Would you take Ten Hag at United?

[sparx99]

People keep mentioning Ten Hag as a long term option. How do you know ? just out of curiosity. Let's say he does come in perform well and win the league within 3 seasons (even though he's never managed a top 5 league club never mind won a league title). What's there to say he won't leave if Madrid/Barca come calling ? Do you lot know his personal plans ?

Does it matter? A lot thought Guardiola would only start 3 seasons but he’s happy and winning so he stuck around longer. Klopp has mentioned leaving by x date but what’s to say he won’t continue on as he seems to have such a good relationship with the club and fans.

If Ten Hag is successful at Man Utd there isn’t much need to go elsewhere. If he still chooses to go after having success then we’ll have a winning team and our pick of the best managers.

 

[VanHaal'sRedArmy]

Doesn't matter how good he is as manager - he'll get fed up with our front office and leave in a couple years. Same with Conte or whomever walks through the doors.

 

[Cheimoon]

Up until SAF retired Ajax had 5 titles since 2000 to United's 7 . De Boer won them 4 on the trot, but after that they turned into Spurs. Always lingering, finishing 2nd or 3rd, but never crossing the line. Ten Hag changed that. Not only are they dominating domestically(he did the Double Double), but he's very tactically astute in Europe.

What sells him for me is his mentality and his European record. He is the manager version of Haaland. Being stuck in small team, but you can see that there is more to him thanks to his very impressive European record, the way he sets his teams up, the expectations he has for his players. He's a winner.

We could have argued that his 2018-2019 run was fluke similar to Jardim's or Villas Boas, but considering he's taking Europe by storm again this year it's safe to say the man knows what he's doing.


That's not what I meant when talking about the other side of success. What I meant is as long your team is winning, nobody cares about your club's deficiencies. Just look at our club. SAF's genius masked our complete decline behind the scenes. We are only slowly realizing the degree to which our club has been neglected 8 years later.

Klopp is doing the exact same thing. Because they are winning nobody cares that they are hemorraging key players or that there is criminal underinvestment in the squad. If you ask me, Liverpool is closer to Arsenal post Wenger(also another good example of how a manager can paper over the cracks) than we are.

Edit: that's why Ajax have this impression that they are in farmer's league. Because Ten Hag turned them from potential challengers to consistent champions. That's what a great manager does. He makes the team he manages dominate to such an extent that all the casuals think it's farmer's league.

Again, I rate Ten Hag very highly, but I still think you're overselling him here. Spurs are the proverbial Spurs because they never win anything. Ajax only has recurring dry spells of a few years. Not just the four years before Ten Hag, but also e.g. 90/91-92/93, 98/99-00/01, and most strikingly 04/05-09/10 (which was followed by 4 titles in a row). And they did win three FA cups during those dry spells.

Further, Ten Hag has not made them unbeatable at home. Two years ago when the league was cancelled due to COVID-19, Ajax and AZ were on top together. Ajax got CL based on goal difference, but AZ had the much better momentum and were favorites for the title. And nothing's been decided yet this year. So out of Ten Hag's three full seasons, he won the title twice, with a break. Hardly consistent champions in a farmer's league. (Except if that refers to the Eredivisie low level of quality - but that would be a different point.)

I would also argue that general consensus in the Netherlands is that Ajax is very well run right now, have by far the strongest squad, and will be favorites for titles also after Ten Hag's departure, assuming they don't horribly fail at appointing his successor.

Again, I rate Ten Hag very highly: he gets his teams to play attractive and winning football, performing above expectations (even with Ajax's squad). But I don't agree with your characterization here and in your previous post.

Happy to agree to disagree though. We've both made our points, time to move on?

 

[Adnan]

So apparently the board thinks Ten Hag is like Moyes. Not sure if this is a briefing or not, but this is what Ogden alludes to.

God help us if this is actually the case.

Ogden says that he spoke to someone from United last year and asked them who they would look to potentially bring in now Klopp and Guardiola aren't available. And the 3 names he was given were Nagelsmann, Tuchel and Pochettino. Pochettino he says ticks all the boxes for United who he also says are huge admirers of his.

