Which players would benefit most from ten Hag being hired as United manager?

Bastian · Oct 25, 2021

The opposite question has been asked about ten Hag, and yes, debatable that de Gea, Maguire, Pogba and Martial would function in his style of play due to some significant limitations. But given how young the squad is and the prospects we've got coming through, having an outstanding coaching environment should be an absolute standard.

Do we want Sancho, Rashford, Greenwood, Mejbri, Laird, Garner and the rest to develop under Antonio Conte?

Kaos · Oct 25, 2021

The obvious one is DVB considering he played and thrived under Ten Hag.

I can see Sancho also doing very well in a more profound setup. My wildcard would be Fred - yes, despite being the most memed United player I don't think he's anywhere near as bad as being made out to be. He's almost a different player for Brazil and I genuinely believe with some proper coaching he'd be a handy player for us. He has the energy and workrate, he just needs to be given a more elaborate role beyond - "yeah you and that big Scottish lad, give it a proper go in the midfield, cheers".

koop · Oct 25, 2021

Seeing ten Hags name all over this forum. Geniunely don't watch or keep track of the dutch league, how good is he? Whats good about him?

lex talionis · Oct 25, 2021

Why would Ten Hag leave Ajax for United right now? Not a chance in hell. Maybe in May. Maybe.

Bastian · Oct 25, 2021

Kaos said:
The obvious one is DVB considering he played and thrived under Ten Hag.

I can see Sancho also doing very well in a more profound setup. My wildcard would be Fred - yes, despite being the most memed United player I don't think he's anywhere near as bad as being made out to be. He's almost a different player for Brazil and I genuinely believe with some proper coaching he'd be a handy player for us. He has the energy and workrate, he just needs to be given a more elaborate role beyond - "yeah you and that big Scottish lad, give it a proper go in the midfield, cheers".

Yeah, I agree. I think Fred could really work well under him. If he's properly instructed in a coherent setup his workrate is invaluable, which we've seen when Ole has gone mega defensive (City).

lex talionis said:
Why would Ten Hag leave Ajax for United right now? Not a chance in hell. Maybe in May. Maybe.

I don't think he'd leave them midseason, but I'd want the club to do everything possible to tie him up from next summer. The sooner they'd make a decision like that, the sooner he could start to influence our squad building.

koop said:
Seeing ten Hags name all over this forum. Geniunely don't watch or keep track of the dutch league, how good is he? Whats good about him?

He took Ajax to the CL semi finals. He thumped Dortmund 4-0 now in the CL where they are going really strong, and yet he's had to sell his best players. The way they play is far superior to the disjointed performances we see week in, week out. Like Rose and Nagelsmann, he's proven to be a manager who makes his teams better. A proper head coach.

Womp · Oct 25, 2021

koop said:
Seeing ten Hags name all over this forum. Geniunely don't watch or keep track of the dutch league, how good is he? Whats good about him?

Cut from the same cloth as Pep etc. - he adopts a vertical tiki taka approach to football. Likes his teams to dominate the ball, and pass/move in vertically. His teams place huge emphasis on trying to win the ball back when lost. Plays on the front foot and tries to dominate the game regardless of the opposition played, despite constantly losing his best players.

Now that Nagelsmann is off the market, I think Ten Haag is the best option we could get, a potentially world class coach, if not already.

BlueHaze · Oct 25, 2021

Well for starters you can scratch Pogba's name of that list, he'll be gone on a free anyway. As for which players would benefit the most obviously the ones who can read the game well and the ones who are good with passing. The youngsters would benefit the most.

MileStolar · Oct 25, 2021

koop said:
Seeing ten Hags name all over this forum. Geniunely don't watch or keep track of the dutch league, how good is he? Whats good about him?

Well I don't know much about him, but today Ajax beat PSV 5:0, direct title opponent who sit in the 2nd now, on the same day Liverpool wiped the floor with ourselves with same scoreline.

EtH · Oct 25, 2021

This is too far down the rabbit hole to even entertain seriously right now.

criticalanalysis · Oct 25, 2021

Every player should in theory benefit from having a manager than knows how to coach.

So everyone.

