Would you take Ten Hag at United?

Would you take Ten Hag at United?

  • Yes

    Votes: 1,547 92.3%
  • No

    Votes: 129 7.7%

  • Total voters
    1,676
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I don't watch Ajax apart from when they are in the CL, but I'd love him at United. Exactly the sort of manager we should go for. Get him before Liverpool or City do as a Klopp/Pep replacement

Though at this point I'll take several as long as they aren't Ole...
 
Why would you want him over another gettable manager like Luis Enrique for example. Not having a go at Ten Hag, but he'd definitely be a punt in my opinion. A better manager than Ole though. No arguments there.
 
Simple answer is yes, but I'm not entirely sure with our squad he's the right fit for instance success. Maybe in the summer when we potentially lose Pogba and sell a few people be can have a blank canvas - but I think he'd need a fair few new signings to play his style here.
 
As things stand we need to changer something. In my opinion Ten Hag would be the perfect replacement for Ole, and here's a couple of reasons why:

He plays the 4-2-3-1 formation that transitions to a 4-3-3 during attack
Our players are used to both of these formations. Last thing we want is someone coming in mid season and flopping because they don't have the necessary players to fit their desired formation. With Ten Hag we won't have such an issue as he plays the formations mentioned above.


We have the perfect players for his formation
Pogba can play the De Jong role perfectly. He can drop deep to pick up the ball and use his deadly short and long range passing to start attacks.

He likes to play with 2 ball playing CBs. One that pushes up into midfield and one that covers. Well, we have 3 really good ball playing CBs in Varane, Maguire and Lindelof. So Maguire can push up while one of the other 2 can sweep the lines.

He likes to play with an AM that drops between the lines and makes runs of the shoulder of the CF. He used to play Van den Beek in this role at Ajax, but we also have Bruno who can play this role.

He plays with 2 wide forwards. One that cuts inside with pace and the other who acts sort of like a playmaker from the wing. For the cutting inside we have Rashford and Greenwood. Sancho can play the playmaker role.


He has a well defined system or patterns of play if you will that will help a lot of our players
Our squad relies too much on individual brilliance to gain a result. As a result we have a lot of players who look absolutely clueless in possession while others are constantly underperforming. The explanation is that those players are garbage or flops, but in my book some players need more guidance then others.

It's one of the first things that Ten Hag will change. I expect Sancho, Mctominay, Fred, Shaw to improve massively under him. Also he might benefit Bruno, as of right now he looks erratic and seems to try too hard. A manager that is going to clearly define what he has to do and what he should stop doing might do him a world of good.

He is a young and up and coming manager that technically adaptable
We've never had one of these. So far our managers(bar Ole) have been proven candidates. The only thing they've proven is that they're past it. For once it would be refreshing to see a manager that is on an upward trajectory.
One of the things that remained constant during his time at Ajax is that he would lose his key players. As a result he would have to adapt and change for his system to work. For example: In his 2018-2019 Ajax side, the fullback would always push up. Right now though because they're not as lethal in attack they actually drop in front of the CBs while the CMs push up. So this might actually work for someone like Wan Bissaka.

Has continental experience
A lot of the grief with Dutch managers run away with the Eredevise only to flop in Europe. Ten Hag is the exception. Everyone remembers his 2018-2019 run with Ajax where he lost the semi-final literally with the last kick of the game. I'm fairly certain that is he progressed to the final Ajax would have won it instead of the dippers.
As things stand Ajax is first in it's CL group level on points with Borussia Dortmund. So far they hammered Sporting 5-1 in Portugal and dispatched Besiktas with a 2-0 win. His next 2 matches are against Marco Rose, another up and coming manager we should be looking at. Will be interesting to see how he fares in those 2 matches. The battle of the hipster managers if you will :D

That being said would you consider him as the next manager? @KirkDuyt @AjaxCunian and everyone who watches Eredevise on a regular basis. How do you think he will fare at United?

You can't argue with his results and he has Ajax playing fantastic football, though he also has the benefit of Ajax being run exceptionally well for years now.

I'm not the right person to ask honestly, since I can't get over the fact that he comes across as such a monumental numpty and came back to the Netherlands touting his experience with Pep whilst sporting the same look.

By all means, take a punt at him though. It will weaken Ajax :devil:
 
We have the perfect players for his formation
Pogba can play the De Jong role perfectly.
I like your write up, but if you think Pogba can play remotely as well as De Jong then you're going to be massively disappointed.
 
