 ERIK TEN HAG - CAN HE BRING THE GLORY DAYS BACK?

Erik Ten Hag

Can he bring the glory days back? by Ray Calleja

These have been a terrible few years for Manchester United and so the appointment of Dutchman Erik Ten Hag brings with it much hope for better results and ultimately a return to the glory days when Sir Alex Ferguson was still leading the team before he retired in 2013. United are currently suffering their worst trophy drought in 40 years, with the Europa League won in 2017 under Jose Mourinho being the last trophy they won. On 21 April 2022 Ten Hag signed a 3-year contract at Manchester United, which ends in June 2025 with the option of extending for a further year.

However, most fans and critics agree that a complete overhaul is now required at United. Not only a clear identity and style of how the team should play but also how players are recruited.

We start by taking a look at Ten Hag as a player, where he played as a centre back. His was an undistinguished senior career, which spanned 13 years and included 3 different spells at his local club FC Twente. He retired at age 32 in 2002 and decided to take up coaching. His first experiences were with the youth teams at FC Twente. He later became Academy Director until the 2008/09 season, where he eventually became assistant to the Englishman Steve the German League, during the Pep Guardiola reign with the senior side. He stayed there for two seasons clearly intent on learning how a big side is run and coached, and also to widen his knowledge on the game and tactics. He returned to Holland to coach FC Utrecht in 2015. He helped them finish 5th in the League in his first season and then 4th in the next campaign. He also brought them qualification to the Europa League. In December 2017, he was appointed head coach at Ajax Amsterdam. In 2019, he was very close to leading them to the UEFA Champions League Final after a run which included victories over Real Madrid and Juventus, until they got knocked out in injury time in the semi‑final by Tottenham Hotspur. Under Ten Hag, Ajax won the double in 2019 and 2021 by lifting the Dutch Cup as well as the Eredivisie title. He was appointed as manager of Manchester United last April but he stayed on with Ajax for a few more weeks to be able to complete his third Eredivisie league title victory. Apart from McClaren as assistant, Ten Hag has also chosen Mitchell van der Gaag, his former no. 2 at Ajax, to form part of his backroom team as assistant coaches at United.

In 10 years, he has never been sacked and it is expected that Manchester United will be patient and give him the required time for rebuilding and to put his ideas across and see them implemented.

McClaren, who was Twente’s head coach. McClaren commented about how Ten Hag was always so very meticulous in his preparations of the team and that he is a perfectionist. As we all know, those roles have now been reversed at Manchester United, where McLaren is back at Old Trafford after an absence of over 20 years, ready for life as assistant to the Dutchman. McClaren had been part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s backroom staff during the club’s iconic treble-winning season in 1999. In terms of tactics, Ten Hag showed improved tactics and strategies with his teams on his return from Germany. In fact, in 2015 when he returned to the Netherlands with FC Utrecht, he was the first coach to introduce the system of three at the back. At the time all clubs in the top tier in the country were using an old-fashioned 4-3-3 and the only change coaches adopted was to switch to 4-4-2 when the side lost possession. He later also introduced a 4-4-2 diamond shape, which was also innovative in Holland at the time. Utrecht, under Ten Hag, would often switch from 4‑4‑2 flat to 4‑4‑2 diamond and also to 5‑2‑3 or 5‑3‑2 reflecting a very flexible approach to a game. He also

Ten Hag has been head coach for the last 10 years, where he has been with four different sides. He started out with Dutch Div 2 side Go Ahead Eagles in 2012, where he led the team to its first promotion in 17 years. He moved to Germany with the second-string side of Bayern Munich who played in the 4th tier of

Ajax hired Erik Ten Hag in December 2017, mid-way through the 2017-2018 campaign. In November of that year his Utrecht side beat Ajax 2-1 away, where he employed a 5-3-2 system with the use of wing backs. This must have impressed the Ajax hierarchy who asked him to take charge of the team just a month later. Ten Hag also had good links with Marc Overmars, Ajax’s Director of Football at the time. They had known each other when both were still at Go Ahead Eagles. Ten Hag’s was not a popular choice among the Ajax fans and the Amsterdam press was not kind to him either. However, Ajax were prepared to give him the time he needed to give the young and hugely talented players in the squad direction, with the ambition to bring back the glory days and turn them into a hugely successful side with a hard-working mentality and great emotional awareness.