RooneyLegend · Oct 25, 2021

Rashford, Bruno, Ronaldo, Cavani AWB and McT. I'm probably missing someone but that lot don't value the ball almost at all. He won't like that one bit, some just aren't technical enough to change that. The likes of Pogba and Martial would be fine under him. Infact if I was Anthony I'd be dreaming it happens.

Womp · Oct 25, 2021

In regards to the post - everyone. Think back to how lethal Rashford and Martial looked under LVG and that wasn't even a modern approach to that style. I think people will be very surprised at how much better our players can look when the team is playing with some structure.

Will Singh · Oct 25, 2021

Every one of the players will benefit without doubt but what will surprise most more is the players who we scream at saying ain’t United quality can prosper and Fred comes to mind most of all as I think with the right coaching he’s energy can be taken advantage of in the right setup….

BaneIsPain · Oct 25, 2021

Almost everyone I think especially vdb and sancho. Seems the right man for the job.

Foxbatt · Oct 25, 2021

One thing he won't tolerate is the slacking off and not being arsed about it. He will call them out. `I think Cavani would love it and so would DVB and Fred and Lindelof. Rashford and `Greenwood has to show discipline if they are to play under Hag.

Yagami · Oct 25, 2021

I think he'd promote Mejbri fairly quickly. There'd be a slim chance he'd give the Irish De Jong a chance, too. He seems to favour technical midfielders like those two rather than hustle and bustle players like Fred and McTominay.

RedRonaldo · Oct 25, 2021

Everyone of them will benefit. VDB and Sancho would probably be the most obvious one.

harms · Oct 25, 2021

Van de Beek, Sancho, Varane, Lindelöf, Greenwood, Cavani, Amad, Mejbri, I'd imagine. Weirdly enough, maybe even Fred.
Probably benefit: Ronaldo, Bruno, Rashford
The ones who would struggle for certain: De Gea, Pogba, Wan-Bissaka
Probably struggle: Maguire, Ronaldo (yes, I've put him in two categories), McTominay, Matić, Martial

SAFMUTD · Oct 25, 2021

Who would benefit from having a progressive manager instead of a "man manager"? Well I think it's safe to say every single player.

slored1 · Oct 25, 2021

Sancho, Van de Beek, Martial, Shaw, any central defender we have, Dean Henderson.

Wednesday at Stoke · Oct 25, 2021

It would be hilarious if he is hired and Van de Beek is still stapled to the bench. Morbid waste of money but hilarious nonetheless.

DickDastardly · Oct 25, 2021

The fecking tea lady would benefit from a change in the coaching department let alone players.

The One Hag we have at the moment is costing us.

JPRouve · Oct 25, 2021

I get people being optimistic about a newish manager but I'm perplexed by how people seem to not consider the idea that ten Hag isn't the messiah or a guaranteed success outside of Ajax. So to answer the OP, no one knows he could easily do a De Boer or Bosz(at Dortmund).

UpWithRivers · Oct 25, 2021

Our players can't press for sht. I cant see how he will get Ronaldo, Greenwood, Rashford, Sancho, Pogba to effectively press. Cavani, Fernandes, DVB, Fred would all do well.

stefan92 · Oct 25, 2021

UpWithRivers said:
Our players can't press for sht. I cant see how he will get Ronaldo, Greenwood, Rashford, Sancho, Pogba to effectively press. Cavani, Fernandes, DVB, Fred would all do well.

Why do people keep saying Sancho can't press, when he did that all the time at Dortmund and is currently United's attacker who presses the most?

Foxbatt · Oct 25, 2021

stefan92 said:
Why do people keep saying Sancho can't press, when he did that all the time at Dortmund and is currently United's attacker who presses the most?

Exactly. All these players will press or sit on the bench. Pressing don't mean running like headless chicken. It means to stop a passing channel. When everyone do it then the options get blocked. If Daley Blind can do it why not Rashford? Or Greenwood?

Rocksy · Oct 25, 2021

Someone above was saying your players can't press. Most players can press. Ronaldo at 36 might not be able to as much though. Pressing is more down to the coaches than the players. You can tell United aren't drilled in it properly because Ronaldo and Greenwood were arguing over who was going to close a player down a couple of weeks ago. With almost any other top coach that would just not happen.

Greenwood, Rashford, Martial, Cavani should all be able to press. The first three have been let down by years of outdated coaching: Greenwood will need to get used to it to become world class. Rashford is still indisciplined and shoots too much, and Martial is probably stuck in all his bad habits now.