Yes, he'd be my favourite candidate. He ticks the most boxes out of the names mentioned most frequently.
 
100% I’d take him as Ole’s successor. He’s my favourite candidate. But I have a bad feeling that City will snap him up as Pep’s successor.
 
Simple answer is yes, but I'm not entirely sure with our squad he's the right fit for instance success. Maybe in the summer when we potentially lose Pogba and sell a few people be can have a blank canvas - but I think he'd need a fair few new signings to play his style here.
I think you always give a manager a full first season without much aside from very realistic objectives but the main hope is you see a marked difference from game 1 to game 38 on playing style. If that’s there you back them. If someone like Ten Hag came in we’d see a huge shift, there’d be growing pains for sure but I struggle to see how trying to play more proactively could ever be a negative.

We’ve developed some weird idea on this forum that playing styles are so crazily difficult to coach but the truth is Pep is nothing like Klopp, Tuchel is nothing like Flick, Rodgers is nothing like Rose etc. The team we have has the personnel to play in many different ways, we even could play possession football if we wanted but it’s all down to the coaching staff to earn their salaries and implement it.
 
In terms of how long he could potentially last here over other names being mentioned, I’d like to see us take a punt on him and see if it works. Not sure if Zidanes the best option in terms of longevity and Conte in my opinion is not and is likely to make his changes over Zidane.

I guess he’s the ‘hipster’ choice in some fans eyes? Those fans seem to gravitate to being pro-Ole though and if they’ve changed the definition of hipster to mean good and talented like Tuchel and Nagelsmann have been deemed hipster, then consider me for some hipster love.
 
Yes I'd take him.

If he won't leave now we should get the best caretaker available to tide us over.
 
In terms of how long he could potentially last here over other names being mentioned, I’d like to see us take a punt on him and see if it works. Not sure if Zidanes the best option in terms of longevity and Conte in my opinion is not and is likely to make his changes over Zidane.

I guess he’s the ‘hipster’ choice in some fans eyes? Those fans seem to gravitate to being pro-Ole though and if they’ve changed the definition of hipster to mean good and talented like Tuchel and Nagelsmann have been deemed hipster, then consider me for some hipster love.

I’d take him at UTD within the proverbial heartbeat. Don’t know him too well, but with the squad we’ve got anyone with some real tactical skills should be ok. Also, we could try hiring him for less than 200 years, our usual time-allowance for managers doing a ‘rebuild’. Finally, we’d have to let him bring his own coaching assistants with him- anyone would be hampered by the present lot…
 
Second video in the OP brings up some questions. If a 'random' (but clever-enough) dude on the internet can comprehend/analyze those patterns, then surely there are staff at the club right now - who aren't necessarily named Ole - who understand those principles.

Does rather sound like he's thinking about leaving.

Right? It kind of sounds like 'make me an offer'.
 
I said similar, not the same. Both coaches implement a strong positional game (Juego de Posicion) which results in a possession orientated approach. Ten Hag utilising the counter attack shows that he's flexible with his approach and intelligent because he realises his Ajax team likely doesn't have the players to play a imposing game against all and sundry which is a plus for Ten Hag imo. At a bigger club with vastly more resources I can see Ten Hag being potentially even more dominant.
Al coaches who play possession football have a strong positional game. That's not saying all that much. Mind you, the positonal game is vastly different to the one preferred by the Michels/Cruyff/Pep school There are quite a few key differences between how a Pep team plays and a Ten Hag team.

Firstly as I said the counter attacking. It's done with playing through the phases as opposed to an opportunistic way but it's still a big part of his game. Peps teams sometimes play through the press and then slow play down again, a Ten Hag never does that.

Secondly the team shape is very different. Can't remember a game where Pep played with less than 3 midfielders. Ten Hag would rather use wide players to try to generate the midfield superiority.

Thirdly in general Peps teams never play through the striker, the avoid him like a plague until the can create for him. Ten Hags teams play through the striker alot hence he likes a strong guy there who's technical and can play with his back to the defenders. It's how his team's create gaps in opposing defences.

The biggest Pep influence on Ten Hag is off the ball, his team's press just as well and as relentlessly. Also in terms of structured play where teams seem to execute Pre planned moves as opposed to players figuring it out as they go along.
 