 

[the_cliff]

The same way detectives solve murders. You look at the clues to point you to the right direction. So let's look at the clues:

- He likes to build teams from scratch
- He integrates the youth
- He is good at rebuilding his own team
- He doesn't just jump ship when a better job is available(i.e. Spurs, he's also been pretty cool with the Newcastle links)
- It's already his 3rd+ season at Ajax
- Every time there is speculation about the future, he immediately shuts it down, reiterates that an exceptional offer has to be made

Now compare that to the behaviour of a Conte or a Mourinho and you'll get your own answer. Also I didn't say he was going to be the next Sir Alex. Long term these days is 5+ years, not 20.

I rate Ten Hag, I think he plays wonderful football and he's definitely Tactically astute. My point was not for Ten Hag, it was for this idea that our fans/owner/boardroom seems to love, the idea of long term, we want a manager for 10+ years. Sorry, but those managers are a dime a dozen. We keep looking for the next Fergie like that's the only blueprint to success, it's the reason why we kept Ole so long when quite frankly he's a crap manager. You never know what will happen in a long term plan, long term plans are too variable and tbh there aren't many managers in the world that are like SAF. We need to start acting like a big club and get the best manager with the best CV and best experience available. Someone that has been in his prime at least within 2 seasons (not like Mourinho and LVG).

The reason why I don't want Ten Hag is quite simple. Look at our squad, If it was 3 years ago I would've taken Ten Hag. But right now our squad is ready to win and ready to win now. We're not a team that needs building from scratch and quite frankly our team is not capable of playing Ten Hags style of football without at least ripping up a fundamental part of it. If you get Ten Hag in right now you basically admit to ripping up the squad and accepting the process of another 3 years.
Which proves our boards incompetence of hiring Ole in the first place and wasting 3 years under him. We're not supposed to be in a rebuild, we're supposed to be the finished product or 1/2 players away from the finished product. For some reason at United since Fergie we've been in an eternal rebuild.

That being said, I know how dumb and terrible our board is at picking a manager so if the rumours are true that we want Pochettino instead of Conte. I hope we get Ten Hag instead because I don't rate Poch at all and the fact that they find Poch to 'tick all the boxes' and not Conte is frightening. I'd rather have a guy that can rebuild and know what he's doing (Ten Hag) than someone who will rebuild us to be a top 4 team that we already are (Poch).

My ideal scenario would be Conte for 2 years then Ten Hag after that, by then, hopefully he'll be done with Ajax but that's wishful thinking knowing our incompetent management.

Does it matter? A lot thought Guardiola would only start 3 seasons but he’s happy and winning so he stuck around longer. Klopp has mentioned leaving by x date but what’s to say he won’t continue on as he seems to have such a good relationship with the club and fans.

If Ten Hag is successful at Man Utd there isn’t much need to go elsewhere. If he still chooses to go after having success then we’ll have a winning team and our pick of the best managers.

It does matter unfortunately, because we keep looking for a long term manager a 'new' Fergie it's what has kept Ole in the job so long even though it's been evident for at least a year that we're going nowhere under him. SAF was one in a billion we need to let it go and move on. Zlatan said it best he said United are still hanging on to the legacy of SAF and if they want to become successful again they have to let it go.

 

[Bastian]

So apparently the board thinks Ten Hag is like Moyes. Not sure if this is a briefing or not, but this is what Ogden alludes to.

God help us if this is actually the case.

Ogden also seems to think that Sancho is only a right winger and being played out of position on the left, when he showed at Dortmund that he plays naturally on both wings and some have suggested the left side is his preferred side. He's not really on it.

 

[Adnan]

 

[bosniamanutd]

Manutd can afford a top manager, why to experiment. We have a good squad which needs to be managed well

 

[Foxbatt]

There is no pashun or whatever it is.
We can only dream about this. We have a bunch of muppets as coaches.
I really don't understand why clubs pay multi millions in transfer fees yet refuse to spend even a fraction of that to get a top class manager?

 

[pocco]

Dortmund look terrible there.

 

[pocco]

I feel that, if we wanted Ten Hag, then the cards are falling nicely for once right now. Barca seemingly appointing Xavi, which takes away the one option that I think would have convinced Ten Hag not to take the United job.

We've got some good leverage now to get him here soon I think. He might have wanted to see out the season with one eye on Barca, but if he is told that the United position will be filled soon then he will have to consider his options or risk missing out on 2 big chances that might not come back around any time soon.

