He got it by default. Not only were those chasing him were utterly inept his final year. People forget he lost 13 times that season in the league alone. Won like 1 game away and continued that from the next season.
Erik ten Hag | Currently unemployed
- Thread starter Panther
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It should be obvious. Tuchel was not only sacked for none footballing reason, falling out with the DOF leonardo. He had PSG operating in systemized coherence through out his stay. Never ever relying on the sheer individual briilliance in his squad to win games whilst being imperious at home. Then the one time he finally had Neymar available for late stage UCL knockout football he narrowly lost a UCL a final to Flick's insane Bayern machine.
Ten Haag is a gamble, that should be obvious. Just a question if it is a gamble worth taking, and if we have seen pochs ceiling yet. Tuchel is a good manager and managed to put psg in a position to lose ligue un, that should tell you that psg is not the easiest place to manage the way they are currently structured. Managing at Tottenham and Southampton also has obvious limitations, spurs in particular has reduced several good managers to rubble, we may add another one within next few months. We may not have seen the best from poch yet. I'd be very happy with either - poch seems more in keeping with rangnicks approach but I could see how either would be justified
They've actually been a lower league team mostly in the past 20 years. Their current midtable spot is quite a surprise since it's only their 2nd season back in the top division.
They're a cool traditional club though with a great stadium.
71 points. Liverpool had a similar season last year with 69 points due to several injuries, like Spurs in 18/19. But Liverpool had alot more resources with nearly the double wage cost of Spurs.
If he fails to win the league this season, will it make him a less attractive prospect for people?
Not at all. The stats don't lie. Exemplary work at both Ajax and Utrecht. Ten Hag all the way. Give him the time and money Ole got and we are in for a good show. I'm certain of it.
Just looking at their league table and you realise how poor the league is.
6th place team with -6 GD. This is what worries me slightly about him. He's got the best team and plays against what I guess are championship/league 1 level teams most weeks. It's ok implementing a style in a league like that and it looking good, when you have players of a much higher quality, but can you do it in the PL where even some small clubs play good football and have players that top teams in the league would like. There's barely an easy game in our league for us anymore and many teams wouldn't allow us to do what Ajax do.
6th place team with -6 GD. This is what worries me slightly about him. He's got the best team and plays against what I guess are championship/league 1 level teams most weeks. It's ok implementing a style in a league like that and it looking good, when you have players of a much higher quality, but can you do it in the PL where even some small clubs play good football and have players that top teams in the league would like. There's barely an easy game in our league for us anymore and many teams wouldn't allow us to do what Ajax do.
Let me preface this by saying, this could mean absolutely nothing, but:
Mitchell van der Gaag, who is ten Hag's assistant at Ajax, has been linked with the FC Basel head coach job by Dutch and Swiss media. I think the original report has been posted by the Telegraaf last sunday. I wonder if this could be an indication for ten Hags departure in the Summer? To an outsider like myself, it sounds like there could be a bigger personal overhaul at Ajax this summer.
Mitchell van der Gaag, who is ten Hag's assistant at Ajax, has been linked with the FC Basel head coach job by Dutch and Swiss media. I think the original report has been posted by the Telegraaf last sunday. I wonder if this could be an indication for ten Hags departure in the Summer? To an outsider like myself, it sounds like there could be a bigger personal overhaul at Ajax this summer.
I wasnt trying to be critical of Poch, i just said that Tuchel has done better at PSG. Tuchel won two league and reached the CL final which Neymar should have won for him. Poch hasnt reached that just yet. I just replied at the claim that Tuchel failed at PSG, i dont agree with that. He was a succes there.
They are a team that is/was expected to be relegated. It is also the club where Erik ten Hag started his managerial career. To show the difference between Go Ahead Eagles and Ajax, Ajax their budget is about 35 times larger than Go Ahead their budget.
What's the alternative though? There's no proven winner out there so we have to take a leap of faith in someone like ten Hag who looks the closest to making that jump.