Why would you want him over another gettable manager like Luis Enrique for example. Not having a go at Ten Hag, but he'd definitely be a punt in my opinion. A better manager than Ole though. No arguments there.
I have a fear Enrique would turn us into City light.
 
I think you always give a manager a full first season without much aside from very realistic objectives but the main hope is you see a marked difference from game 1 to game 38 on playing style. If that’s there you back them. If someone like Ten Hag came in we’d see a huge shift, there’d be growing pains for sure but I struggle to see how trying to play more proactively could ever be a negative.

We’ve developed some weird idea on this forum that playing styles are so crazily difficult to coach but the truth is Pep is nothing like Klopp, Tuchel is nothing like Flick, Rodgers is nothing like Rose etc. The team we have has the personnel to play in many different ways, we even could play possession football if we wanted but it’s all down to the coaching staff to earn their salaries and implement it.
The styles require personnel in order to enact them though. Everyone holds up Tuchel as a good example of just coaching well, but he basically just reverted to Conte's style because the squad has the perfect personnel set up for it. Our forwards don't press, so we need the midfield to pick up that slack, but subsequently don't have the quality in midfield to cover the ground or keep possession. If we want to use our more expansive midfield that can retain possession, but doesn't cover the ground, we then need proper pressing forwards. Either way, a direction needs to be chosen, new personnel need to come in. I think Ten Hag would require more people to enact changes, which ultimately lengthens the cycle for us all and still no guarantee he can even make effective in the prem.
 
I share some of the enthusiasm, he's doing some impressive things and he's absolutely somebody I would interview.

But I think we'd also have to say it's a gigantic gamble. No risk no reward and all that but it's a very different job to come to a floundering giant like United, with an ailing team, huge expectations and a completely different league and profile of player to Ajax. That's not just a step up, it's a different world.
 
Yes. I'm not sure there is a better realistic candidate out there.
 
In a heartbeat. We will finally have an attacking coach since SAF and one with a clear playing style, one that's actually modern and works in the PL.

I realise there is a risk there, the club needs to realise that too. If it doesn't work, pull the trigger and move on. But he's top of my list of the available managers.
 
Second video in the OP brings up some questions. If a 'random' (but clever-enough) dude on the internet can comprehend/analyze those patterns, then surely there are staff at the club right now - who aren't necessarily named Ole - who understand those principles.



Right? It kind of sounds like 'make me an offer'.
Tbf this can be applied to any manager out there, Pep, Klopp, SAF, you name. But there is a difference between seeing how a team plays and coach a team to play that way.
 
The styles require personnel in order to enact them though. Everyone holds up Tuchel as a good example of just coaching well, but he basically just reverted to Conte's style because the squad has the perfect personnel set up for it. Our forwards don't press, so we need the midfield to pick up that slack, but subsequently don't have the quality in midfield to cover the ground or keep possession. If we want to use our more expansive midfield that can retain possession, but doesn't cover the ground, we then need proper pressing forwards. Either way, a direction needs to be chosen, new personnel need to come in. I think Ten Hag would require more people to enact changes, which ultimately lengthens the cycle for us all and still no guarantee he can even make effective in the prem.
I think we’d all be surprised how many good players we actually have for that kind of system.
I have a fear Enrique would turn us into City light.
He’d be my choice. Allows teams to counter but bases his attack on dominating the ball.

Honestly the criteria for me is so simple. Attacking manager who has built a strong team in a major league. Bonus if he’s won major honours.
 
I’d love him here - almost as much as Van De Beek would, probably. He’d be my first choice, but there are a couple of issues. First of which being that he’s taken, and Ajax are a great club. He might jump at the chance, who knows - but it’s certainly not as easy as getting a between-jobs-Jose or poaching Everton’s manager. We’d need to pay some compo for him, and it would probably be at the end of the season rather than in a few weeks time. Basically the board need to be certain about him to go for him over Zidane and Conte who are twiddling their thumbs.

He’s also likely to have most of Europe after him if word gets out he’s open to leaving Ajax. Barcelona would definitely want him and given their history with Ajax, he’d probably find it hard to turn down.
 
I think we’d all be surprised how many good players we actually have for that kind of system.

He’d be my choice. Allows teams to counter but bases his attack on dominating the ball.

Honestly the criteria for me is so simple. Attacking manager who has built a strong team in a major league. Bonus if he’s won major honours.
Hey, I hope you're right, I'm just not so sure.
 
