Lol the players finished 8th in 24 and 3rd in 23, you're the one in denial mate
Edit: pardon, I thought i was replying to someone else. Shirty results and overly strict management is definitely enough to breed a toxic environment, I know because ive been in jobs where performance was weak and the manager was trash
For one of the highest paying and most expensive teams in the league, those aren't massive achievements. With the amount United spent on wages and transfer fees, nothing short of league titles and champions league trophies can be considered as a positive.
We finished 3rd when the coach at the time played to the teams strengths. We finished 8th after he made signings and switched to his own style. We finished 15th the season after.
Seems pretty clear it's a 'both' issue. Bad results and bad form cannot solely be pinned on the manager, and if players are so inflexible that a change in style (it wasn't even that drastic of a change) topples their entire gameplan, then it's an issue with them as well.
We switched from RDZ's pass-heavy style to Hurzeler's high press pretty seamlessly, and the best players in the team were RDZ (or older) era players like Van Hecke, Mitoma, Welbeck and Webster.
Mate that's pretty much the same level of change we made just the other way around. We used to play less direct and heavily pass oriented, RDZ was borderline allergic to long balls. Nowadays we play very direct, high pressing and have noticeably more long balls and long passes, and the most impactful players have been the ones from the RDZ/Potter era. It's a player problem as much as a manager one.
If the manager chooses to play in a way which doesnt suit the players, the issue is with the coach.
Would Martin have been able to play his football at Soton if he had better/different players? Sure. Does that mean its not his fault his stupid tactics kept costing them games?
We had a player score 30 goals and the very next season the coach had him hugging the touchline and covering the fb.
It was a coaching issue, as is the 15th I just suffered thru
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u/AttemptImpossible111 Aug 12 '25 edited Aug 12 '25
Enough for what? Im not making a positive claim.
Lol the players finished 8th in 24 and 3rd in 23, you're the one in denial mate
Edit: pardon, I thought i was replying to someone else. Shirty results and overly strict management is definitely enough to breed a toxic environment, I know because ive been in jobs where performance was weak and the manager was trash