I assumed Ten Hag's departure this summer was a given, especially after the situation with Overmars? If what you are saying is true, maybe we can poach some players as well.
I mean, this is just perfect. But I fully expect our board in their infinite wisdom to just go for Poch and ignore everything else.
In which case, it's probably better to assess their CL performances, and by that metric, he's done an excellent job.
For once, I just want this club to hire a manager that's on the up.
If it fails, it fails, but I'm sick of seeing bright, young managers head off to our rivals and do well, while we go year after year without a title.
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This is a real question - is it really though? I don't know the Dutch league enough obviously, but I fail to see any league with such a difference between the top team and the followers. What PSG have done in L1 is pretty crazy, and the fact that their front line is Messi, Neymar and Mbappé, and no other club could ¡dream of having even 1 of those players on their books, is insane.
Everything outside Ajax and PSV (and to a lesser extend AZ and Feyenoord) is complete rubbish in the Dutch league and even compared to PSV I doubt anyone from PSV would start for Ajax. When Ajax feel like it they completely demolish any opposition (like they did with PSV recently, or the 9-0 against Cambuur, 13-0 against VVV last year). They just seem to be unable to focus some of the time resulting into weirdly dropped points against fodder like Heracles or Go Ahead Eagles.
That PSG frontline is of course a whole other level of insane, but the difference in quality from midtable downwards between the leagues is massive.
The difference between Ajax and PSV/Feyenoord isn't huge, but the difference between the big 3 and the rest is massive, the second and third team in France aren't that much ahead of french midtable teams.
The difference between Ajax and Feyenoord is definitely huge. Ajax can spend more in a single transferwindow than we have this entire century. Our star signing this year is Gernot Trauner for 1 million.
Ten Haag like much of our fanbase excites me as our new manager because of his style of play , he is getting best out of Daley blind, tadic and haller..all of whom flattered to impress in the prem...he develops and integrates young players...he has a distinct style and creates a functioning team..but would suit us better if we have a complete reset/ rebuild
The only downpoint is his lack of experience managing big stars with big egos, Ronaldo, Bruno, rashford pogba etc...this is where Poch holds the advantage for me he has worked in the prem and he is currently working with egos and big names....
This is why our board will go all out for Poch i have no doubt on this
The only downpoint is his lack of experience managing big stars with big egos, Ronaldo, Bruno, rashford pogba etc...this is where Poch holds the advantage for me he has worked in the prem and he is currently working with egos and big names....
This is why our board will go all out for Poch i have no doubt on this
Some Ajax fans think Blind is favored too often at LB over Nico Tagliafico. It's not always all rosey. Blind did fine for united in my opinion. He was part of our best central defensive pairing in the post Fergie era alongside Smalling until Mourinho broke it up.
I think Ten Hag is a fine coach but I'm not completely sold on him for the reasons you've mentioned. Pochetinno also loves to work with youth and many seem to overlook this.
During his time at Espanyol Pochettino had youth teams play opposition at age levels above them. This was a ploy to fast track their progress and it resulted in over a dozen players making their debuts under him there.
He enhanced this reputation by giving Calum Chambers his debut at Southampton while helping progress the development of young players like Luke Shaw, Nathaniel Clyne, Adam Lallana and James Ward-Prawse for instance. At Spurs he got rid of the old guard and developed players like Kane, Ryan Mason, Harry Winks, Danny Rose and Kyle Walker. All in all he gave debuts to 16 U-23 players at Spurs. So for me Poch ticks more boxes than Ten hag
That's a fair point but what is important is how well you deal with big ego's rather than mere experience with them. Pochettino is going through that experience but let's see how his season ends up with PsG
He looks so comfortable «representing» Russia and oligarchs right now I guess you are right.
Nope. We have enough stats to understand a coach's performance. The numbers he's putting up at Ajax are pretty insane. The football passes the eye-test. The rest like "winning mentality" or whatever is just fuzz, I don't really care much for that.
