It is official: Erik ten Hag will be Manchester United's fifth long-term manager since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down after winning the Premier League in 2013. After a near-decade of not being at the top of European football, he comes in with much pressure. In hiring him, Manchester United went with someone who has a history of developing young players, playing beautiful football, and winning titles at Ajax. Even though he looks like a good match, we still don't know much about him. I am not sure if he could really pull it off. What say you?
Who is Erik Ten Hag?
Pep Guardiola has worked with Ten Hag at Bayern Munich, and he's a well-liked manager who has worked with some of Europe's best young players. He also has some ideas from the Dutch "Total Football" school of thought and a little bit from Germany's "Gegenpressing." Ten Hag was in charge of Ajax's chances in the Champions League. At the same time, he hinted that he wanted to try something new. If you asked him at the time, he said that he didn't pay much attention to it.
Ten Hag said he lived by the day and was very happy at Ajax. However, he did say that if a big team like Manchester United was interested in him, he would look forward to having a plan. He also said that he was happy to do this job. This is the biggest job of his life now that he moved to Old Trafford six months ago. It's not clear how he got here.
Teams That Ten Hag Had Managed
There were many good things about Ajax's season back in December: They were still in Europe and the KNVB Beker. Ten Hag said he was happy with the way Ajax was doing at the time (Dutch Cup). But there was a catch. As soon as you're satisfied, he said you start to be lazy. It is very dangerous for me as a coach to be lazy because when I feel that way, my players will, too. If my players get lazy, we're all dead.
There are three black-and-white photos of former Ajax managers Rinus Michels, Johan Cruyff, and Louis van Gaal on Ten Hag's office walls. They were all great managers at the club. Together, they built the red-and-white castle where Ten Hag put his flag in 2017. They are both a source of inspiration and a reminder of what it means to be a Dutch coach trained at Ajax.
Ten Hag History as A Player
Ten Hag played in the Eredivisie for a long time. He was a typical Eredivisie central midfielder. Three times he played for FC Twente, he also played for De Graaffschap, RKC Waalwijk, and Utrecht. When he played with Hans Kraay Jr., they were close friends. The manager of FC Twente was Erik's dream when they played together. "Ten Hag was a great tactician. There were times when our manager told us to figure out how to deal with one or two strikers on our own. He had such a good sense of what was important."
When Did Ten Hag Start to be a Football Coach?
Ten Hag stopped playing football at 32 and became a coach. He became the deputy coach for Stave McClaren and Fred Rutten while at FC Twente youth teams. In July 2009, he was back with Rutten at PSV, where his reputation grew. In 2012, he took over the Dutch second-tier team Go Ahead Eagles. In his only season at the club, he got them into the Eredivisie for the first time in 17 years. From 2013 to 2015, he was in charge of Bayern Munich's reserve team. This happened simultaneously as Pep Guardiola was in charge of the German club. It was a very important experience for Ten Hag. Learned how to be a manager and work for one of Europe's top teams. He also saw Guardiola's actions methods, like how his team would defend and press from the front and how hard Bayern Munich trained.
He was bought by FC Utrecht in 2015. At the club, he was both the manager and the sporting director. He led the team to victory in the Europa League. This is how it works: After just five months, Ajax fired Marcel Keizer and hired Ten Hag as his replacement. One of his last games in charge was a 2-1 win at Ajax in November 2017.
How Ten Hag Has Transformed Ajak
Ajax had a rough time. In July 2017, their promising attacking midfielder Abdelhak Nouri fell to the ground during a preseason game because he had a cardiac arrhythmia attack. This left him with brain damage. Nouri played with Matthijs de Ligt and Donny van de Beek when he was a young player in the same youth team. Players and the team were affected for a long time by that.
On the field, the players didn't do well. Ten Hag took the job even though the team was already out of the Dutch Cup and Europe. As Ten Hag was a different kind of manager than what they were used to, it took some time for them to accept him.
When Marc Overmars was football director, he gave Kraay some time, says Kraay. "In Amsterdam, he has a different accent from the people there. They were laughing at him a little bit and wondering how a manager from a small town in the east of the Netherlands called Haaksbergen would change Ajax. This is what they said. Everyone, even those who didn't like him at first, started to see what he was up to. He's in charge. Because he doesn't want to make friends, he only wants good, fun football. After that, everyone in the team appears to have the ability to play way better.
The summer before the 2018-19 season, Ajax brought in experienced players like Dusan Tadic and Daley Blind. They also had a group of talented young players like De Ligt, Frenkie de Jong, and Van de Beek. They did so by three points when they won the league title, ending a five-year streak. They also won the KNVB Beker and reached the Champions League semis. The next season was cut short by COVID-19. In 2020-21, they won the league again, by 16 points, though they had a hard time in the Champions League group stage and were knocked out of the Europa League in the quarterfinals by Roma.
Ten Hag helped them reach the summit of Eredivise thanks to a staggering goal difference of +70. They also made the Champions League round of 16 and lost to PSV Eindhoven in the KNVB Beker final, which they lost 3-2. But the club has had its ups and downs, too. As of December, Overmars had just signed a new four-year deal. Just a month later, he resigned because of complaints from female coworkers about inappropriate messages that he sent them. It has been a difficult time for the club, but Ten Hag has been able to keep the ship going in the right direction.
Ten Hag's Trophies Haul as Ajax's Manager
He leaves Ajax having won two Eredivisie titles and a record of 2.36 points per game (73.81 per cent), which is the best since Stefan Kovacs was a permanent manager there in the 1970s. This is the best record of any permanent manager since then. In December, they talked about how to leave a good legacy. Ten Hag said there were three things that made him a good club coach at the Dutch giants that he'll bring to Manchester United as well.
