I mean that's a disingenuous way to put it. He joined Ajax after them not having won for 4 seasons. It took him one season to steady the ship and then he won it in 18/19 and 20/21. Remember that 19/20 was made null and void. He took Utrecht from being 11th to 5th and then 4th. And yes they play great football, if you remember their run to the semis against Spurs, they played scintillating stuff. However I don't know if he's the guy, but he's still seemingly a very good manager.
Would you take Ten Hag at United?
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Jamie (@Vault Dweller) get the depressing job of reviewing United's 3-0 loss at Old Trafford to Liverpool. They discuss what went wrong, Casemiro's day to forget, and the pressure now on Erik Ten Hag. They also take some time to give McTominay a proper farewell, and give their overall thoughts on the Summer Transfer Window.
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Only watched a handful of Ajax games with him at charge but I think he’d definitely we worth a shot, seems a likeable guy also
And how long into that 3.5 (??) years did you start moaning after every dropped point?
This isn't an Ole thread, there is 100's more elsewhere.
Thumbs up.
If Ole was not a United footballer, and was just someone who in the past 13 years has managed a youth team, Cardiff and Molde, you would need Bing to figure out who he was.
So if your response is not in regards to Ole, who else didn't get enough time? Moyes? LvG? Jose?
At no other top club managers get such amount of time.
I don't watch the Dutch league and Ajax' Champions League run wasn't so sensational that I would remember the name of the manager. I just vaguely remembered De Jong and Ziyech(?) from that team.
Are you the real Ole? You also forgot about Donny!
To anyone but you, Ajax' CL run was in fact pretty sensational.
Patience on here was my comment. Not the club.
Does he have United DNA?
I'd say LvG had plenty of patience shown around here. Moyes and Ole are clearly out of their depth and it's normal not to show much considered both are in the role due to nepotism rather than credentials.
Jose also was shown patience by many, of course his persona was bound to be difficult considering his history.
You can't expect to show patience for a nobody that teaches on the job.
Could someone describe his play style? Is he LVG type tiki-taka? Fast counters? German style pressing? What is it?
Also have seen comments that he's 51 and hasn't done a lot so far in his career. What has his managerial career been like outside Ajax?
Also have seen comments that he's 51 and hasn't done a lot so far in his career. What has his managerial career been like outside Ajax?
Especially the way they didn't just fluke their way into the semis, but convincingly beat Juve and Real Madrid on their way there.
One has to be able to command respect at United as manager. The team is full of egos, earning huge sums of money each week. They want a coach he they respect. Ten Hag is perfect if he can command respect.
Says more about you than him, that you had to Google him tbf.
From what Dutch posters tell about his way of speaking and purporting himself in public, that must be the major question mark with him.
Could you elaborate?
I'm not sure if I misremember but I think I read repeatedly that he's very unimpressive and awkward in the way he talks in interviews etc, and that this is somehwat of a puzzling contrast to his impressive success on the pitch..
But we'd have to ask others to elaborate @legolegs @KirkDuyt @VanDeBank @AjaxNL @BrilliantOrange @Cheimoon off the top of my head
Fair enough. From the way it was worded, I had the impression that it was something a little more deleterious than plain awkwardness. If that's all it is, I'm not sure it's much of an impediment, unless his demeanor means that he can't command the players.
If there a chance, then we should certainly be in for him. Can't see him ditching Ajax mid season though. And I think he'll be more interested in succeeding Pep at City if he sat tight for an extra year.
Yes, he's rather awkward and his Dutch is almost as bad as his English due to his somewhat heavy local accent. Besides that you can't actually hear his media training, trying to overcompensate for his lack in communication skills. Rather awkward.
His time as Bayern II head coach wasn't very impressive or memorable either, even if it constitutes that part of his cv where he "collaborated with Pep" (not really..)
But the strength of his Ajax record is not in doubt.
I got the impression he isn't very eloquent and people take the mick of his accent.
It would be like someone with a thick West Country accent taking a top management position. Unfortunately the accent carries comical stereotypes of a bumbling idiot etc.
Thanks for the info about his time with Bayern II. It's worth pointing out that Zidane didn't set the world ablaze when he was coaching the Madrid B team but has shown that he's a top level manager when he was given control of Madrid (both times). I wouldn't beat Ten Hag with a stick over a disappointing stint when he was getting his feet wet. As you pointed out, he's done well with Ajax.
Does that sort of thing matter much when it comes to managing a top team? I suppose you could make the argument that he'd be representing one of the most popular teams on the planet and that you'd ideally want someone who can handle the media well, but I'm not sure I see it as a deal-breaker.
Pep Guardiola was awkward when facing the media for the first 3 seasons of his career (arguably still is awkward today), but it didn't make him any less of a great manager. Solskjaer is as charismatic as anyone in the Premier League, but it also doesn't make an all time great manager.
He probably doesn't understand the "United way" and culture. Do not want.
If Ole doesn't work out then one of the Nevilles, Scholes, Giggs, Rio surely will.
If Ole doesn't work out then one of the Nevilles, Scholes, Giggs, Rio surely will.
Yes. And apparently he "bleeds red."
If you read back, I implied that he will not consider leaving mid season, at best MAYBE he would consider us at the end of the season, but we can't know for sure.