The only question with Poch v Ten Hag is if we've seen Poch's ceiling already. Poch with basically one of the best teams assembled ever still got schooled by Pep and fluked his wins in the CL. I think he had one good 45 min period across 4 games?
Performance against Pep / Klopp for me is still the barometer for how good a coach is. I wish Ten Hag goes up against Pool / City next and we can see how it goes.
Which fluked win one half performance games are these? I'm curious.
The one time Hag played Poch in the CL he came up short and bottled it after taking a lead from London
Surely losing in the last seconds like that can happen to anyone? The bigger picture, the fact that they were seconds away from making the champions league final, is what we should be looking at.
I really have to dig through my memories, but the only time I remember Poch having the upper hand vs Pep in general play was the first 45 mins of the first CL SF leg last year. They didn't win that game but atleast they got a decent 45 minutes in.
Every other game between the two sides, City dominated. (CL SF 2nd leg, both legs of the group stages this season).
Not sure what you mean by fluked wins - the only win PSG got was the 2-0 in this year's group stage and they were proper shit that game.
Ajax beat and outplayed Spurs in London and failed to seal the deal. Would you extend the same grace to Pochettino if it was the other way round?
Pochetinno has been labeled a perennial bottler here for losses in big matches. He was labeled as such when Spurs lost to Liverpool in the final was he not? Spurs completely outplayed and out muscled Ajax in the second half of that 2-3 win in Amsterdam. Ajax went into halftime with a 2-0 lead, leading the tie 3-0. That was capitulation
Yeah I probably would, I don’t really have a dog in the fight when it comes to these two, I’d be happy with either in charge of United. Both teams making it to where they did was incredible really, both coaches got their sides massively punching above their weight.
Every manager will have his share of "bottling". In the year City won their first PL, Fergie bottled a 11 point lead. He also "bottled" the 4-4 game against Everton in the same season which basically gave City the title. In the CL he "bottled" a 5-3 against Bayern. Does all of this make SAF a bottler? The difference is for every time you bottle something, you win something else. That's what makes you a top coach.
The reason Poch gets labeled as a bottler is not because of the CL final, but because he had ample opportunity to demonstrate that he can win a trophy, yet every time he got near one he failed. He could have won the PL in the year Leicester won it, yet didn't. He could have won the odd F.A. Cup or League cup, yet didn't. Trophy wise he is identical to Ole.
But the main reason is when he is actually expected to win, he bottles it. Take the FA cup semi against us. Beat a lack lusture Mourinho's United and get to the final. Yet he managed to be even worse than we were that day.
Last year all he needed to do is grab 1 point from 2 relegation candidates to secure the title. He grabbed 0. And I can go on and on about the times Poch did an Ole every time a trophy was in sight.
Fact of matter is he is not Manchester United material. Period. The man who says out loud that "Trophies are for Egos" should automatically be disqualified in the running for the Man Utd manager.
As for Ten Hag, here is an interesting stat so far. Since his first full season, Ajax have won all domestic titles he participated in.
Did he bottle that tie? Sure, but I would argue, the lack of bench options to secure the win and shut up shop is what cost him in the end.
Ironically though, that match and specifically Llorente made him review his philosophy. Since then then he started playing with a technical target man up front in Haller.
Timber is a relative midget for a centre half.
It was a big achievement for both indeed. Why do you think the posters who are definitely pro Ten Hag give him more credit for failing to make the final than they do Pochettino for actually beating him to it?
Fergie was already a legend during all that, you're comparing apples to oranges. What has Ten Hag won besides the Dutch league and domestic cups? He needed that win against a fellow manager on the up and trying to establish himself among the greatest.
Ajax were massive favorites after their win in London and Ten Hag blew it against Pochettino who equally didn't have prior experience at that stage of the CL. Maybe the pressure at the big stage got to him? Pochetinno excelled in those crucial 45 minutes and showed real fight.