Things started to improve soon after he joined. Ajax finished as runners‑up in the 2017/2018 season. In the summer of 2018, they splurged the cash to bring in players like Daley Blind and Dusan Tadic. Hakim Ziyech looked certain to leave until a late change of heart. They already had very promising youngsters like Matthijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong, Donny van de Beek and André Onana. So suddenly they looked like they had a terrifically strong squad.

The 2018/2019 season was magical for Ajax. Apart from winning the League, the performances in the Champions League were amazing, right from the qualifying rounds in the summer of 2018. They would start with a 4-2-3-1 shape and then change it to 3-1-5-1 in attack. They pressed their opponents very high up the pitch. The team’s statistics, including their performances in the League, were also astonishing whilst playing wonderful football. Everyone knows about the cruel way Ajax were denied a place in the final of the 2019 Champions League losing to Tottenham in the 96th minute in the second leg of the semi‑final, after having led 2-0 on the night and 3-0 on aggregate. Ten Hag admits that that side was his best ever and most creative team he managed at Ajax. The following season was dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, where the Dutch season was abandoned on 24 April 2020 with Ajax again on top, if only by better goal difference than AZ Alkmaar, but they were not declared champions. Prior to the start of that season, they lost important players like de Ligt to Juventus and de Jong to Barcelona, as well as Maximillian Wober to Sevilla and Kasper Dolberg to Nice. Disappointingly, Ajax did not qualify from their group stage in the Champions League which contained Chelsea, Lille and Valencia. Many felt that the recruitment, to replace departing players, had let down the team. Ten Hag could not keep playing with the same style, rhythm and intensity he had done in the previous season with the new players like Razvan Marin, Quincy Promes and Edson Alvarez.

The 2020/2021 season saw more big players leaving Ajax. Most prominent was Hakim Ziyech’s departure to Chelsea. Midfielder Donny van de Beek also left for Manchester United, as did Sergino Dest to Barcelona and Sven Botman to Lille. Ten Hag was still using the 3-1-5-1 system, which he employed in the previous two seasons. He brought over Antony from Brazilian side Sao Paulo in July 2020, who took over on the right wing from Ziyech. In January 2021, Ajax also signed central striker Sebastien Haller from West Ham United, who is less flexible than Tadic was in the 2018/2019 season. They were runaway league winners with a 16-point advantage over second-placed PSV Eindhoven. They scored 102 goals and conceded just 23 goals, losing only twice, drawing 4 and winning the remaining 28 games. Ajax won the KNVB Cup by beating Vitesse 2-1 in the Final. In the Champions League, they finished third in their group behind Liverpool and Atalanta but with their third place they transferred to the Europa League in the round of 32. They beat Lille and Young Boys and reached the quarter‑finals until they were knocked out by Roma, 3-2 on aggregate.

Last season, the 2021/2022 campaign was almost a carbon copy of the previous season, where Ajax won the Eredivisie again with a similar record with 26 victories, 5 defeats, losing just 3 times and scoring 98 goals. The fight at the top was much closer this time as second-placed PSV Eindhoven won as many

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Erik Ten Hag celebrating Ajax’s title in May 2022.

games but losing two games more than Ajax. In contrast, however, Ten Hag’s focus on the defence couldn’t be sharper. Ajax conceded just 19 goals all season whereas PSV conceded 42 goals. Ajax’s duo up front, Haller, who was the league’s top scorer with 21 goals, and Tadic, contributed 34 goals between them, a significant improvement on the previous season’s 25 goals in the league. PSV exacted revenge by beating Ajax in the Cup Final coming from behind to win 2-1 in April. Ajax completely dominated their Champions League Group C, winning all 6 games in their group, scoring 20 goals and conceding just 5. However, they were knocked out by Benfica 3‑2 on aggregate in the round of 16, which was a huge disappointment and surprise. The telling blow was the 1-0 home defeat in Amsterdam on March 15th . So, what kind of tactics can the Manchester United fans expect to see their team play under Erik Ten Hag? No one knows exactly. Could the style he has used successfully at Ajax transfer itself to Old Trafford? Obviously, it depends what players he manages to bring in at United. However, it is clear that the defence is vitally important for Ten Hag as can be seen from Ajax’s record in the last two league campaigns, for example. He would want to drill into his players the shape he wants to have when United lose the ball, to be protected against dangerous counter-attacks. Nevertheless, he likes to have control in a game, not afraid to attack the opponent but defence would remain hugely important to him. When out of possession Ten Hag’s teams like to have a good pressure structure with the full-backs Players will definitely notice a big change in their preparation, with several of his former players talking about Ten Hag’s long and intensive training sessions, many of them lasting up to 3 hours. However, he insists this is needed if his team is to keep up the high-tempo style that he would be looking to impose on the United team. What is also anticipated are extensive coaching sessions for the players on their positioning, and the runs that they would be expected to make to create space for their teammates.

