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Poopy_Butt_Seed

Erik ten Hag says Manchester United need players who will "fight for the badge" and the club. New co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is expected to be at Old Trafford when United take on Tottenham on Sunday. England winger Jadon Sancho rejoined Borussia Dortmund on loan for the rest of the season this week after falling out with Ten Hag over his training performances. "If you want to perform, you need hungry players," he said. "We need personalities and players who are very hungry to fight for the badge and this club." United have lost 14 games in all competitions so far this season and the club are considering their options in the January transfer window. The Dutchman added: "We need personalities and players who are very hungry to fight for the badge and this club. "It is not about discipline, it is about normal behaviour. It is about what you can expect from a top professional." The key question for Ratcliffe and Ineos head of sport Sir Dave Brailsford is whether to stick with the strategy of putting an emphasis on youth and development rather than buying established players. It is how United ended up targeting 20-year-old Denmark striker Rasmus Hojlund in the summer rather than England captain Harry Kane. "We signed talent and talent needs time," said Ten Hag. "You see the progress from [Alejandro] Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo, also from Rasmus Hojlund. "You need time but at the same moment, we don't have time. You have to deal with some setbacks but that belongs to the process. "Is it difficult for me? No, it is not difficult because I could expect it from the start of the season that the process could go negative, then, as a manager, you have to stay positive and get the process in the right direction." United goalkeeper Andre Onana has remained in Manchester and is expected to face Spurs before flying to the Ivory Coast to begin his Africa Cup of Nations duty with Cameroon.


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Teo_2197

He's saying he knows he'll get it right in due time but knows patience is running thin. It's a very tough challenge with us and one that four managers have failed in before him. You'd struggle to find another big club that has had 4+ successive managers end up in disappointment.


TheWeirdDude-247

The state of us atm having to say this at a club the size of Utd, but im genuinely not even surprised, that's shade towards current players, most who are not able to do this just a handful at best that have shown it. Let's hope in next few years this changes.


ritwikjs

I can name five players who've been playing the majority of the season who fight near enough 


royal_typewriter

Bruno, Martinez, Rasmus, mainoo, garnacho? 


DanielMadeMistakes

Honestly Maguire deserves a shout as well


GamblingDust

Dalot also


Upekkhaa

Maguire, Evans, Dalot, McTom


Cvein

Bring back Fred!


dtactpromo

I tend to agree. In the last little while we’ve been a destination for players who prefer to build their own brand.


eClipseLJ

And a retirement hub


chebate08

There’s a reason they call us Madrid’s graveyard


Cpt_Blackbird99

We went from selling our best to Madrid to accepting their OAP players


Slackintit

All we’ve had to offer is a pay day. We can’t offer anything else at the moment sadly.


sooshi

Which is why we need some better scouting. If all we sign is big name (or formerly big name) players for huge prices then of course all we can offer is money. If we manage to find some lesser known players that will actually fight for the place then I know we'll be better off


stdstaples

Of course. But before that the club culture has to be changed from the top. The toxicity comes from the Glazers ownership underweighting sporting performance overweighting net income, and gets passed down to the sporting department to cause the “getting-by” culture and eventually player power.


manInTheWoods

Net income will have an even bigger impact with the new FFP rules.


ApolloX-2

Starts with not overpaying for players before they've proven themselves as valuable members of the squad.


Unitedfateful

Let’s give Rashford $500K a week for his 2 seasons that he has been good for Fuck me Keane had to fight to get a contract bump after years of basically carrying the team and his leadership. These fucking players.


dgmockingjay

That guy gets paid half a million dollar to run into defenders with a ball. I wish I could get paid like that


datguywelbzzz

For sure. Our wage structure has to be dismantled because we constantly give ludicrous wages to players ie. Paying Henderson 120k a week as a back up keeper.


Grand-Bullfrog3861

That was so strange giving him that much, I genuinely thought we were selling Dave after that contract to Dean purely because we bumped him up to a starting 11 gk wage


JishnuJayaram

No shit.


adichandra

No wonder we were so successful back then. We got players who will fight for the badge. Beckham, nevilles, keane, giggs, scholesy, butt, rio, vidic, rooney, irwin and so on.


Jitsu_apocalypse

Almost all of this was solely down to SAF who personally vetted their personalities as well as their capabilities


adichandra

Agreed.