Ten Hag had a squad composed of players who had EL final experience two years prior with the addition of a few PL veterans so what was the excuse for that capitulation?
Everything you mentioned before the part in bold is now a moot point because Pochettino is on course to win Ligue 1 handedly and he's leading RM after outplaying them in the first leg of their CL last 16 tie.
Why hasn't Ten Hag built on his 2018/19 champions league semifinal appearance? Isn't he going from strength to strength as suggested? Since that semifinal he's been dumped out the group stage twice and made the last 32 and quarterfinals of the EL. He can't even get further in that. I don't care about his domestic record, it hasn't translated to an improvement in the CL, so maybe that semifinal was a fluke.
Lack of bench options? Was there a serious injury crisis or do Ajax lack squad depth? They blew that tie from a VERY strong position. 45 minutes to win it, that was all. They shut up shop in London and almost even took a 0-2 lead to Amsterdam. They couldn't do the same at home!
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And he is familiar w
And he is familiar with the Premier League which is a huge plus IMO.
I guess because their minds are made up already. I don’t pretend to watch Ajax every week so I don’t know enough about him, but I did watch them in the champions league. I also watched Spurs under Poch, and I like what I saw from both. As long as we’re not appointing Big Sam then it’s not really something I can get too worked up about.
Yeah I'm mostly here unless Ten Hag schools Klopp or Poch wins the CL or something nuts like that this year.
Still prefer ETH, but Poch I'm sure will do a good job too.
Considering he has only managed in the Dutch league, what was he supposed to win. In 3 full seasons, he won 2 doubles of League + Cup. The 2nd season he was interrupted while being top of table due to Covid. So far he won every comp he participated in. You can only win what's in front of you.
But that doesn't matter. You're the only one fixated here on his league form. 95% of posters don't even take his Eredevise seriously. I personally view his football supperior to anything Poch was able to put out, with far less resources than Poch had at Spurs and currently at PSG.
I've read some pearls, but this one takes the cake. Apparently you need different set of experience for Round of 16 quarter finals, semi finals to progress. Should I remind you that Poch's team consistently competed in both the group and knockout stages in the previous years. It's absolutely disingenious to suggest that the Spurs were complete rookies and were facing against the mighty Ajax team just because they reached the EL final.
Should I also remind you that before the 2018/2019 campaign Ten Hag had 0 Champions League experience, to Poch being in it for 3 consecutive years who you conveniently forgot to mention was dumped out in the previous edition of the CL by Juventus after having a 2-2 draw in Turin, only to lose 2-1 in London. Yet only Ten Hag is the bottler in this situation because it's impossible for Poch to bottle anything.
Also, are you seriously calling Tadic a PL veteran? It's like saying Djemba Dejamba, Bebe and Kleberson were PL veterans. Haller, another PL "veteran" who scored 10 in 48 for West Ham, has already 11 in 7 Champions league games and is the Eredevise top Scorer as well. Blind was the only exception, but even then he was viewed as a decent back up in a disfunctional United team. All of these players turned into world beaters in the CL. Must be their experience. Too bad Ronaldo's and Varane's experience didn't turn us into prime Real Madrid this season.
But fair play where fair play is due. Poch threw everything and the kitchen sink at Ten Hag and he got the result, and thats all that matters. While he did resort to lump it to Fellaini tactics, but sometimes you have to play ugly to win.
*sigh*
This post right here should invalidate everything you said simply because you have no idea about Ajax, do you?
The reason Ajax bombed out of the EL is because they had a very strong 11, but lacklusture bench options. Ten Hag doesn't trust them for various reasons. During those EL campaigns he had an injury crisis and because Ajax isn't in the PL or a state sponsored club they didn't have money for quality bench options. The back ups were rusty or simply not up to par hence why they bombed out in the EL. Also the reason he "bottled" that Spurs tie. He didn't trust that his back ups could offer something more than his starting 11.