Siorac · Oct 25, 2021

JPRouve said:
I get people being optimistic about a newish manager but I'm perplexed by how people seem to not consider the idea that ten Hag isn't the messiah or a guaranteed success outside of Ajax. So to answer the OP, no one knows he could easily do a De Boer or Bosz(at Dortmund).

Any manager could fail, of course. Not much point to adding that to every post about Ten Hag or any other candidate though. All this thread is about is speculating which of our players might do better with him in charge, considering his style of play.

UpWithRivers · Oct 25, 2021

stefan92 said:
Why do people keep saying Sancho can't press, when he did that all the time at Dortmund and is currently United's attacker who presses the most?

Foxbatt said:
Exactly. All these players will press or sit on the bench. Pressing don't mean running like headless chicken. It means to stop a passing channel. When everyone do it then the options get blocked. If Daley Blind can do it why not Rashford? Or Greenwood?

Rocksy said:
Someone above was saying your players can't press. Most players can press. Ronaldo at 36 might not be able to as much though. Pressing is more down to the coaches than the players. You can tell United aren't drilled in it properly because Ronaldo and Greenwood were arguing over who was going to close a player down a couple of weeks ago. With almost any other top coach that would just not happen.

Greenwood, Rashford, Martial, Cavani should all be able to press. The first three have been let down by years of outdated coaching: Greenwood will need to get used to it to become world class. Rashford is still indisciplined and shoots too much, and Martial is probably stuck in all his bad habits now.

Totally agree. I cant for the life of me understand why a player cant press. Even Ronaldo. Its about being smart more than ability. And I agree its more about coaching and with the correct coaching we will be miles better. However there is still the fact that some players are just better at pressing. Compare Rooney, Tevez, Ji Sung Park, Cavani to the likes of Ronaldo, Greenwood, Sancho(yes he is better than the rest but hes not exactly top level like the others), Rashford, Pogba. These players just dont do it. I have no idea why. Even compare them to City and Liverpool players. They are miles off and even with the best coaching I doubt they will be at that level. Maybe Klopp or Guardiola could do it but I think more than likely they would just sell them and get players that have that ability to begin with.

JPRouve · Oct 25, 2021

UpWithRivers said:
Totally agree. I cant for the life of me understand why a player cant press. Even Ronaldo. Its about being smart more than ability. And I agree its more about coaching and with the correct coaching we will be miles better. However there is still the fact that some players are just better at pressing. Compare Rooney, Tevez, Ji Sung Park, Cavani to the likes of Ronaldo, Greenwood, Sancho(yes he is better than the rest but hes not exactly top level like the others), Rashford, Pogba. These players just dont do it. I have no idea why. Even compare them to City and Liverpool players. They are miles off and even with the best coaching I doubt they will be at that level. Maybe Klopp or Guardiola could do it but I think more than likely they would just sell them and get players that have that ability to begin with.

Cavani is a freak and has physical abilities that only few players of his size have whether we are talking about his power for a guy that isn't that big or his stamina and ability to change direction for someone built like he is. The other good pressers that you mentioned are on the smaller side of things with low center of gravity. The bad pressers have high center of gravity, they are fast but don't really change direction on a dime and then you have Pogba who is one of the heaviest players around. All these players press and have pressed in their careers but they are not all good at it, the second group can't make mistakes, they have to pick the perfect angle at the first opportunity because they won't be able to quickly change direction or effectively chase their opponent when bypassed, a good example of that type of player will be Giroud who is surprisingly good at pressing but he has one opportunity, if he misses he is completely out of play.

Good managers take that into account and adjust their systems based on their players abilities. Not all teams use a high press, not all teams use a full field press, it's more likely that you will use a press-while-retreat system where a certain amount of players press the ball carrier while the rest of the team regain defensive shape and then use a zonal pressing system which is more forgiving.

