Obviously this will become irrelevant when ETH chooses RB Leipzig instead of us and/or United opt for a manager with a proven track record in Arsene Wenger. But since Ten Hag is currently favourite to become our permanent coach, I'm sharing three profiles of him that I found quite educational.
The first one - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61029757 - on BBC is written by a Dutch journalist and focuses mainly on ETH's character. Key attributes he mentions:
- Obsessional about football, and willing to put in as much work as possible to realise his vision.
- Loyal. Known for going to great lengths to help his players, and willing to accommodate different characters and find ways to make them fit if he rates their potential.
- Very much a training pitch manager, and not someone who wants to be on the phone with agents. Will want to delegate the business side of management to sporting director.
- A bit of an outsider in the Netherlands, from the rural east, speaking with a strong accent. Believes in himself. Comes from a wealthy family, refused to join the family business.
- Tactically very rigorous in thinking about / drilling shape. Likes to encourage creative, attacking football, though more defence-minded than Guardiola.
- Doesn't relish the limelight. Facing the media will be a bit of a challenge, not least because his English isn't perfect (comes from part of Netherlands where German is the first foreign language they learn). However, he is working on his English.
Second article - https://thebusbybabe.sbnation.com/2021/11/3/22758947/managerial-replacements-series-erik-ten-hag - is by the excellent Suwaid Fazal on the Busby Babe Nation blog. Written back when Solskjaer was sacked and we had the first round of succession speculation, this piece goes into much more detail about his tactical methods at Ajax. I'm not going to summarise because I have a Zoom meeting in five minutes but well worth reading.
Final one - https://www.skysports.com/football/news/15115/12584332/erik-ten-hag-to-manchester-united-his-coaching-journey-from-twente-to-ajax-via-go-ahead-eagles-explained-in-detail - on Sky Sports gives us a bit more insight into his 'cultural' approach as a manager, with particular insights from those who knew him in the early phase of his coaching career.
If anyone has other decent articles about him, please post links below.
three Ten Hag profiles
posted on 12/4/22
comment by HB Fash (U21935)
posted 41 minutes ago
Sounds very much like he is only a coach.
Transfers will be down to Fletcher?
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Though HB Fash's tone is characteristically facetious, I think he touches on the most important point. None of our coaches since 2013 have been perfect, but none of them have been as bad as the backroom operations in terms of poor recruitment strategy and management of contracts. Pretty much all of the elite coaches working today have greater focus on First XI preparation and less on the wider sporting management. So whoever we need to bring in, we need to get that structure right. If Ten Hag's demands about the structure around him are met, that could prove to be one of the lasting benefits of his appointment.
posted on 12/4/22
comment by Robbb Lasso 🇺🇦 🇦🇺 🇪🇸 (U22716)
posted 39 minutes ago
These things are quite interesting RR and I genuinely appreciate you taking your time on things like these but I get the feeling these kind of things could be written up about the top 30/40 coaches in the game now. At this point it’s all just decoration (and I’d say the same about Poch) until we see how all these credentials match up against the monolith that is Coachkiller United
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It depends on what question you want to ask yourself. If it's "who is the right manager to appoint" then you're right: you can find similar profiles of any of the leading candidates. Those profiles will tend to be positive, because you don't become a leading contender for one of the world's biggest clubs without having some impressive qualities.
My intention, however, wasn't to bolster the argument that ETH is the right man for the job, but to paint a more detailed picture about the particular traits of the man considered likely to become our new manager. If that's what you want, then a well-researched profile of ETH will reveal attributes that are specific to him. E.g. in addition to the Ten Hag article linked to above, Suwaid Fazal wrote profiles of Conte and Zidane. All three were portrayed as credible Solskjaer replacements, and there was no attempt to deliver a verdict about which was the right man, and you would come away from reading them with a sense of some clear contrasts between the methods and strengths of three talented coaches.
posted on 12/4/22
I'm a big fan of Ten Hag obviously and for me he is the best dutch coach in the 30 years after Cruyf. He will be on the training ground trying to improve Maguire but he will soon realise it will be a waste of time. If he tries to bring midget centre backs like Timber and Martinez to Utd he will fail.
posted on 12/4/22
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Robbb Lasso 🇺🇦 🇦🇺 🇪🇸 (U22716)
posted 39 minutes ago
These things are quite interesting RR and I genuinely appreciate you taking your time on things like these but I get the feeling these kind of things could be written up about the top 30/40 coaches in the game now. At this point it’s all just decoration (and I’d say the same about Poch) until we see how all these credentials match up against the monolith that is Coachkiller United
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It depends on what question you want to ask yourself. If it's "who is the right manager to appoint" then you're right: you can find similar profiles of any of the leading candidates. Those profiles will tend to be positive, because you don't become a leading contender for one of the world's biggest clubs without having some impressive qualities.
My intention, however, wasn't to bolster the argument that ETH is the right man for the job, but to paint a more detailed picture about the particular traits of the man considered likely to become our new manager. If that's what you want, then a well-researched profile of ETH will reveal attributes that are specific to him. E.g. in addition to the Ten Hag article linked to above, Suwaid Fazal wrote profiles of Conte and Zidane. All three were portrayed as credible Solskjaer replacements, and there was no attempt to deliver a verdict about which was the right man, and you would come away from reading them with a sense of some clear contrasts between the methods and strengths of three talented coaches.
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🤞👍
posted on 12/4/22
We were meant to be playing high intensity guggenheim by now but that didn't materialise. Why would any style, culture or philosophy that Ten Hag brings work? We are not Dutch. It would be like Tony Pulis going over to a team in Spain with promises that he would make the players inbrred Neanderthals but it is very difficult to implement that philosophy elsewhere. With all the height training in the world, the Spanish players would still just not have the ability to be that tall and cumber-sum.
posted on 12/4/22
comment by Njazi Kuqi (U1734)
posted 16 minutes ago
We were meant to be playing high intensity guggenheim by now but that didn't materialise. Why would any style, culture or philosophy that Ten Hag brings work? We are not Dutch. It would be like Tony Pulis going over to a team in Spain with promises that he would make the players inbrred Neanderthals but it is very difficult to implement that philosophy elsewhere. With all the height training in the world, the Spanish players would still just not have the ability to be that tall and cumber-sum.
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I'm with Barry on this one, RR.
posted on 12/4/22
Souds like a Dutch version of Ian Holloway
posted on 12/4/22
Ian Jolloway
posted on 12/4/22
Highlights from the profiles:
- Decent player, not the greatest
- Experienced personal tragedy, uses as driver
- From wealthy background, money is not the motivation
- Likes to view games from a defenders perspective having been a player himself, similar in style to Koeman. Play starts from the back.
- Unlike Koeman prefers an adventurous attacking style
- Emphasis on high risk playing strategy with minimal errors from players
- Is a coach first and foremost and prepared to spend hours on the training field with the top players but also prepared to work hours with mere squad players
- like Guardiola is obsessived with details
- Like Guardiola likes the pressing style, work rate and the emphasis on attack
- Unlike Guardiola places greater attention on defending
- Prefers working with a DoF so he can focus mainly on coaching
- Is very loyal towards his players
- Splits opinion initially due to hours on training
- Generally players respect him for developing their game
posted on 12/4/22
Ian Hollandway