Thing is Ten Hag achieved the same success as Poch did with a fraction of his resources. He also had his team stripped apart of his best players repeatedly(something Poch never experienced) and despite that he became competitive in Europe again.
But the thing that I find most impressive with Ten Hag is his ability to go toe to toe with the big boys and try to impose his game on them. I'm tired of this reactionary/pragmatic style that has been plaguing us since the Fergie days. I want to see a change. I want to see us behaving like the biggest club in the world, not just throw those words around.
Ten Hag does exactly that with a team comparable to Poch's/Koeman's Soutampton. Tell me, do you think Poch would've been able to reach the CL semis with that Soton side? You rave on how he beat Real 1-0. Should I remind you that Ten Hag hammered them 4-1 at the Bernabeu. Then he proceeded to dump out Juventus(who dumped out Poch's Spurs in the previous edition) with Ronaldo in Turin. And that makes me excited and hopeful to see what he can do with our team. Simply put, Ten Hag is everything you say Poch is, except better.
Is Ten Hag promoting and using youth like its his idea or is it happening because its Ajax; the world's top youth system?
I'm just asking because it would be good to know that he comes here and uses the younger players more due to it being his idea than something he kind of just followed through with at Ajax.
I'm just asking because it would be good to know that he comes here and uses the younger players more due to it being his idea than something he kind of just followed through with at Ajax.
Yep.
I think Mazraoui would do well for us. We could use Antony too.
Maybe ETH could convince De Ligt or Frenkie to join us at some point?
Would be very costly though.
Considering he has only managed in the Dutch league, what was he supposed to win. In 3 full seasons, he won 2 doubles of League + Cup. The 2nd season he was interrupted while being top of table due to Covid. So far he won every comp he participated in. You can only win what's in front of you.
But that doesn't matter. You're the only one fixated here on his league form. 95% of posters don't even take his Eredevise seriously. I personally view his football supperior to anything Poch was able to put out, with far less resources than Poch had at Spurs and currently at PSG.
I've read some pearls, but this one takes the cake. Apparently you need different set of experience for Round of 16 quarter finals, semi finals to progress. Should I remind you that Poch's team consistently competed in both the group and knockout stages in the previous years. It's absolutely disingenious to suggest that the Spurs were complete rookies and were facing against the mighty Ajax team just because they reached the EL final.
Should I also remind you that before the 2018/2019 campaign Ten Hag had 0 Champions League experience, to Poch being in it for 3 consecutive years who you conveniently forgot to mention was dumped out in the previous edition of the CL by Juventus after having a 2-2 draw in Turin, only to lose 2-1 in London. Yet only Ten Hag is the bottler in this situation because it's impossible for Poch to bottle anything.
Also, are you seriously calling Tadic a PL veteran? It's like saying Djemba Dejamba, Bebe and Kleberson were PL veterans. Haller, another PL "veteran" who scored 10 in 48 for West Ham, has already 11 in 7 Champions league games and is the Eredevise top Scorer as well. Blind was the only exception, but even then he was viewed as a decent back up in a disfunctional United team. All of these players turned into world beaters in the CL. Must be their experience. Too bad Ronaldo's and Varane's experience didn't turn us into prime Real Madrid this season.
But fair play where fair play is due. Poch threw everything and the kitchen sink at Ten Hag and he got the result, and thats all that matters. While he did resort to lump it to Fellaini tactics, but sometimes you have to play ugly to win.
*sigh*
This post right here should invalidate everything you said simply because you have no idea about Ajax, do you?
The reason Ajax bombed out of the EL is because they had a very strong 11, but lacklusture bench options. Ten Hag doesn't trust them for various reasons. During those EL campaigns he had an injury crisis and because Ajax isn't in the PL or a state sponsored club they didn't have money for quality bench options. The back ups were rusty or simply not up to par hence why they bombed out in the EL. Also the reason he "bottled" that Spurs tie. He didn't trust that his back ups could offer something more than his starting 11.
