Thread by @ftblnatt

The 2nd half performance wasn't only quite better than the 1st but it's also been a flight that took us to what's about to come from Ten Hag's scintillating team.

You don't need to be prescient to witness glimpses of the fantasy land we'll arrive at eventually.

Thread 🧵

You might have heard the phrase "Trust the process" a lot of times already. But it shouldn't feel like an empty statement or a buzzword without a good sensible reason behind it.

We've been aware of the things to expect from Ten hag during his stint at Ajax. Even though he is quite adaptable to circumstances & the squad at his disposal, which shouldn't be understated but he is also a manager with ideologies & he has an imaginary team he wants to create.

And that team is going to rock at any stadium all over the world striving to control the game and be a protagonist side which the fans can be proud of not only the results but the performances too.

But what are the main requirements of the manager for the ideal team he wants to build and bring it to fruition here ?

1. Bravery ( courage )
2. Technical security
3. Intelligence
4. Temperament

(It's not about structure or tactics but rather the basics )

With regards to Bravery or courage, we mean it in a way generally whether it's in possession or without it.

You need to have the right sort of mentality to play the ideal football the gaffer wants under any circumstance.Courage for front foot defending or building from the back.

In the first 2 games, The results were awful just like today but they tried to play better with the ball even though the execution hasn't been right & we were punished for our naivety to play out from the back while having De gea. It was a reality check.

That team didn't earn the right to play the sort of football the Dutchman wanted so it was better for us at that moment in time to return to the basics and collect points by adapting to the player's strength at our disposal.

We did that in a great manner resulting in 4 massive wins on the bounce and 2 of those wins came against the big 6 sides. It was impressive. But it also came with sacrificing some of your principles like building from the back & not giving the ball away often.

You can call that papering the cracks or whatever but for me, it was a clever tweak by the gaffer as a warranty for his project while building their confidence & momentum. All this didn't come just from those little tweaks but also from making sure they improve their attitudes.

If the attitude is right in a sense they're ready to fight, run or do anything right the manager wants from them, then what's next?

The next thing is the 'ability' to execute the plan. Thats the 2nd part the gaffer demands which is Technical security.

You wouldn't want to base your house on Sand. De Gea is the sand that Ten hag refuses to build his house on the desert but rather uses it to provide protection for his team like the beach living near the ocean by acting as a buffer against the winds & waves of powerful storms.

And even then his shot stopping ability been questionable which is the only good trait he had but no longer does to good extent so why would you rather live in a Hut or Bothy for a full season keeping net negatives who caps your high ceiling.

So to start our attacks from the back and see the ideal beautiful football under the gaffer come to fruition, We need to build the huge bricks for a shift from the Bothy to the Chateâux we deserve by signing a goal keeper who ticks all the boxes.

As you can expect it from any elite manager of Ten hag's caliber we are already looking at options who can successfully replace De gea. According to the various reliable outlets.

It's a cliche nowadays that we play much deeper in those 4 wins but I don't see anyone explaining the reason why.
Yes Ten hag has asked De gea to play long as he has neither the technical prowess nor the courage to build from the back. But he never wanted us to drop deep.

We play much deeper cause of the mindset of the players. For eg. let me remind you of scenarios from our pressing scheme. Rashford initiates a press at times while closing passing lanes joined by the other forwards but almost every time the fbs hasn't backed the press.

So there was an easy route for the opposition gk to bypass the press with 1 clipped ball for his full-backs.
In this game, many people said Dalot didn't back the press cause he didn't want to expose Maguire and protect him. Which is a blatant lie.

As it happened even with Varane like you can see it against arsenal. It wasn't only on this flank though but also on the left flank too.

And it's quite frustrating for the fwds to constantly found themselves in these situations. Even Antony had been seen arguing with Dalot after instructing him to back the press and didn't do later on, letting the team be exposed. I'll blame the intensity of the attackers too tbf.

There are 1 basic reason in my opinion the full-backs won't back the press.

1. Lack of belief :

They have doubts about leaving an attacker behind them so they'll let the free man in front of them acres of spaces to drive & exploit.

Either they don't want to leave their CB's face challenges alone as they've little confidence in them as aggressors or even the CB's don't have the confidence to defend in a high line covering for the fbs.

As you can see both are caused by lack of belief and doubt.

Even though I can't single him out for everything, I can still admit he contributes much for the misery. He is too far behind the modern GKs. Massively responsible for the fragile mentality of the defense.

N.B not all sweeping actions occur outside the box

Lucho had the back of him several times when he committed mistakes while trying to play the way he wants but De Gea was different as he still maintained a reactive trait instead of instilling calmness & confidence in his team by commanding his box, claiming crosses, building up..

He is now omitted from the national team. He failed in the pecking orders. His time is up.The day #MUFC lets him go this summer to bring a new modern GK will bring a massive turnaround to our game. Replacing him rightfully will raise our ceiling breaking the mental barriers..

There is a reason we say the structure created by Erik ten Hag is already decent its about the execution of the players to implement the ideas of the gaffer on the pitch. It's like the snowball with every single thing having a knock-on effect eventually.

