Jurgen Klopp
“Erik [ten Hag] is rightly regarded as one of the most exciting coaching talents in world football at the moment because of the work he does with Ajax,” Klopp said in December 2020.
“Of course, it is a wonderful club – one of the stellar names of European football – but in this moment it is clear they have outstanding leadership of the organisation and Erik is a big part of that.
“They have had to adapt in recent seasons after losing a few players to rival clubs. I remember from my own experience at Dortmund how that feels and what a challenge it is.
“How they deal with it is exceptional. The foundations of the team remain solid and they have recruited well. They have a clear identity. I love watching them, I have to say.”
Karl Heinz-Rummenigge
“First of all, I have to say, that he’s a very kind man,” the Bayern Munich chairman said in December 2018. “It’s not always easy to be on good terms with Dutchmen as Germans. We have witnessed this with Louis [van Gaal]!
“But Erik is a very pleasant guy. I also think he’s capable of doing big things as a coach and he’s proving this now.
“I think this Ajax team is the best one they’ve had for 10 years. Around the last years, they were not one of the top international teams, but he is leading them gradually back at a high level.”
Dusan Tadic
“What is the biggest thing about Erik I think is his fanaticism and that he wants to improve us every day and he really likes football and this is really great for players because always they want to help you improve.”
Andre Onana
“When we lose the ball, we must win it back immediately,” Onana told AFP in May 2019. “He is focused on that, he is always telling us that if we have control of the ball, we have the ability to push back any opponent.”
Daley Blind
“Johan Cruyff’s philosophy and spirit still flows around in this club,” Blind told BT Sport in May 2019. “Erik ten Hag is doing very well now. He wants us to play attacking football but most of all without any fear.”
Will Magee
“When it comes to Ten Hag’s favoured style of play, the Cruyffian influence is unavoidable,” Magee wrote in The Independent in 2019. “There is a reason that his approach has been dubbed ‘Total Football 2.0’.
“If the original premise of Total Football was that outfield players should be flexible, adaptable and to some degree interchangeable in their positioning as they sought to create and exploit space, Ten Hag’s side live up to their billing.
“Their full-backs, usually Nicolas Tagliafico and Joel Veltman, push high and double up as auxiliary attackers, while their wingers, David Neres and Hakim Ziyech, are equally capable of roaming in-field dangerously."
Erik Ten Hag
“I watch Bayern play every weekend,” Ten Hag told SZ in April 2019. “Since Pep, football in Germany is different, I looked at almost every training back then, and I took a lot of methodical lessons on how to transfer his philosophy to the pitch.
“I want to have possession and hurt the opponent. It’s about possession, about movement, about vertical attacking patterns, about pressing, wingers moving into the middle to make room for the full-backs. Everyone is attacking, everyone is defending.”