Thing is Ten Hag achieved the same success as Poch did with a fraction of his resources. He also had his team stripped apart of his best players repeatedly(something Poch never experienced) and despite that he became competitive in Europe again.
But the thing that I find most impressive with Ten Hag is his ability to go toe to toe with the big boys and try to impose his game on them. I'm tired of this reactionary/pragmatic style that has been plaguing us since the Fergie days. I want to see a change. I want to see us behaving like the biggest club in the world, not just throw those words around.
Ten Hag does exactly that with a team comparable to Poch's/Koeman's Soutampton. Tell me, do you think Poch would've been able to reach the CL semis with that Soton side? You rave on how he beat Real 1-0. Should I remind you that Ten Hag hammered them 4-1 at the Bernabeu. Then he proceeded to dump out Juventus(who dumped out Poch's Spurs in the previous edition) with Ronaldo in Turin. And that makes me excited and hopeful to see what he can do with our team. Simply put, Ten Hag is everything you say Poch is, except better.
You can only win what's in front of you indeed, and winning domestic cups in a league where Ajax invariably dominate is not overly impressive, it's expected. Ajax outspend everyone else in the league and it's not close. The fact PSV is so close to them tells another story.
You claim I'm fixated on his league form and go on to mention some arbitrary percentage of posters who don't 'take his Eredivisie seriously'. Where does that come from and what point are you even trying to make? If you like his style good for you, we all have preferences. I don't have an issue with his style personally but again that 'superior' style came to nought when it mattered most against Pochettino in the CL and the fashion in which Hag's team capitulated in that semi-final cannot be excused.
The Ajax squad had prior and recent experience playing in a European cup final, you seriously think that was a non factor when they met Spurs who were playing a semifinal for the first time? Yes, experience at that advanced level does matter. Being closer to glory, almost tasting it, it has a more profound effect on players and managers.
Don't put words in my mouth, I never remotely suggested that Pochettino was infallible, but like Ten Hag he punched above his weight in the CL and that's worthy of mention. It's also worthy of mention that Pochettino took Spurs to another level by actually challenging for the PL title with limited resources compared to the competition. That experience wins me over, he's been there and can do it again. Hag is a huge risk.
Veteran was maybe too strong a word to describe those players, so you can have that. However my point is Hag added invaluable experience to his squad and not only failed to replicate previous results in the CL but he only got worse. This season is the first he made it out of the group stage since 2018/19 and all I see is excuses from you for that lack of progress.
Blind was a little more than just merely a 'decent backup' at united. In 2014/15 he played over 50 game in all competitions and became a mainstay under LVG until Mourinho got hired.
To say Pochetinno merely played lump it to Fellaini tactics to get the result against Ajax is frankly insulting and completely disingenuous. Your memory is not serving you right. Ajax couldn't live with Spurs in that second half. For some context, Ajax had 40% possession to Spurs 60, 386 passes to Spurs 557, 73% pass accuracy to Spurs 80, 16 shots to Spurs 24 with 4 attempts on target to Spurs 7. Spurs were dominant in every key metric and they played ball. No need to make shit up when the evidence is there for all to see.
I like the fact Hag plays to impose himself on other teams and not the other way round. You cant say Pochetinno is a pragmatic manager either. This whole 'he didn't trust his backups' theory sounds like an excuse to me.
Can you point me to any evidence backing up this assertion about Ajax's apparent lack of squad depth over the last two seasons? Any evidence of Hag specifically bemoaning his options outside his starting 11? If anything I've come across a Ten Hag interview from 2019 that is quite the contrary to this theory of yours. How drastically have things changed since?
I've read about Ten Hag playing favorites and this harkens back to what I've written in this thread about Hag for instance playing Blind at leftback over Tagliafico in some key games, like the first leg against Benfica in the last 16 of the CL. It's something that was drawn the ire of some Ajax supporters. The man doesn't rotate much, why doesn't he trust his bench options more if all I see is glowing praise for his overall squad depth?