Al coaches who play possession football have a strong positional game. That's not saying all that much. Mind you, the positonal game is vastly different to the one preferred by the Michels/Cruyff/Pep school There are quite a few key differences between how a Pep team plays and a Ten Hag team.

Firstly as I said the counter attacking. It's done with playing through the phases as opposed to an opportunistic way but it's still a big part of his game. Peps teams sometimes play through the press and then slow play down again, a Ten Hag never does that.

Secondly the team shape is very different. Can't remember a game where Pep played with less than 3 midfielders. Ten Hag would rather use wide players to try to generate the midfield superiority.

Thirdly in general Peps teams never play through the striker, the avoid him like a plague until the can create for him. Ten Hags teams play through the striker alot hence he likes a strong guy there who's technical and can play with his back to the defenders. It's how his team's create gaps in opposing defences.

The biggest Pep influence on Ten Hag is off the ball, his team's press just as well and as relentlessly. Also in terms of structured play where teams seem to execute Pre planned moves as opposed to players figuring it out as they go along.
Of course there's a difference between Michels, Cruyff and Guardiola when it came to playing the game because with time concepts evolve over time. But the concept itself is similar and both Cruyff and Guardiola were heavily influenced by Michels. Guardiola indirectly via Cruyff. So when I mention positional play in the quest to exert zonal/positional play, then the concept is the same which is to attempt to open up space for the freeman ( 3rd man). So it's saying a lot. Whether one wants to approach the game via a vertical or horizontal axis is up to them. But the end goal is the same which is to open up space for the free man via dominating possession.
 
He’s so vogue right now. People will sit here and make snarky comments about how our board won’t consider him because he’s not well known enough etc. But concerns definitely exist over this guy just as they do for Conte and Zidane.

In the same way someone like Conte (who is wrongly perceived as negative, but that’s another thread) would inherit a side that doesn’t fit his system, as would ten Hag. Our players aren’t used to the 433. We haven’t played it under Ole in over 2 seasons. We also have one of, if not the, laziest attack in the league. That’s going to take some doing to start getting them to press.

There’s also the fact that historically Dutch managers have been pretty poor in the PL, as well as recent exports (De Boer; Bosz; Cocu) — all being a bit crap when given an opportunity.

I think the biggest plus for ten Hag is that he looks really good in the CL. That alone probably says he’s a level above those before him. A name we should consider? Most likely. But I don’t think he’s an absolute number 1 on the list at all.
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gut feeling, but I think he’s the type of manager who’d look really good if he ended up at City or Bayern. We don’t do well with this type of manager, generally speaking.

I agree that not all our players fit his style of football, at least they'd need to really adapt quite a lot (Pogba - totally disagree with the OP on Pogba being some kind of de Jong type of player. Not in the slightest). But that's not an argument against really. Do we only want a manager who can make this team more functional? Personally, I want a manager who is going to elevate the way we play quite dramatically. I'd expect any manager with a clear vision to not fancy a few of our players and want to shift them. Which is why I really don't want any player's contract extended (Pogba, Lingard) or increased (Maguire). We can't be repeating the same mistakes with regards to succession planning. Let's make this newly established structure work proactively.

Equating him to these other Dutch managers is pointless too. There is so much they don't have in common, despite being born in the same country. He looks like a different animal altogether from de Boer and Cocu. Also, Bosz has never managed in England.

When you say we don't do well with this type of manager, I'd say there is absolutely zero empirical evidence for that.

My doubts are about whether he can handle the media side of this monster job, but that's a concern for almost every possible realistic candidate bar Zidane and Conte, though the latter might well implode early.
 
I'd even take bruce at this point. He's a bigger legend than ole.
 
Flavour of the month? Wow, such a cool Caf cliche. Look at the link I posted with people talking about him joining a European heavyweight back in 2019. Don't dress up your footballing ignorance with ridiculous cliches. Admit you haven't a clue about him and learn from the insightful posters that will spend time educating you.
Whatever.

When you know nothing about the person you are speaking about, you cannot pass judgements.
You know nothing about who I am not my footballing knowledge, but claim to think you know more because you posted a Twitter link?!

Nothing ignorant about stating that Hag is flavour of the month, as he is.
Him joining us in 2019 would have been hell on here, a relative unknown managing the biggest club in the world.

But I guess we can't be as all encompassing as yourself now can we, oh great one!! :lol:
 
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