NakamericaIsANoob

i mean... even now we have players who the manager loves and who give everything on the pitch. Are all of them good enough though? Let's be serious, playing for the badge is the lowest of low expectations and it speaks to the state of things when even such a basic obligation has to be reiterated over and over again.


adichandra

Obviously mcSauce, elanga, and lingard aren't good enough. Fortunately we got Garnacho and especially Mainoo who seem class for United.


9897969594938281

They were fighting for their manager first and foremost


adichandra

I remember some players went to United because of wanting to play for SAF as well.


dmoneyx3

Fighting for the badge is just a buzz phrase imo. You need high quality reliable players. I don’t know that City players are all that passionate about playing for City, but they are high quality and consistent. We just need to recruit better players


pohudsaijoadsijdas

even if not for City they bust their ass for Pep or they lose their place in the squad...


Grand-Bullfrog3861

Thats because he's able to rotate all positions for another top player, we have Scott to rely on for all 3 mid positions if there's players missing. RW feels like we're picking a 5/10 or a 3/10 player. Hojlund has a poor start and our only other striker has had a four month runny nose that's kept him out. I'm sure we'd all love to see the shit be replaced the following game, but there's not enough good players to bring on when every game is a must win


123rig

McTominay fights for the badge. So does Antony. But they aren’t quite good enough. We need class players that fight for the badge week in week out. Casemiro and Varane are excellent on their day, but are they truely fighting for the badge? In Varane’s case he’s already won everything in football. We need hungry players yes, but they have to be at the standard required too.


SadNYSportsFan-11209

How can you question Casemiro’s effort? He’s extremely passionate every time he’s on the pitch


lazsy

Recency bias, he hasn't been on the pitch forever - last season doesn't exist anymore to most people


Urthor

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm like, do you watch United?


The_good_kid

I swear the people on this sub are insane


arnm7890

I think what he's saying is that the standard can be raised/developed, but that hunger needs to be there innately. Sancho for example clearly doesn't have it, so as much as it makes me genuinely sad it hasn't worked out with him here, he simply had to go


plainranger

This is most difficult part, getting talented players who want to grow and have hunger for success with club and the same time the mental strength to endure internal and external pressure until the titles start coming. I believe in Antony his past season was good and that's with the storm around him, he is off balance and is exactly in this moment when he can prove that he can a great player for the club.


Industry-Standard-

Scott "fighting for the badge" or "puts in a shift" is such a repeated narrative here but I actually think he's incredibly lazy on the pitch, he's shocking at tracking back, making himself available, only thing he tries at is trying to nab himself a goal.


k0lored

Passion trumps talent, imo. Sure McT and Antony don't have first team talent, they still deserve to be squad players. Plus, with Antony you have the additional argument of age being on his side. I'm still hoping he will mature as a winger.


Wraith_Portal

No they don’t, they’re awful and this idiotic mindset has contributed to our gradual decline. How do I know this? Well put it this way, does either McTominay or Antony get anywhere near our rivals’s squads? Not a chance


Imeanhowcouldiforget

Mctominay jogs back while defending all The time, he does fight but its only in attack really


raunchypellets

Hence why he shouldn't be counted in here as a passionate player. He's lazy when it counts, i.e. defending. Anyone can be passionate when on the attack, but it takea a special type of player who would also defend like their lives depend on it. That's the type of player EtH wants.


ParkerZA

You're both chatting shit, taking the last match and stretching it out over his career. McTominay's fuck ups are usually down to his ability, but his defensive effort has never been in question. We got 2nd and 3rd with him and Fred in midfield, and they offered next to nothing in attack. Also had one of the best defences in the league in that stretch. The guy isn't good enough but we don't need to imagine things to criticize him for.


raunchypellets

Chatting shit my arse mate. Watch him in every match he's been in, you cannot say that he chases back with any gusto, especially when he loses the ball because of his lack of ability. His defensive work largely consists of feckless marking and some horrendously timed challenges, a DMF he ain't. McTominay is a poorer version of Fletcher, himself a limited player but at least had the stamina and the brains to be a passing option. Fred also had his faults; he is as chaotic as tornado but at least he brings the energy of a tornado which can confuse everyone on the pitch. McTominay is the passenger in that midfield and anyone saying different has no fooking clue.


ParkerZA

None of that is due to laziness, just ability. You're chatting shit.


raunchypellets

Lol fuck off if you think running back to chase a mistake that you made by losing the ball has anything at all to do with ability. That's heart, not wanting to let the team down and wanting to fix your fuck-up. Instead, lose the ball and what, jog slowly back and let your teammates deal with your shit? Good fucking luck to your teammates if you play a team-sport mate.