Following on from so many disappointing seasons in the last few years, culminating in last season’s woeful results, United’s players will be determined to make amends in the upcoming campaign. They have simply not been good enough and everyone connected with the club was glad to see the end of the season and looking forward to an improvement while at the same time keeping expectations low, given what has happened in the last few years with all the different coaches that have come in since Sir Alex’s departure.

The beginning of a new season and Ten Hag’s arrival brings new hope that he can wipe the slate clean for everyone, ahead of, hopefully, happier and better times.

Manchester United have made clear the reason for hiring Erik Ten Hag, with Director of Football, John Murtough, saying, ”During the past four years at Ajax, Erik has proved himself to be one of the most exciting and successful coaches in Europe, renowned for his team’s attractive, attacking football and commitment to youth.”

Sahbi known as AjaxSahbi.

I took the opportunity to speak to Sahbi, an Ajax fan of 30 years since the early 1990s. He used to form part of WeTalkAjax, which is a fan-based channel on YouTube and Twitter, where everything Ajax is discussed. He also participates in GameTalk, where each Ajax game is scrutinised and analysed during a podcast. This is what Sahbi had to say about Erik Ten Hag’s appointment. Sahbi expects Ten Hag to adopt the same tactics he used at Ajax, even though he has to work with many of the players that were already at Old Trafford. He likes to play attacking football with a lot of movement on and off the ball. The wingbacks can overlap or can also be inverted heading to the penalty area. The players always play within a triangle in order to always have a possibility to pass the ball. Ball possession is key in this aspect. He likes to keep his team compact, and this is to make sure the players can recover the ball quickly when losing possession. When the opponents have the ball, it is his objective to press with many players to try and win the ball back, as soon as possible.

Ten Hag is a highly disciplined and very strict coach. He is much more concerned that there is a good spirit among the team than he is about the individual player. He looks to see what is best for the team. He is known to say to his players “it’s not your game but our game”. He likes to train his players hard because he wants everyone to be fit from the start of the season. When I asked Sahbi if the Ajax fans wish Erik well in his new role, he said yes, including himself. They are grateful for the success he brought to Ajax in the last few years. Many think he deserves this chance and they are convinced he will do well at United. Some fans, however, are feeling aggrieved because rumours abound that he is trying to sign some key players in the present Ajax side like Antony, Martinez and Timber. Like many others, Sahbi also thought that Man United may have gone for a more wellknown manager than Ten Hag but he is also convinced that Erik is made for the job and that he can bring that winning mentality that United desperately need again. But it’s important that United give him the time he needs to be able to implement his tactics and system. He has been successful wherever he’s coached. He is someone who breathes football and works 24/7. After a game, irrespective of the result he watches it all over again at home, with a glass of wine. He is then ready to discuss all the points he has seen with his squad the next day and point out what went well and what went wrong. He is always looking to improve.

Finally, when I asked Sahbi what type of tactics he expects Ten Hag to use at Old Trafford, he said that he will play attacking football. He will probably use a 4-3-3 or 4-23-1 formation with a lot of pressing, which is why he needs all the players to be very fit. He will look for the kind of players that his systems demands. He likes to build up from the back, which explains why he is said to want to sign Timber and Martinez. Frenkie de Jong is a pure footballer who can do magic in midfield. He can open up the play and also be creative. Therefore, Ten Hag will not only want players who break up the opponents’ play but also technically-gifted footballers, who can create and dictate play.

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