Or he might go to Juventus

 

[Xaviesta]

Dortmund look terrible there.

They did pretty to only lose that game 4-0.

 

[pocco]

They did pretty to only lose that game 4-0.

They look like we have recently. Sluggish, out of position, no urgency.

 

[L1nk]

Ogden says that he spoke to someone from United last year and asked them who they would look to potentially bring in now Klopp and Guardiola aren't available. And the 3 names he was given were Nagelsmann, Tuchel and Pochettino. Pochettino he says ticks all the boxes for United who he also says are huge admirers of his.

And yet we didn't go out and try to get any of them, shambles of a club

 

[VidaRed]

Don't you see the ajax players clearly won all the 50/50s because they have more passion and desire.

 

[croadyman]

Yeah I would take him or someone in a similar kind of mould in a couple of seasons time after Conte has actually got this team able to defend better then after that focus on the attacking side of things

 

[Bobcat]

He isn't going to leave Ajax in the middle of a great season, lets be serious. And if we sack Ole now, we might miss out on him.

Agreed, but there is no reason why we cant try and negotiate a deal with him still

Get him signed up to join us at the end of the season, regardless of what happens with Ole

 

[ForeverUnited93]

Would take him in a heartbeat, i think he is the perfect manager for us, could be our Klopp, and a better option long term than Conte.

He won't leave Ajax though right now, so we'd be stuck with Ole and potentially have to deal with missing the UCL for next season and whatever else happens between now and the end of the season under Ole.

 

[Butty19]

if he doesn’t want to come mid season why not get everything in place ready for the end of the season, like city did with Pep. Ask him what players he wants etc, do all the ground work for them and actually have a fecking plan and stick to it.

 

[Rash Decision]

if he doesn’t want to come mid season why not get everything in place ready for the end of the season, like city did with Pep. Ask him what players he wants etc, do all the ground work for them and actually have a fecking plan and stick to it.

He might be on some people’s shortlist at the club as reported, but my gut feeling that the decision makers are considering either Ole or Pochettino and no one else. Maybe Conte if they have no choice but to sack Ole mid-season. Perhaps I’m just being pessimistic due to all the noises coming out from the club at the moment. Total shambles.

 

[Butty19]

He might be on some people’s shortlist at the club as reported, but my gut feeling that the decision makers are considering either Ole or Pochettino and no one else. Maybe Conte if they have no choice but to sack Ole mid-season. Perhaps I’m just being pessimistic due to all the noises coming out from the club at the moment. Total shambles.

yeah going on the clubs previous decisions over the last 8 years I’m not expecting much either.

 

[Caesar2290]

He might be on some people’s shortlist at the club as reported, but my gut feeling that the decision makers are considering either Ole or Pochettino and no one else. Maybe Conte if they have no choice but to sack Ole mid-season. Perhaps I’m just being pessimistic due to all the noises coming out from the club at the moment. Total shambles.

Let's be honest. Poch is not coming mid season either. He has the chance to finally break his duck and win some silverware with PSG.

Neil Curtis who is close with Woodward said that our shortlist consisted of 4 managers: Zidane, Conte, Ten Hag and Rodgers.

My belief is that Zidane turned us down.

The board doesn't want another over demanding nutter like Jose in the form of Conte.

So I think they added Poch to the list to have a pool of candidates.

For me the Ten Hag situation is now or never. All the top clubs are stacked at the moment. Even Barca who are looking for a new coach can't afford him.

We're the only top club that can get him. Things might change in a year or two. It would be very stupid on our part to pass up this chance to land one the most exciting managers out there.

 

[wise_old_man]

For me the Ten Hag situation is now or never. All the top clubs are stacked at the moment. Even Barca who are looking for a new coach can't afford him.

We're the only top club that can get him. Things might change in a year or two. It would be very stupid on our part to pass up this chance to land one the most exciting managers out there.

That's exactly why we'd miss out on him. You know how we usually do our business these last years.

 

[Rash Decision]

Let's be honest. Poch is not coming mid season either. He has the chance to finally break his duck and win some silverware with PSG.

Neil Curtis who is close with Woodward said that our shortlist consisted of 4 managers: Zidane, Conte, Ten Hag and Rodgers.

My belief is that Zidane turned us down.