UpWithRivers · Oct 25, 2021

JPRouve said:
Cavani is a freak and has physical abilities that only few players of his size have whether we are talking about his power for a guy that isn't that big or his stamina and ability to change direction for someone built like he is. The other good pressers that you mentioned are on the smaller side of things with low center of gravity. The bad pressers have high center of gravity, they are fast but don't really change direction on a dime and then you have Pogba who is one of the heaviest players around. All these players press and have pressed in their careers but they are not all good at it, the second group can't make mistakes, they have to pick the perfect angle at the first opportunity because they won't be able to quickly change direction or effectively chase their opponent when bypassed, a good example of that type of player will be Giroud who is surprisingly good at pressing but he has one opportunity, if he misses he is completely out of play.

Good managers take that into account and adjust their systems based on their players abilities. Not all teams use a high press, not all teams use a full field press, it's more likely that you will use a press-while-retreat system where a certain amount of players press the ball carrier while the rest of the team regain defensive shape and then use a zonal pressing system which is more forgiving.

Defenders and defensive midfielders can be huge and can press really well and have the ability to turn on a dime. I dont think size or shape has anything to do with it. Also the attacking players can turn on a dime and shift direction when they are attacking why not when pressing. They are all physically fit at a really high level so that has nothing to do with it. Its just football intelligence.

Agree we dont have to play with high press. Chelsea dont. But the thread is asking which players would suit Ten Haags system and the players we have, mainly the strikers just cant do it.

JPRouve · Oct 25, 2021

UpWithRivers said:
Defenders and defensive midfielders can be huge and can press really well and have the ability to turn on a dime. I dont think size or shape has anything to do with it. Also the attacking players can turn on a dime and shift direction when they are attacking why not when pressing. They are all physically fit at a really high level so that has nothing to do with it. Its just football intelligence.

Agree we dont have to play with high press. Chelsea dont. But the thread is asking which players would suit Ten Haags system and the players we have, mainly the strikers just cant do it.

Defenders and defensive midfielders do not press over long distances or large areas and you shared a list of players that operate in the final third. Also size, agility and fitness are extremely important factors, there is no debate possible about that.
And no the attacking players do not shift direction on a dime when they are attacking, some do but most don't.

And it's not a simple matter of intelligence, you don't need to be particularly smart to press, it's not a more complicated concept than a basic zonal marking but it's time sensitive which is why two players with two different physical attributes can react at the same speed and still have vastly different results. It also requires a high level of energy and two players with two different muscle masses will be affected differently.

Rocksy · Oct 25, 2021

JPRouve said:
Defenders and defensive midfielders do not press over long distances or large areas and you shared a list of players that operate in the final third. Also size, agility and fitness are extremely important factors, there is no debate possible about that.
And no the attacking players do not shift direction on a dime when they are attacking, some do but most don't.

And it's not a simple matter of intelligence, you don't need to be particularly smart to press, it's not a more complicated concept than a basic zonal marking but it's time sensitive which is why two players with two different physical attributes can react at the same speed and still have vastly different results. It also requires a high level of energy and two players with two different muscle masses will be affected differently.

Good posts.

Whether United have the players to be top pressers is less of an issue though than whether they are getting any useful coaching on it at all. They are probably in the worst threee teams in the league right now (being kind). From what I can see it comes from the coaching. Even if the coaching took them up to mid-level there would be a big difference in results, that's without the absolute best players for pressing.

It makes no sense to invest in young players but neglect to coach them in the basics of modern European football. I think that's why Martial never kicked on. I don't think Rashford has developed anything like he should have done. I think to really bring Greenwood on he will need a coach who is somewhere near the top. It's worth the investment. How much would Martial, Rashford and Greenwood be worth now if they'd spent the last 4 years under any of Klopp, Pep, Nagelsmann, Conte, Ten Haag?

koop · Oct 25, 2021

Womp said:
Cut from the same cloth as Pep etc. - he adopts a vertical tiki taka approach to football. Likes his teams to dominate the ball, and pass/move in vertically. His teams place huge emphasis on trying to win the ball back when lost. Plays on the front foot and tries to dominate the game regardless of the opposition played, despite constantly losing his best players.

Now that Nagelsmann is off the market, I think Ten Haag is the best option we could get, a potentially world class coach, if not already.

Sounds impressive, thanks!

BorisManUtd · Oct 25, 2021

Van de Beek is an obvious one. Sancho too I think.

Which players would benefit most from ten Hag being hired as United manager?

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Good post resistant

Wishes to be oppressed.

Shining Star of Paektu Mountain

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can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate

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can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate

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can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate

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