The entire point of my post was basically saying it's just setting ourselves up for disappointment thinking Ole would be relieved of his job soon, at best at the end of this nasty run if we continue with this poor form, still I don't think so, then still thinking that we would appoint someone like him if by some miracle we sack Ole before December. Ain't going to happen.
You didn't watch them. Must be the only explanation. They played Juve and Madrid off the park.
Also with Utrecht. He was hired at Ajax because of his great work at Utrecht, who were a strong sub-top team under him.
I don't know how much we should take from his media appearances. Obviously he can get across to his players given how well his teams function on the pitch, and I have never heard anything about him being awkward or non-effective in a group setting or one-on-one. He's clearly also not uncomfortable himself with media appearances. (Like, he doesn't appear too nervous, doesn't say weird stuff or get defensive, etc.) So maybe this is an issue of our perception more than anything else.
Ten Hag would have been a brilliant hire a few years ago before Ole spent 400m building a new team.
The problem now is that you have the team Ole built and trained, the spine of the team is at their absolute peak ages, but its not clear that the players are suited for Ten Hag's kind of football that requires an emphasis on retaining possession, positional discipline with and without the ball, and high work rate. You have too much prime age talent to embrace a totally new project that will only really really work if you either replace half the team with other players who can play a different style or spend several seasons trying to teach those existing guys to master a completely different kind of football. This is on top of the very real question of whether Ten Hag has the stature to command a dressing room with players like Ronaldo, Pogba, Bruno, and Rashford, especially when some of them might end up marginalized in the new project.
IMO, you need to maximize the next 2-3 years with Maguire, Varane, Bruno, Pogba, Shaw all in their absolute primes and Ronaldo playing out the end of his career. The way to do that is with somebody like Conte who has the stature and personality to deal with anybody, knows how to whip a group of experienced players into shape quickly, and also plays a style that, while very tactically sophisticated, relies much more on moving the ball rapidly vertically than Pep-like possession and positional play.
The problem now is that you have the team Ole built and trained, the spine of the team is at their absolute peak ages, but its not clear that the players are suited for Ten Hag's kind of football that requires an emphasis on retaining possession, positional discipline with and without the ball, and high work rate. You have too much prime age talent to embrace a totally new project that will only really really work if you either replace half the team with other players who can play a different style or spend several seasons trying to teach those existing guys to master a completely different kind of football. This is on top of the very real question of whether Ten Hag has the stature to command a dressing room with players like Ronaldo, Pogba, Bruno, and Rashford, especially when some of them might end up marginalized in the new project.
IMO, you need to maximize the next 2-3 years with Maguire, Varane, Bruno, Pogba, Shaw all in their absolute primes and Ronaldo playing out the end of his career. The way to do that is with somebody like Conte who has the stature and personality to deal with anybody, knows how to whip a group of experienced players into shape quickly, and also plays a style that, while very tactically sophisticated, relies much more on moving the ball rapidly vertically than Pep-like possession and positional play.
Bayern II is a curious case anyway. These U23 teams of BL clubs are always unstable as they are in a weird space between youth and grown up setup, but Bayern's might be the most unstable of them all over the last years. Winning the third league one season, getting relegated to the fourth league next season (second teams are not allowed in the second league, therefore they could not be promoted after their championship)
These are my main concerns as well. There never seems to be a proper succession plan in place at United, Moyes to van Gaal to Mourinho were all contrasting styles and meant each manager needed time and money to make the team their own. Solskjaer to ten Hag would feel like more of the same, and this is a team which should be ready to win now.
Chelsea don't accept these kinds of projects, we have to be ruthless in the same way. Get a manager in who can work with what we have and get results quickly. I don't want to see us wasting the prime years of several players waiting for the next manager to get his house in order.
The guy speaks 5 languages, don't think it would take him long to learn English to be fair.
Ideas and tactics aren't universal, what works with one team, in one league may not work with another team in another league.
How would we save the season by appointing a 'caretaker'?
As using your metric we would end up taking that caretaker on permanently if they performed!! Which would lead to no Ten Hag.
Not meaning to say he was bad, he did perfectly well as far as I know (I don't watch the games except for rare occasions..), and then there are the issues @stefan92 points out, fluctuation of players etc. It was just not very impressive, in the way his Ajax time has been. And the next coach won the 3rd division with the team after him..
That's mostly me harping on about him being a numpty
A Feyenoord fan giving his opinion on anything Ajax is a bit sus though. Like a poll on the caf asking for opinions on Steven Gerrard.
The notion that you should stick to your DNA or go 'back to your roots' is completely irrational and plain dumb.
Football changes and therefore, any 'DNA' or 'philosophy' will be outdated eventually. We need somebody that can re-invent or disrupt ourselves.
Football changes and therefore, any 'DNA' or 'philosophy' will be outdated eventually. We need somebody that can re-invent or disrupt ourselves.
Agreed.
To be honest the United way is purely commercial now.
It does nothing for our football. The only good thing about it is using the youth academy, but you don't need a silly slogan for that to keep happening.
Football has evolved past 4-4-2, long ball football. Unfortunately our coaches don't seem to understand that. It's not really surprising though when every note Ole has is from Fergie's time of coaching in the 90's/00's.
but you are right thoughThat's mostly me harping on about him being a numpty
A Feyenoord fan giving his opinion on anything Ajax is a bit sus though. Like a poll on the caf asking for opinions on Steven Gerrard.
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