This is the ideal pressing structure Ten Hag wants to implement here. It is only about time till he achieves it on a game-by-game basis. They not only win the ball back higher up the pitch but also created a chance & score from the same scenario. Another way of creating chances.

When we come to in possession attributes, the players have already got clarity on the principles of the gaffer. The problem tho for not achieving it constantly was the 4 things listed earlier. in pressing the passivity is painful to watch they gotta do a lot better than a jog.

If a player has the technical security but doesnt back it up with courage and or intelligence it won't work unless the game is losing like the City game. You can use it in vice versa. '

Licha is very good with the ball in any situation. bpass selection, the weight of the pass, turning on the ball, ball manipulation, disguising actions and intentions, etc. He backs it up with the courage and bravery to execute all this, he also has the temperament & intelligence.

The same goes for Dalot and Shaw in the sense that both are intelligent players with the ball. One is ambidextrous who can ease progression by playing in different angles while the other can use his outside foot to make up for it. Both are brave too.

But both also have minor indv issues without the ball defensive wise which can't be a big issue at least for my understanding of the game if the team defends as a team while also decreasing the time without the ball. Which is by having brave, technical & intelligent players.

I will share this Guardiola quote as it's quite similar in a sense both he and Ten hag state stability is the ball at various times. It's a preventative proactive defending Limiting the opposition to minimal shots/opportunities.

https://twitter.com/ftblnatt/status/1572923341396213760?t=9sdzOHdD65q27bGpO1vPmQ&s=19

61 goals scored, 5 goals conceded, what are you most proud of?

Ten Hag: "As a lover of attacking football, the goals. I want to see many goals. But I also know that the team who concedes the least goals will win titles. Being good on the ball is key to not conceding much."

We got plenty eg. abt the principles & structures. Here is 1 from the city game. Look how clean the process has been from the build up to the goal.This is what Ten hag wants to see consistently.

"Everything is much easier when the first progression of the ball is clean.” lillo.

Another goal basically starts from the back magnifying the structures and principles and stamping the works behind the scenes.

Here is another clip thats shows the different ideas and patterns we had to reach to the opposition box building through and around the press even though the decision-making has been bad in the end.

This clip also ends with a goal but what's impressive about this one is the rest defense structure and positioning which helped us to recover the ball back and sustain pressure then pass with patience. Can't praise Toto well enough though.

Well after watching those clips which epitomize Ten hag superb structure you might notice 2 things. DDG playing from the back & the players retain the ball better which wasn't the case in the first half because they lacked belief. But in the 2nd half, they had nothing to lose.

The other thing re bad ball retention was they didn't have the calmness to string passes as they were attempting many vertical balls to counter resulting in losing possession. I heard some people saying it's respecting the opposition too much well I think it's the other way.

When I said we didn't respect City in the first half I mean it in a way that we underestimated their weapons & the consequences if you didn't have the right positioning and approach. Just like you saw it in the 2nd if you retain it well & be calm you can disturb them well.

Just like you have seen in the 2nd half if you are brave enough & have the required technical security and intelligence you can be a big problem for them like we were.

I like Tyrell Malacia he is a tenacious decent defender with good spatial manipulation & his ceiling is also bright but atm he doesnt help us to keep the ball better than Luke Shaw does. The latter's experience & intelligence with the ball gives him the edge.

Of course, defending wise the former is much better and a natural defender but that doesnt make shaw the worse profile if the team defends as a team. Attack and defense are the same things. If we attack better we can defend better, and vice versa.

The other thing was I saw Sancho and all the forwards getting heat for their off-ball performance with some of it being justified like not realizing which passing lane to block and not tracking back to help the defense. But why is no one addressing the reason why?

It's because the press wasn't backed by the defenders at first instance with the root cause being lack of belief in the first half and other of our games too. Once the brain is trained well to break the barrier the change will follow suit.

But I will admit there's been an issue from some of the players in the front 4 often struggling to read, anticipate, or lacking intensity whether it's higher up the pitch on the pressing scheme or in a low block. Even the structure at times

https://twitter.com/UtdArena/status/1576902435607818242?t=St0uVGXixVjEr624pAUDXw&s=19

There is one thing from those 4 things listed above that I didn't mention yet. Which is Temperament. You can call it dawg,grinta, or whatever, the term won't be an issue here but the actions. It's igniting the spark in a dark tunnel for the team. Thats Antony and co.

Like everybody, I would like to see my team improve while winning but I'm glad we're going through this phase. We needed to suffer, believe & work to strengthen the bond & togetherness while learning from the mistakes to then achieve big things together with a strong mentality.

The future is quite bright, all detrimental issues created by minor personnel inabilities negating the plan and instilling fear & doubt within the team will be moved & replaced with the right recruits which will have a positive knock-on effect on the team. It's an eventuality.

This is a level we want to reach & this is where we're currently. Its a process & progress with an upward trajectory with some setbacks,but only if we made the right steps along the way to build it optimally. While making sure the base is right & respect the process, otherwise...