CMS General Discussion Thread

@JustinCase0110Understood.

I was comparing him to what ten Hag seems to want from him.

The question regarding playing further back is how well he can tackle, I suppose.
It's unfortunate for the lad, but I just think he's not cut out for Premier League football.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
I don't think Antony will be useful at all. I'd love to be proven wrong, though.
I don't think he has the pace for the Premier League. He was found out very quickly, that he had only one useful leg, and that was so apparent especially in the match against Nottingham Forest. Esperito Santo had him fully worked out and his team completely nullified him. We only offered anything, really, down that side, after he went off and Diallo was sent on.
Pound for pound spent, he's amongst the worst signings that United have ever made. Not THE worst, but when weighed up against the amount he cost. The problem I see with him on the left is that you need pace to get past the full back, like Giggs had, and I don't see it.

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Well, comparing him to Giggs, an all-out winger in his prime, may also be a bit off what I was suggesting. I wouldn't play him up there, making him beat defenders like that, 'cause he can't. But a bit further down the left flank, at a wingback or wide position, where his work rate and energetic approach could come in handy, that would be my take to get the best from a terrible situation.

@CO88LER5  He was set on signing Daley Blind and Dusan Tadic; those are really his signings. Apart from that it was a three-man effort: Edwin van der Sar (CEO), Marc Overmars (Director of Football) and Erik ten Hag (Head coach) all had to agree, otherwise a transfer would not happen. Out of those three, Overmars was the most determining factor.

But, you do need to remember that when he moved to Ajax, we were halfway down a -then worst- season, so he had six risk-free months to make inventory of what was required. At Man United he essentially tried to introduce what he had built at Ajax (Lissandro Martinez, Donny van de Beek, Antony, Christian Eriksen is ex-Ajax Academy, Tyrell Malacia is a 'typical' left wing back from the Dutch school), except that he never had that half year to truly build.

But that's digging deeper into the fact that coaches from the Dutch school often overlook what is required in England: the role of a Dutch Head coach has more in common with a first team coach at an English side, (example) what Rene Meulensteen was to Alex Ferguson, or what Pepijn Lijnders is to Jurgen Klopp - and in those roles Dutch coaches can excel.

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@Danimal5981 wrote:

Antony first, when I heard Man U were willing to pay the € 100 mln, I was rolling on the floor laughing. At Ajax, he had his moments sure, but that's also due to the opponents Ajax face in the domestic league. He's a playful, creative player but I think he's in over his head: midtable Spanish team is where see him end up, or a top team in a smaller league.

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I think he actually has something that could be useful - but never from the right in a front three, he produces absolutely nothing from there. Except those 3 or 4 times, where he's cut in from the right to produce a decent shot to the far corner. It's still only 3 or 4 successes out of 1000 attempts.

But with his excellent work rate and actually being quite decent holding onto the ball, I could see him become a decent player on the left. Not in a front three, but as a left wing back in a back 5 (or LM in 3-4-3 or whatever name one would use for these formations). I don't know if it's a stretch, with him having never played that position before (I think), but that would be my only way out of just writing him off as a gigantic flop.

Health & Happiness to all for 2024!

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
@Danimal5981
On a "real life" matter, I was wondering whether you'd given any thought recently to the ongoing struggles of ten Hag at United. He's not managing to achieve the success he had at Ajax yet; in fact, it seems the team has regressed from last season and quite a few fans are now questioning the signings he's made.
I was also wondering what you thought about Antony, who seems to be getting the most criticism...

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Antony first, when I heard Man U were willing to pay the € 100 mln, I was rolling on the floor laughing. At Ajax, he had his moments sure, but that's also due to the opponents Ajax face in the domestic league. He's a playful, creative player but I think he's in over his head: midtable Spanish team is where see him end up, or a top team in a smaller league.

About Ten Hag: it draws back to how we fill in the role of head coach in Holland. That somehow is incompatible with how they do things in England, which is why Erik ten Hag, Ronald Koeman, Louis van Gaal and Ruud Gullit have all fallen short. Guus Hiddink is the only one who was an actual 'manager' more than he was a 'head coach' but he only worked on temporary base at Chelsea. Ten Hag would do excellent in the German Bundesliga I believe and his approach would also work in La Liga in Span; but not in England - Dutch coaches don't do well as managers generally speaking.

Around the turn of the year, before the winter transfer window commences, I'll start a second one. That does NOT mean I'll stop with Ajax though, that one is still too much fun. I find that with EA's subtle tweaks and my own applied limitations, career mode can still be fun.

For now, Hertha and BDX are top of my list, as those two have either the history or the potential means to make it to the top spots of their country's top league. QPR is too modest even for London standards, while Tenerife is the lesser of two Canary Islands teams.

It's not that I cannot stick to a career, but my tendency to prefer detail over time progression usually means that I can play three seasons at best. My advantage is that the players of Ajax and the Eredivisie are relatively unknown to the outside world, so essentially I could throw detail and realism overboard and no one would notice, but I just can't help it - it's too much fun providing the bucket loads of info.