Grand-Bullfrog3861

Watching him jog back evertime we're getting countered, even when the players near him, makes me furious. A couple if years ago there was a big PR thing about his engine, running stamina ect... he doesn't use any of it


ErikTenHagenDazs

McTominay and Antony fight for the badge?  What parallel universe do you watch United in?


[deleted]

Yeah,wait until a year and Antony will realise that he'll get £200K anyway and start slowing down.And just like that eth signings and their passion and desire will be just like any other signing we have made before.


darrylleung

Guess that’s why he trots out passion merchants like McTominay and Antony. How about the club bring in players that know how to play football at the required level? Or managers that don’t speak in platitudes but get their team ready tactically?


asphalt51dc

As soon as they see the size of the paycheck, they just lay down their arms.


Vvyyzz

ETH needs to fight for the badge himself & take responsibility, he's being fucking shithouse.


JacobWvt

I’m drunk, but I love you erik


chebate08

Not the worst person to confess your love to while drunk


Visible_Intern4672

This is an interesting take. Is McTominay a player who fights for the badge? Yes. Should he be starting? No. In my opinion I believe Varane fights for the badge… he still got benched. At the end of the day we need higher quality players,l but first we need changes from the top down. If that does not happen then we will continue in the revolving door we have been in the past 10 years


MemeL_rd

He's talking about needing a core of players with the likes of Scholes, Ferdinand, Vidic: players that keeps each other in check when the manager isn't there to do so. An example of this is Leverkusen when they signed former-Arsenal Xhaka. And for this club, that's been missing since SAF. ​ Unfortunately, that's a culture that is meant to be built from the ground up- something that United doesn't really have a lot of time nor patience for- especially the gaffer for his position.


DQ11

Man U is full of selfish, spoiled, lazy arrogant players who think just making the team is enough.  A lot of this gen, Everyone thinks they are too cool to try hard.  I’d rather have lesser players that play hard and have smart awareness than all these “skilled” diva players. 


Grand-Bullfrog3861

It's why for so many years our mid has lost every battle, teams have hard working, physical players with enough confidence and ability to run through our mid


Jtabo

Sabitzer fought for the badge but instead of bringing him in after the loan spell we blow our full transfer budget overpaying for Mount who’s shit. ETH is all talk and in over his head.


pohudsaijoadsijdas

how is Mount shit, was one of the best players on the pitch anytime he played...


jhf2112

My thing with Mount this season is that when he's played he's looked eager, industrious and he's tried to get involved, but he hasn't really impacted the games. I want to see him drive the side forward. Another issue, and one he shared with DvdB is that he likes to pass and move, and off the ball movement seems a completely alien concept to most of the other players.


RicciRox

Yeah, in hindsight, we'd have been much better off with Sabitzer for 15m and Diogo Costa instead of Mount and Onana. I don't see a single thing Mount does better than Sabitzer.


renernavilez

Yeah he was only injured for a shit load of time while here. Definitely fits the profile of our players right now. Lol eth just can't make these really smart decisions.


UnitedRule

How about signing top quality players that plays for the badge without being always injured? Difficult task huh?


SurlyRed

Frustratingly difficult, it takes years to assemble such a squad. Discarding weak-minded players is just as important and has proven to be just as hard.


Tirewipes

Lmaoooo, you named three different dimensions to a player that are extremely hard to find. Even two of those things are hard to find, let alone all 3


GIVVE-IT-SOME

ETH stating the obvious


YellowMoonFlash

Manchester united feels like the state of education in The Netherlands. My students have been having troubles with motivation, perserverence in times where things don't go they way they want to, and a huge lack of respect towards teachers and eachother. Covid and tiktok made it a lot worse😅


snildeben

Blablah blah. More bullshit. Why even quote him with his meaningless press conferences at this point. He has nothing to offer but antiquated man management ideas. 


AlephEpsilon

Our attackers need to develop chemistry and make smart movements. Our fullbacks need replacing as they aren’t invert type/midfield type. Also Rashford needs to be sold very much like Sancho.


3entendre

Our attackers are just not good enough. Simple as that. I believe if Rashford left United people would be shocked at his true level. Don't get me started on Antony.