The board doesn't want another over demanding nutter like Jose in the form of Conte.

So I think they added Poch to the list to have a pool of candidates.

For me the Ten Hag situation is now or never. All the top clubs are stacked at the moment. Even Barca who are looking for a new coach can't afford him.

We're the only top club that can get him. Things might change in a year or two. It would be very stupid on our part to pass up this chance to land one the most exciting managers out there.

Yeah Ten Hag isn’t available mid-season either. He’s having a wonderful season with Ajax, why would he risk ruining it by coming to us halfway? So I think the Board is hoping to keep Ole till the end of the season and then reassess from there.

As for whether he’s an actual target, I don’t know. Probably he’s on the shortlist. But as I said, it’s just a gut feeling but the noises coming out of the club make me think that Pochettino’s the only other target that they’re seriously considering. They’ve been long-time admirers after all, would be just like them to fall back on a lazy option instead of keeping up to date with other managers. Plus he has SAF’s blessing as well I believe.

And if things really go to crap under Ole mid-season, well the only available and willing candidate they have is Conte. Whom I honestly wouldn’t mind.

 

[Caesar2290]

Yeah Ten Hag isn’t available mid-season either. He’s having a wonderful season with Ajax, why would he risk ruining it by coming to us halfway? So I think the Board is hoping to keep Ole till the end of the season and then reassess from there.

As for whether he’s an actual target, I don’t know. Probably he’s on the shortlist. But as I said, it’s just a gut feeling but the noises coming out of the club make me think that Pochettino’s the only other target that they’re seriously considering. They’ve been long-time admirers after all, would be just like them to fall back on a lazy option instead of keeping up to date with other managers. Plus he has SAF’s blessing as well I believe.

And if things really go to crap under Ole mid-season, well the only available and willing candidate they have is Conte. Whom I honestly wouldn’t mind.

You are right. If I were to chose I'd definitely have Conte over Poch.

Still, I wish Ajax would draw PSG in the knockout phases. Would definitely be an interesting audition for the Man Utd job.

 

[Red_Heisenberg]

I rate Ten Hag, I think he plays wonderful football and he's definitely Tactically astute. My point was not for Ten Hag, it was for this idea that our fans/owner/boardroom seems to love, the idea of long term, we want a manager for 10+ years. Sorry, but those managers are a dime a dozen. We keep looking for the next Fergie like that's the only blueprint to success, it's the reason why we kept Ole so long when quite frankly he's a crap manager. You never know what will happen in a long term plan, long term plans are too variable and tbh there aren't many managers in the world that are like SAF. We need to start acting like a big club and get the best manager with the best CV and best experience available. Someone that has been in his prime at least within 2 seasons (not like Mourinho and LVG).

The reason why I don't want Ten Hag is quite simple. Look at our squad, If it was 3 years ago I would've taken Ten Hag. But right now our squad is ready to win and ready to win now. We're not a team that needs building from scratch and quite frankly our team is not capable of playing Ten Hags style of football without at least ripping up a fundamental part of it. If you get Ten Hag in right now you basically admit to ripping up the squad and accepting the process of another 3 years.
Which proves our boards incompetence of hiring Ole in the first place and wasting 3 years under him. We're not supposed to be in a rebuild, we're supposed to be the finished product or 1/2 players away from the finished product. For some reason at United since Fergie we've been in an eternal rebuild.

That being said, I know how dumb and terrible our board is at picking a manager so if the rumours are true that we want Pochettino instead of Conte. I hope we get Ten Hag instead because I don't rate Poch at all and the fact that they find Poch to 'tick all the boxes' and not Conte is frightening. I'd rather have a guy that can rebuild and know what he's doing (Ten Hag) than someone who will rebuild us to be a top 4 team that we already are (Poch).

My ideal scenario would be Conte for 2 years then Ten Hag after that, by then, hopefully he'll be done with Ajax but that's wishful thinking knowing our incompetent management.



It does matter unfortunately, because we keep looking for a long term manager a 'new' Fergie it's what has kept Ole in the job so long even though it's been evident for at least a year that we're going nowhere under him. SAF was one in a billion we need to let it go and move on. Zlatan said it best he said United are still hanging on to the legacy of SAF and if they want to become successful again they have to let it go.

