about them, but OT is a soap opera right now, and it’s (understandably) great entertainment. I love watching United flounder as much as you love watching Liverpool when they struggle. Matthew (good job mods, but we all know what’s coming)
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