If you could leave something here, that would be great. I work in the Ajax DNA. "You have to win here, and you have to win in a way that looks good. You also have to win with young people. Doing that now: All three of us are doing it at the same time! In this case, you can call it a legacy, but it's not about me. It's about other people, and that is not what I'm running for. It's my job to get the most out of the team we have now, and I have to work for a better future. Then you'll see what it does."
Ten Hag is a person who pays attention to small things. He spends a lot of time at his club and leaves nothing to chance. A long time ago, Kraay said that when he went to sleep, he thought about football and how to play.
How Is Ten Hag as a Manager?
When Timo Letschert played for Utrecht in the 2015-16 season, he was coached by Ten Hag. "We didn't know him that well when he joined, but we felt a different kind of approach when he came." "Almost two hours on the pitch was not something we were used to. Before, we didn't know how long days should last. He brought that to Utrecht. In the beginning, there was a little doubt because we didn't have any good results. But he was able to get the younger people going. Like me, they were sometimes hard to coach, but he has a way of getting to know the players and making them understand him.
In the beginning, it may not happen right away. But after a while, the players will understand how he thinks and will fight for him. Letschert saw Ten Hag's attention to detail for himself when they looked at some of his match footage. He was "very, very critical," but he also saw some good things in Letschert's game, he says. "Every time we watch a video, he talks about how I can move forward. Sitting with each player one-on-one, having a plan for each one." At half-time, if he needs to get angry in order to get his team going, he'll do it! "But even if he is angry, he never lost his sense or concentration," says the author.
Ten Hag Tactics For His Football Team
There are many different ways Ajax has been playing this season, but they mostly play a 4-2-3-1 system. This system can change to three at the back or become a front four, or even six, in a 4-2-4. There's no way to score against us because, first of all, we attack with 11 and defend with 11 people. "Each player in our way of playing has a job and must do it well. They must also do their job with 100% discipline. Then, it's hard to score against your team."
If you look at Ten Hag, he doesn't rotate his players just for the sake of it. In the big games, he usually sticks with the same first XI. But because of the Eredivisie's structure and Ajax's strength compared to the rest of the league, he has the freedom to move important players around for smaller teams.
It's a good thing that Ten Hag has been able to change Ajax's formation from the traditional 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1. This is a change that would have been seen as sacrilegious before. He wants Ryan Gravenberch and Edson Alvarez to do a lot of work this season in the middle of the field. They play as much as they move boxes. As soon as he settles in, expect to see United relentlessly pressing and counter-pressing high up the pitch. The wingers are very aggressive.
"They might worry about how he plays. with both full-backs high on the field "Kraay thinks that. "It's the same with Lisandro Martinez and Juurien Timber, the two central defenders he had at Ajax. He'll need two central defenders who are good with the ball, but they also need to be quick to keep up with the ball. It is clear that both Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof don't have enough speed."
Anyone who plays for Ten Hag will have to hustle the opposing defenders and be a threat in the box. So that means those who goalkeep need to be good with their feet as well to be in his team selection. He plays from outside the box, with his two centre-backs coming short to get the ball. This is like how Cruyff played the game.
As a player for Alkmaar, Letschert knows what it's like to play against a team led by Ten Hag. When he talks, he says that his teams are very disciplined and that he wants them to play with a lot of heart. "You need to be able to put pressure on for 90 minutes at a time You need to be fit, because you can only be disciplined if you are strong enough to do it. In the game, they can change formations very quickly."
Can Ten Hag Make Manchester United Great Again?
Because this is by far the most important job in Ten Hag's career, he will have done his best. Ex-Man United player Blind and current player Donny Van de Beek have both worked with him. His boss at Ajax, Edwin van der Sar, is a big fan of United because he won 10 trophies during his six years at the club. Ten Hag claimed that in every business, it's important to work well together. People who communicate well are always the ones who get things done. As long as Overmars was at Ajax, the team had a good machine that allowed Ten Hag to focus on training his team while Overmars and Van der Sar took care of the politics and transfers.
It will be different at United. They are a team that is still playing catch-up to their rivals when it comes to how well they can buy and sell people. This is seen as a new start after a lot of trouble. "With Erik, there's only "yes" or "no," says Kraay. There's no middle ground. He'll want the club to look for young, hungry players, with Timber and Antony likely to be on the list.
Will Ten Hag Keep Cristiano Ronaldo?
It is believed that Cristiano Ronaldo will be happy with his new manager: "I think he'll make Ronaldo shine for another year," he says. "It's now that he has the ball 65 yards away from the other player that he doesn't have the speed anymore. But if Ronaldo trains with Ten Hag for a week, he'll think, "Wow. That's a lot better than I thought." As a striker, it's still a lot of fun to play. He will play under a lot of stress. Ronaldo won't be able to get the ball 65 yards away, but 18 or 20 yards away. This is what he will do."
If Robin van Persie can get a work permit, Ten Hag will likely bring Mitchell van der Gaag and Robin van Persie with him to his backroom staff. The first thing on his to-do list will be to improve the team's fitness. When he worked at Ajax, Ten Hag knew what to expect and how he'd be judged. If you don't, you won't have a title. Is Ten Hag the manager that can finally help Manchester United to win the premier league again? Will Ten Hag make Manchester United great again? Will the Red Devils be a force to be reckoned with in Europe or the world, again? Time will tell.
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