I’ve seen many fans and pundits make this claim. Do you think Manchester United players aren’t playing as well as they can in hope to get Ten Hag sacked. I’ve seen this argument used against Rashford as people since he’s got his new contract he’s just content to get his money and play as well.
Though Hoijund has claimed the players all back Ten Hag still https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/nov/09/erik-ten-hag-manchester-united-squad-backing-rasmus-hojlund
Not really
Man U have just made plenty of shite signings over the years and it’s all added up.
Hojlund seems decent, Martinez too, but beyond that?
One good season out of Casemiro and there’s now the question of if he’s on the decline.
Either Ten Hag can’t identify top 6 quality players or Man U desperately need a new Director of Football to take care of signings
There is an agenda but their also is a mentality issue with the team. Pundits can’t wait to repeat the same things each others are saying over and over. Even using the same phases.
I think the players still trust/play for the manager. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they down tools after yet another contentious VAR decision not going our way
Fam gotta have tools in the first place before downing them.
No, They’re just not very good.
Downing tools is a loaded term and I don’t think they’re by any means near open revolt.
They’re going through a pretty poor run of form which could very well correct itself at some point, it’s just the cycle of boom and bust that Man U have gone through constantly since Fergie left.
What I’m not sure of is if ETH has the man management skills to address poor morale in the team, obviously just going by impressions but he doesn’t seem to be an arm round the shoulder type at all and as has become a stereotype, modern players don’t react well to the old school, disciplinarian types anymore.
No. They were up 2-0 last night and playing comfortably before the red. A lot of the players looked happy and determined as well. So much is being made about Man United and ETH, people just forget they’ve had problems with injuries, there have been controversies about players outside of football, the club decided to give Evans a longer contract when he was initially only brought in for pre season because Maguire couldn’t decide if he wanted to leave or not.
Does anyone remember how bad Liverpool were a couple seasons ago when they had their own injury crisis? There was a period they lost 6 out of 7 games and 5 of those losses came at home and everyone was just using the excuse of oh there are injuries in the team it’s difficult.
But when it’s Man United, who finished 3rd last year with this manager, won a cup with this manager and reached another cup final with this manager, all of a sudden it’s the manager who is wrong?
I know Klopp had more achieved, distinct style of play, good recruitment system, won the league and champions league. But I still think ETH deserves the same treatment. There were some awful moments last season they took some hammerings, I picked reaching the FA Cup final as a highlight but of course losing it wasn’t great but there was enough in that season to suggest he had done a good job.
Everyone says oh sack the manager but what do they actually think that will achieve?
I get so frustrated that so many fans try to mitigate the effect that an injury crisis can have on a team unless it’s their team, maybe it’s because I’m a Liverpool fan and we seem to get really unlucky where our injuries just concentrate in a certain area of the field instead of spreading out evenly, this was particularly the case a few seasons ago with the defence and last season with the mid field.
I might be enjoying the torrid form that United is in but I find the level of mockery directed towards ETH to be pretty excessive with how badly decimated their defence has been, especially considering that it left them without their entire first choice back four for a while.
Well you hit the nail on the head. It’s just a lack of empathy with other fans or the desire to mock rivals supersedes empathy.
ETH isn’t the joke Reddit has claimed, or the media for that matter, but so much context will always go missing. Saliba is constantly referred to as one of the best CB in the world and the best of his age, yet his absence the entire final run of the season is ignored in the bottle narrative. Nvm Tomiyasu and others injured as well.
Same with everyone shutting on Liverpool last year but you’ll notice as soon as players were coming back from injury it was their usual deadly selves.
And now it’s Man United. Martinez is top five defenders in the league, he’s gone, the entire starting back line questionable. Of course they’ll struggle. But it won’t stop the mocking and to be fair, it hasn’t stopped me from giving my cousins and mates a hard time about their form.
You forget that when other teams have a long term injury crisis it’s an unlucky season for them but when United have 16 first team players injured we are expected to still be a top team
I can tell you that we didn’t get that courtesy, the number of people saying that Liverpool was finished or Klopp had been found out in 20/21 when we lost most of our defence and much of our midfield was baffling, it was as if they couldn’t comprehend that losing half our midfield and having to use our 5th and 6th choice center back options for a large amount of the season was not going to let us be competitive.
