No one can be certain on how a potential new Head Coach would perform with a group of players he hasn't coached before. But a club should have a vision on how it wants to perform going forward in the modern age. And I do believe we now have people working within a newly formed structure who can become the support for a new Head Coach which has the potential to propel us to challenge for major honours. A distinction needs to be made between the board and the people who head the football side of the club. And two of those guys (Bout and De Regt) are both Dutch, with one having worked at Ajax before. So if there's one Head Coach who would have a advantage here it's ten Hag because the aforementioned two work in our recruitment department and both understand possession football very well due to their back ground in coaching, analysing and scouting. Our recruitment structure would be helpful to ten Hag imo and we'd likely save a lot of money.
Arsene Wenger when he arrived from Japan and was appointed the Arsenal Manager, he implemented a possession play style on a squad that had the George Graham imprint all over it, where the team was known for it's back 4. Arsenal had a reputation for playing dull, boring football for years, and 'one nil to the Arsenal' was a phrase which was linked to their identity as a team. Wenger in his first full season had completely transformed the team and the transition from a dull boring team to a exciting possession heavy team was complete in a very short time which culminated in them beating us to the title in 98, playing a brand of football that was not seen at Arsenal. I can give more examples, but will use Tuchel at Chelsea who is also a Coach who implements a strong zonal/positional/possession game, which is a similar concept to ten Hag. Guardiola the same.
The reason I want ten Hag is because he implements a style of play that is exciting to watch and he's a coach who has now shown for several years that he can compete against the best in Europe whilst being handicapped financially in comparison to plenty of other clubs. And he's done that when he's lost half his first 11 to other clubs but still maintained a competitiveness in the Champions league whilst rebuilding the team.. He's already got a better record in the Champions League than Conte who has won league titles at 3 clubs with 3 billionaire owners. Still a good achievement but he's not on the level of Klopp and Guardiola and his Champions league record is awful.
There's many ways to win a trophy, but what I will say is that winning trophies playing a attack minded approach where the aim is to impose one's will on the opposition is for myself something we have lost since Fergie retired. And if you look at our rivals like City and Liverpool, they have adopted a approach through their Managers which sees them sacrifice defensive stability for goals. And that's something we've lost and not one Manager has been successful post Fergie in implementing a proactive play style. And that's simply due to who we chose to appoint as Managers without a up to date recruitment structure. But with Erik Ten Hag I see potential in us turning the tide and actually going toe to toe with the best in class. And I say that because like Guardiola and Tuchel, he's a follower of a concept that was popularised by Rinus Michels in the 70s and is a concept that has evolved and been tweaked by many including himself. It's a concept that has stood the test of time which has seen Ajax, Barcelona, Sacchi's Milan and in the present era Bayern and Germany, all benefit from.
We absolutely have the squad for possession football. And don't be surprised if ten Hag does arrive to see the emergence of one or three brilliant teenagers at the club.