Here's the 2019 article about squad depth
https://www.allaboutajax.com/2019/11/ten-hag-squad-depth-is-essential-for-success/
Ajax manager Erik ten Hag has once again expressed his gratitude for the wide arrange of players he has at his disposal. Over the course of the season, he has repeatedly explained how he thinks Ajax has more than eleven starters within its ranks. He was arguably proven right last Wednesday when a damaged Ajax side still got away with three points.
The recent match against Lille OSC was won despite the suspensions of Daley Blind and Joël Veltman and the injury of David Neres. On top of that, Labyad, Ziyech and Mazraoui had to be substituted during the game because of injuries and a yellow card. “It shows that we have an extensive selection of players. Our young talents have potential and a role to play. They are very close to the starting line-up”, Ten Hag explained on Ajax TV.
The manager was reflecting on the fact that Ajax won a Champions League match with youngsters like Perr Schuurs, Sergiño Dest and Noa Lang on the pitch. “That is beautiful. Siem de Jong was also there when we needed him, however, so it’s both experienced and young players who are able to step in. We need that depth in the squad to be successful.”
Did this picture painted above change considerably in the two ensuing seasons where he got knocked out of the group stage?
This is an in depth analysis of the Ajax squad this season, and I'll just copy and paste the section about squad depth
https://www.allaboutajax.com/2021/12/back-to-the-top-the-transformation-of-afc-ajax/
New-Found Quality in Squad Depth
"In what was a special campaign three years ago, the starting XI was almost always the same for Ten Hag. Whilst a lack of rotation is the case this season, the quality in depth is much more significant this time around.
In the attacking positions, Neres and new signing Mohamed Daramy fill fans with confidence whenever Tadić or Antony need resting. This can also be said for Mohammed Kudus – a young 21-year-old attacking midfielder from Ghana, who has been injury-ridden for much of his Ajax career but has been a livewire whenever he has represented Ajax and will be expected to challenge for a spot in Ten Hag’s starting XI in the new year.
Squad depth can also be found in defence. The Latin American acquisitions mean that Schuurs offers reassurance when called upon, whilst the new-look Ajax team places Blind in the left-back position ahead of a man who is regularly being monitored by Europe’s elite clubs in Tagliafico.
At right-back, Noussair Mazraoui is the manager’s first choice but after suffering a season-long injury last year, the vital first-team experience was given to the academy Devyne Rensch. In a year that allowed him to showcase his qualities, Rensch has since made his debut for the Dutch national team, after bringing energy and quality with both his attacking and defensive efforts."
That article enlightened me on a few things. Ten Hag was waxing lyrical about his squad depth three years ago during that 'special season' but he mostly played the same starting 11. Secondly, Ajax have built on that squad depth in ensuing seasons and that puts paid to your claims about a distinct lack of squad depth or a distrust of his squad options during the CL campaigns where they crashed out in the groups. I think if he built on that 2018/19 success he'd be managing a top club already. Maybe top clubs see him as too big a risk. I'd be happy to have him knowing he could potentially be a huge success but it could also go the other way as he'd still be a big risk.
Poch took Southampton to Europe. Do you think Hag would've gone a step further and got the same Southampton to the top 4 in mega competitive England? Seriously ask yourself that, it's a hypothetical not even worth considering. You come across as if you're the all knowing Ajax superfan on here. I have access to the Eredivisie through ESPN plus, and at my leisure can watch most Ajax games on demand if I wanted to or had all the time in the world to, but I've seen enough to know they dominate the league and play good football. I'm not going to pretend I can name their starting 11. Hag had the direct chance to show he's better than Pochettino when he faced him and he failed. His one semifinal appearance at the CL does little to sway me towards him. We can agree to disagree and then maybe write a few more novels after this CL campaign is over because I feel whoever goes further this year will make a strong case for getting the United job. I do hope the club makes a decision before that though.