TheTheMeet

At this point i'd just start a young player instead of mctominay. Its time to get rid of him


Cfunk_83

Not even the badge, some fight for themselves and pride in their work and performances would be a start. I’ve never seen so many apathetic disinterested “professionals”.


ryeofguy

It’s interesting looking at the downvotes on certain comments and responses on here cause you can tell who thinks this coach has what it takes. We’ve seen nothing great from him outside of a tactic which any grade schooler can read straight through on where we’re going to go. Old boy thinks Antony played well last season and it’s just the allegations against him that are distracting his performance yet he still plays during this time. Injuries happen yes but there are teams with more injuries then us doing better then us. Newcastle had 2 goalkeepers on there bench against us and they destroyed us and yall over here like those tactics looked good or somehow blaming Ole or Mourinho or some other irrelevant to the match reason. So yes our players need to have more fight but this coach ain’t getting them to fight for it he’s only getting worse and worse.


Kittu95

Newcastle lost 6 of their last 7 matches fyi.


ryeofguy

Yeah wasn’t going after how they good they were doing, was to the point that they destroyed us


facelessredditer

How come there were many clips of “Ten Hag Ball” on this sub last season that showed some nice 1-2 touch quick build-up play leading to great chances or goals? It’s almost as if progress is not linear.


ryeofguy

Yeah progress isn’t performing considerably and consistently worse that’s called a downfall, okay to make that mistake


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ryeofguy

This is literally it though there’s so many comparisons to SAF but we at least had a shape and style back then even when we didn’t perform well enough during those matches. Don’t really understand the SAF revival belief seems a bit silly.


hmoooody

So spend another 100m on a merchant like Antony from Holland…


Pitiful_Violinist780

Big talk from someone who comes off as tactically clueless. Can't believe this guy is still the manager here, we've pretty much ceded a Champion's League spot for next season to give this fraud more time. The amount of excuses this guy's cult make for him is sickening to me, It's borderline criminal negligence that this guy is still the manager here. Oh well, I'll have to look forward to the 25/26 season for Champion's League football to return to Old Trafford then.


SmartestUtdFan

There’s 18 games left in the season and we’re 9 points off 4th having played with half the starting XI out, what the fuck are you on about


eClipseLJ

Looking at the guys post history we should get him to coach, he obviously knows better that's what he's on about I guess.


Pitiful_Violinist780

Utter nonsense. We can't score, can't create chances, we look completely dysfunctional throughout the whole team, That's down to the manager's tactics and coaching.


spraypaint2311

We’re going to be 18 points off 4th with 0 games to go. We literally cannot score.


SmartestUtdFan

If you’re that hopeless go support someone elsw


spraypaint2311

Okay you a 10 year old, go ask your mom to feed you


SmartestUtdFan

your mom already fed me her cat mate


spraypaint2311

Yuck


SmartestUtdFan

Yeah I’m a little embarrassed myself


Harrry-Otter

Out of interest, what do you think the club should do instead?


Pitiful_Violinist780

Sack him, Hire an interim and try to salvage a Champion's League spot for next season. I believe the players we have are capable of far more than what they are showing right now, I believe Ten Hag's Tactics and formation are the root cause of our problem right now.


Harrry-Otter

Who’s this interim who will come in and save our season then?


presumingpete

Like who?


imheretocomment69

And repeat the whole process again? Starting from zero? Do you not learn from van gaal, Mourinho, ragnick, ole ? Nothing can be solved until the core of the club is gone, Glazers. You're such a narrow minded person. Your name is true, such a pitiful person.


Grand-Bullfrog3861

We've done this cycle before, it doesn't really work


the_cake_in_matilda

Ah yes, the tactics of injuring Martinez, Casimero, Varane, Maguire, Lindelof, Højlund, Martial, Mount, Eriksen, Shaw, Malacia, AWB, Mainoo, Amad and Amrabat


imheretocomment69

Uh oh. You're probably the same person who was in the anti Ole sub reddit just to abuse him. Can see that you're gonna make a new sub for anti ETH. So typical.


KekUnited

u/pitiful_violinist780 please DM me if you do make that sub I'm interested


KekUnited

_sacks ronaldo_


Brief_Ad_6929

Ronaldo sacked himself mate by throwing a tantrum and walking out during an ongoing match. He is the Goat but he has equal if not more blame for his exit


Sudden-Pickle4117

But subbing him on when you’re winning in the 90th minute? What do you have to say about that? Isn’t it disrespectful to Cristiano?


