Struggles at the Stretford End

Thank You Erik Ten Hag, well kind of.   How many people can say they've been sacked but got 17 million quid in the bank?   9 premier league games into the season and the management have had enough - he’s sacked. Just months after a contract extension as well. I had mixed feelings about him, as mentioned in previous posts I found it disturbing how we had a distinct lack of play style but turned up in big games such as Liverpool in the FA Cup Quarter Final earlier this year then struggled to beat championship side Coventry in the semis only to then dominate Manchester City in the final.  I will always rate him for winning these trophies, bittersweet. I also think he has had more than enough chances considering, specifically giving us one of our worst premier league finishes last season and then an absolutely abhorrent start this season with us currently sitting in 14 th  place.   In terms of new managers, it’s simple for me, exactly as I said to my mate the second...

Mazraoui starting in midfield was an interesting selection by Ten Hag. I don’t understand why he didn’t switch the formation to a 4-4-2 in the absence of our captain instead of playing people out of position. Lindelof looked poor at the back, and I think he was at fault for the equaliser. This is how I would have lined up giving Garnacho and Rashford some great linkup opportunity. Then Dalot loves to venture up the pitch as well so maybe this combination should be trialled. Eventually we could have had Amad/Rashford taken off and Zirkzee on. I don’t think he should be starting as a striker when he constantly tries to play like a 9.5, dropping into midfield.  I can’t deny the chemistry between Zirkzee, Mazraoui and Eriksen for the goal though. We saw brilliant link up play between from the trio mentioned above which left Eriksen with an easy finish. WOW! Ugarte saved us in the first half from a CERTAIN goal, with a stunning sliding block across the goal line. Just take a second to w...

The Saturday 3pm blackout made it impossible to watch the match yesterday (legally).   It was nice to see Brentford didn’t continue their habit of scoring within the first four minutes as they have done in their previous four matches and that they were instead held off for 45+ minutes. The first half goal from Brentford is controversial, as the referee forced De Ligt off the pitch due to a bleed from his scalp area (this is well within the laws of the game) and we then conceded from the corner.  While I understand the frustration from Ten Hag, De Ligt and Van Nistelrooy as seen above, the goal did look to be the fault of Diogo Dalot who was not tracking the run from Brentford’s No5 and I doubt De Ligt's presence would have prevented it.  In the first 5 minutes of the second half I saw a side to united I haven’t seen in a long time. They looked hungry, angry and driven. While this was refreshing to see, this is exactly what we have lacked for the last two years and we shou...

What I didn’t consider when I wrote this blog and wanted to post weekly was the two-week international break   😂 . I’m hopeful the group can come back from the break ready-to-go and stronger going into the Brentford match.   I remember that August 2022 match like it was yesterday. That match is so ingrained in my mind that when we play Brentford I’m never too confident.    Anyway the main purpose of this post:  what is going on behind the scenes at Old Trafford?   We have all heard about the meetings that took place in the last couple weeks. I must agree with Roy Keane (stick to football podcast): it’s ridiculous how public they make it. It completely takes the focus away from football, and at the end of the day all the fans or anyone really cares about is watching good football. I also can’t agree with the fact the entire board was at the villa game; how would that impact the players? The club needs to adopt its former no-distractions ruthless approach in...

FC Porto v Manchester United   In the first 30 minutes when Rashford and Hoijlund scored I thought to myself that Ten Hag was a lucky man and had escaped scrutiny yet again.   However, in the way we have all become accustomed to, United quickly bottled their 2-0 lead before half time and conceded a third just after.   It was looking like the scrutiny around Erik Ten Hag was only going to get worse.   Watching him take Rashford off the pitch when he was finally looking like he had re-gained his confidence from the 21/22 season made all fans question his IQ.    Post-match, Ten Hag gave the excuse that he was thinking about Sundays game against Aston Villa when he took Rashford off.   CBS News analyst and former football player Charlie Davies, questions whether Ten Hag knows what he’s doing, and claims he is not even focussed on winning the game at hand, when Rashford probably played the best 45 minutes of his season so far and is still young enough to re...

  This blog has been created as part of a Marketing assignment at Strathclyde University.   As a long-term football fan, and Manchester United fan, I’m taking this opportunity to discuss some of the struggles my childhood club have been facing in the past decade as well as current, week-to-week easy-to-understand analysis of our performances and players.   I am dedicating this first post to a short discussion about management and structure at the club.   So far with the new season I am seeing more individual errors, with Casemiro a name to mention. With the signing of Ugarte I fully expect his game time to be reduced significantly as he has become a liability. Nobody will be surprised if he is sold in the January transfer window.   Then we reach the problem with the manager; can anybody actually tell me Erik-Ten Hags style of play? It has been 3 years and I still could not tell you his style of play or what he brings to the club. It is frustrating to watch us be...