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Mate, read the articles you post. In the second sentence it specifically says that the depth is bigger than the 2019 team, and certainly than the last 2 years. And surprise surprise, Ajax is looking decent again. Also take into consideration that a lot of the players that have been brought in need time to get used to Europe. That and they also managed to avoid injuries to their key players this time around.
And if you think squad depth isn't an issue, then let's look at the Ajax subs from the 2019 tie. Veltman, Sinkgraven, Magallan. Veltman aside do you even know what position these guys play in? Clearly a far cry from Lamela, Lloriente and Davies who were Poch's subs in that tie.
As for why he won't complain: He is not Mourinho or Conte. He won't say in public his squad is shit because Ajax can't afford a squad to compete for Europe. For the Eredevise it does it's job, outside of it you can clearly see it's limitations. Even we were dumped out of the 2006/2007 semi final because we had a very limited squad, something Fergie made sure to address in the 2007 summer transfer window.
When it comes to league form, Ajax is on the same number of points per game as PSG, 2.38. They have more goals per match and half the goals conceded per match compared to PSG. Go figure.
Now let's compare the second place teams: PSV vs Marseille. PSV has 2.29 points per match, where as Marseille has 1.80. even Feynoord who is 3rd place has more PPG than Marseille. And this is somehow Ten Hag's fault? The man is literally smashing scoring and defensive records this season in the Eredevise and made history in the CL.
And before you mention that the French league is more competitive, friendly reminder that Poch has a state backed club that has assembled the most expensive football squad in history and he needed 1 point in 2 games against relegation fodder last year to secure the title. 1 in 2 mate. You know how that one went. And yes failing to win a crunch match when the trophy is in sight is what Poch specializes in, and that 3-2 in Amsterdam doesn't change that as it's the exception more so than the rule.
No it doesn't. Spurs had more CL experience considering their quarter final in the previous showing. And if you think that a EL final in a B tier competition is comparable to a quarter final in the CL, then we need to stop right here because you are reaching. And from what I remember, winning a trophy usually emboldens a team, not getting to the final.
You also conveniently don't mention what happened to Spurs in the previous edition. Getting dumped out of the CL at home after having the advantage in the first leg. Doesn't suit your narrative, does it?
Reread my post. Nowhere do I say that Poch implemented hoofball tactics for the entirety of the match. What I did say is that he switched to it in the last part of match as a way of gaining an advantage. As such, the Ajax CBs couldn't cope with Llorente's physicality and that led to their winner. Up until that point the match was pretty even.
But I can, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. He does that most of the time though. Last year against City and Bayern, this year against City where he resorted to counters just so he can score a goal that with a front 3 that cost more than the entire French League combined.
What I was trying to say is that if Soton was in the CL, do you see Poch taking it to the semi final by beating Real Madrid 4-1 away and Juventus 2-2 on aggregate while trying to impose his style on them? Or do you see him taking 6 wins out of 6 in the group stages?
As you noticed I have my reservations about Poch. If we were Spurs or Arsenal then I'd be over the moon is we were linked with him. But this is United. To be considered a success you need to win trophies consistently and have the right mentality. This whole "trophies are for egos" bollocks doesn't fly here as both Mourinho and Ole will tell you.
That being said I do know the limitations of Ten Hag as well. For starters he doesn't rotate. Now the reason is kind of a chicken or the egg dilemma. Nobody truly knows. Some people say he doesn't rotate because he has a poor squad. Other people say his lack of rotation is what makes his squad not match fit. He is also very stubborn and apparently lacks charisma because he accent sounds like a country bumpkin(in the Netherlands at least)
But on the upside is his playing style. The fact that he literally goes toe to toe with the teams that cost x5 his own is very impressive. He also blends in youth and has a winner's mentality, as you can see by the post below. This is how a Manchester United manager should sound. None of this participation and performance trophies. Only the real deal. That's the only way we'll get back to the top.