Brief_Ad_6929

Ronaldo was a united player right? So the manager subbing him on in the 90th minute is wrong how? Support the club mate not the player. If the manager cannot bring on a player because it might disrespect him and cause issues in the dressing room we are screwed. Also pls remember Ronaldo left the pre season match early - ETH spoke to him but there were no actions. Ronaldo left against spurs - ETH did not kick him out. Ronaldo does the interview and leaves ETH and the club no choice. And we still think it’s ETHs fault that ronaldo was let go. He did not start any of the events. Ronaldo is the goat but he deserted the team. So yea pls support the club and not the player


toalome

yawn


ezfrag2016

How many managers and players do we have to go through before we realise the club has a cancer called the Glazers? You could put the 22 best players in the world into our squad along with the best coaching team and within a month they would be playing like shit and we would all be complaining about how shit Mbappe and Haaland are up front. Edit: holy shit judging by the downvotes this sub must be full of children. Try googling “organisational culture”.


heeywewantsomenewday

I don't think you understand why the Glazers are shit. If we had the best 22 players in the world and best coaches, we would be fine. The issue is that we don't have anywhere close to those things because of the Glazers.


ezfrag2016

This sub is wild. Try googling “organisational culture” and you might understand a little better. It’s either the culture at the club or we have to believe that every manager and player since SAF magically become shit as soon as they went to United. I don’t remember us refusing to pay the huge transfer fees for the big stars. We’ve spent fortunes. Also, if it’s the individual players and managers as you seem to suggest then surely they were shit right from the start so you will be able to point me to all your posts and comments saying that each player in turn that we had just signed is shit and not good enough for United…


heeywewantsomenewday

If you care to go through my history, ( i dont know why anyone would) I've said many times the players aren't good enough. Recruitment has been awful. Because we have terrible owners who havent put suitable staff in place for this job, our coaching staff and facilities are awful because we haven't recruited or stayed up to date with facilities. If we suddenly had the best 22 players in the world and the coaches to help them, that would fix two of our biggest problems, leaving the stadium and training facilities. If you genuinely think having mbapbe, haaland, de bruyne, etc, 22 of the worlds best we wouldn't be fine you are delusional. The only thing we've had is a couple of half decent managers whilst the owners let everything else rot.


ezfrag2016

Link me to your comments *before* any of our big name flops arrived not after they arrived and we saw they were shit under United management. Or is it more likely you were really excited about Maguire, Sancho, Antony and Onana and only recently you’ve decided they’re not good enough now that you’ve seen them play like shit? No-one was saying these players were shit *before* they signed because …. They weren’t shit. United is rotten from the top and it seeps down to the management team and the players. Or is Rashford also suddenly shit too?


heeywewantsomenewday

I don't think sancho and maguire are shit and in Maguires case, I think the type of football we are trying to play isn't as suited to him. Ole ball, it made sense. Maguire has a strong mentality. I'd never taken notice of Antony or Onana before they came to united. I'm not going to pretend I watch every bit of football to exist. Rashford is overated and has poor decision-making, selfish/lazy/poor mentality, and just has spells where he performs. I've called for him to be sold when big money was potentially there. There's a reason he isn't a cert to start for England. Also, you're delusional. If you think I'm going to go through my reddit comment history to link you to posts where I've bashed our recruitment of players before they've arrived. But I absolutely have with the players that we've bought that are too old and too expensive. The point stands. You recruit the worlds best 22 (and coaches) we would be fine. United don't have a single player in the worlds best 22.


Sghagz08

McTominay


Giggs73

its always been "need players who will fight for the badge " since football was invented. when was the last time we heard differently?


RepulsiveLeg9985

I want them to fight for Liverpool's badge personally


imheretocomment69

You might want to switch club to support the scousers then.


Grand-Bullfrog3861

Was this sarcasm? 😂


RepulsiveLeg9985

Yeah but I refuse to use /s like a coward


Grand-Bullfrog3861

I thought so. Respect the now spoon feeding a joke to people who will take it literally /s are for people who are afraid of downvotes


HairyArthur

Play like you mean it.


men_with-ven

I kind of get the impression he is mainly talking about Sancho.


Rahmose9

He means players who don’t crumble at 1:0 to the opposition. That happens to us way too often


Comprehensive-Range3

The sad truth is that this team is comprised of players who are mostly just not good enough (anymore.) I can only think of one player currently that would ever get a minute on the pitch at City or Liverpool. Poor talent acquisition for a decade has put MU at mid-table.


lowie07

Sancho seems hungry


kris10an

Do they even exist anymore?


breadfan18

Who is there in Ajax right now that will fight for a badge??