Nobody was asking for Klopp’s head though. ETH is on the brink of being sacked
That could be due to a number of factors, first of all Klopp had a huge amount of good will from the Liverpool fans built up which ETH hasn’t had the time to do yet. ETH also has a habit of making some fairly strange decisions both in game and in the starting 11 even for positions that don’t have bay injury worries which provides ammunition for anyone who doesn’t want him, he also seems to struggle a bit with man management which for a team that has so many divas in it can cause issues. Regardless of that I think that anyone who wants him sacked is making a rash decision.
I do remember this to be fair. I think it was more fans than media though. Not LFC fans but opposition fans. I mean I’m sure we could pull up old clips from around this time from the likes of Sky and re-educate ourselves on how it truly went down, but I don’t recall Klopp getting anywhere near the kind of treatment ETH is getting.
And like I outlined in my comment I am aware Klopp had a few good seasons under his belt at Liverpool to fall back on so naturally people would have more faith in him to turn it around. But I also think that ETH is just an easy target having been at the club for one season prior to this one.
I will also admit that I do believe there are things ETH could do better, but Man United right now is a tough gig for anyone. If United are still this bad when/if they resolve their injury and off field issues then only then will I even think about putting a large amount of blame on the manager.
I mean he was even called out last week or whenever it was for being disappointed in Rashford for going out partying after losing the derby when this is the same kind of thing the Holy Lord himself, can’t do no wrong, Sir Alex Ferguson would have probably beat the shit out of Rashford for lol. But no, then it would be praised. There’s an awful agenda against ETH and it comes from very little
I should have specified that I was more referring to fans, the media was not too hard on Klopp but I think that a lot of that can be attributed to the level of support behind Klopp from the Liverpool fan base, if there isn’t a push for him to go from the fans then the clicks aren’t there for articles calling for his sacking, ETH on the other hand has a divided fan base and that drives views towards any pundit that wants him out.
There is a core of players who seem to have the motivation to do things better. Onana, Fernandes, Rashford, Wan Bissaka, Maguire, Shaw, Martinez, Casemiro seem to care enough to realize that things will turn around if the manager is given time to actually work with the team and get proper support from the management at the club. Even if their levels of talent are highly variable.
Compare that to the likes of Sancho who seem happy enough to rot in the reserves rather than actually prove that they are worthy of a place in the team.
There is a lot of deadweight in the squad which is proving hard to shift due to our stupid recruitment policy. Which seems to be emergency loans, overpaying for unproven talent, and giving huge wages and big contracts to players so we cannot sell them when needed.
There was a video earlier showing how gutted Fernandes was after last nights match. I’m glad I saw it because it shows there is fight there. But turning this around will take a lot more than fight.
Most of them aren’t. The only ones who are genuinely downing tools are Sancho (that’s pretty obvious) and Varane/Casemiro are both being not exactly professional while looking to get a Saudi move. Varane’s body language was genuinely shameful last night.
The rest of them aren’t downing tools. They just don’t have the skills, are out of form or can’t handle the pressure. Or for some, a combination of the three.
Sounds ridiculous to say after last night but I think they’re starting to turn a corner. Not saying much, 5th or 6th place finish is the realistic hope, but it looks like they are emerging from relegation form at least.
Yes - several of them are absolutely downing tools.
Say what you want about Bruno and Maguire but they would never in a million years not give everything for the team when out on the pitch.
Some of the others, I’m not so sure about.
Nonsense!
Yes. They are spoilt children and are once again trying to get a manager fired.
Think that way - clubs around us have built squad with clear vision for years. We don’t have vision/strict clear line. We have had different coaches just to try and maybe bring something to the club and hope that maybe coach will fix things in the club. AND THIS HAS TO BE THE MENTALITY OWNERS BRING TO THE CLUB. But coaches have failed because they have no time and backing/support to build system for various reasons. And when you mix 40-100 mil emergency players who just don’t connect then what do you get? A bowl full on mixed soup. Finally those emergency players don’t want to be involved anymore and start giving 50%.The same is with old players, when they see that nothing is changing then they want to realx and just put money in their pocket by doing 50%. This is the place where they see different outputs out of the field - party, videogames, tiktok ect. ect. Finally I would do the same maybe. How long can someone fck me until I start fcking back. Is it mentally or with my actions.
And this has going on years and years. It seems to me that we have stopped evolving while others put pedal to the medal.
It’s my point of view. Sad but my point. I could write for hours but what is the point. I’m waiting Glazers to go.
The squad just isn’t where it should be. Just like Chelsea we’ve filled our squad with players that aren’t top 6 premier league level. Never mind top 4