Jose won the title 12 months before joining us with Chelsea, you're rewriting history if you're saying that the consensus was that he was washed up when he joined us.

Jose was never the right fit for united in terms of style of play, but id argue that most United fans expected him to deliver a league title before it went tits up. It didn't become evident that football had began to leave mourinho behind until AFTER he had joined us, anyone who says otherwise is trying to look insightful or straight up lying.

 

[the_cliff]

Jose won the title 12 months before joining us with Chelsea, you're rewriting history if you're saying that the consensus was that he was washed up when he joined us.

Jose was never the right fit for united in terms of style of play, but id argue that most United fans expected him to deliver a league title before it went tits up. It didn't become evident that football had began to leave mourinho behind until AFTER he had joined us, anyone who says otherwise is trying to look insightful or straight up lying.

Jose won the title in 14-15, the following season was probably Chelsea's worst season in modern history, he was sacked in December for losing 9 out of 16 epl matches. He then didn't join us until the 16-17 season. There were warning signs with Jose, but you're right the general consensus was that he's a world class manager and should win us the league soon. However, it didn't work out but that doesn't mean we stop hiring World class managers that have won it all i.e Conte just cos it didn't work out with Jose.

 

[Spoony]

Real broke Mourinho.

 

[C3Pique]

We should double up and get Van der Sar in for Chief Exec at the same time.

 

[pocco]

In amongst the tidal wave of leaks this week, one caught my eye where it basically said the United board have ruled out Ten Hag as they believe he'd be another Moyes type appointment.

Funny because 1) Moyes is flying with a lesser team and 2) the comparison in football terms is nothing alike.

I'm not saying Ten Hag is the definite right appointment, but it does just make you wonder if our board actually watch football. Providing there is some truth in it of course. But it was such a random bit of information that I felt it had to come from somewhere and wasn't made up.

 

[Caesar2290]

In amongst the tidal wave of leaks this week, one caught my eye where it basically said the United board have ruled out Ten Hag as they believe he'd be another Moyes type appointment.

Funny because 1) Moyes is flying with a lesser team and 2) the comparison in football terms is nothing alike.

I'm not saying Ten Hag is the definite right appointment, but it does just make you wonder if our board actually watch football. Providing there is some truth in it of course. But it was such a random bit of information that I felt it had to come from somewhere and wasn't made up.

I think you mean the Ogden leak. A lot of posters have pointed out that he's been hit and miss since the Moyes days. Mostly miss.

On thing I find interesting is that these leaks also pointed out that the reason Ole kept his job is because of the lack of competent interim appointments. This also rules out Conte as well as he's the only available option that is actually willing to take the United job. I think the way Real broke Mourinho, Mourinho broke our board and they suffer from PTSD.

Thing is, if Ten Hag is going to impress in Europe, even our board won't be able to ignore that. Imagine if he draws and knocks out Poch in the round of 16. A lot of people are going to take note.

 

[Hansi Fick]

What a laughable video this is. The horrible music, the silly animation, and all that over Ajax playing some random, pedestrian tempo, run-of-the-mill passing without ever being pressured even a little by what is apparently a BVB team at their worst. And then it's not even a goal.
Am I supposed to be impressed? So silly.

 

[Adnan]

What a laughable video this is. The horrible music, the silly animation, and all that over Ajax playing some random, pedestrian tempo, run-of-the-mill passing without ever being pressured even a little by what is apparently a BVB team at their worst. And then it's not even a goal.
Am I supposed to be impressed? So silly.

No you're not supposed be impressed but I thought I'd share it due to the simplicity of execution with a strong emphasis on zonal and positional control as Ajax manouvered through the phases to carve up Dortmund, which they did.

 

[Hansi Fick]

No you're not supposed be impressed but I thought I'd share it due to the simplicity of execution with a strong emphasis on zonal and positional control as Ajax manouvered through the phases to carve up Dortmund, which they did.

Just want to be clear that I was attacking the video, not you posting it.

 

[atkar83]

No you're not supposed be impressed but I thought I'd share it due to the simplicity of execution with a strong emphasis on zonal and positional control as Ajax manouvered through the phases to carve up Dortmund, which they did.

It looks great because the players know what they're supposed to do to get the ball from the back onto the attack. The problem is, for this year, with our current setup, do we have the midfield to replicate what Ajax was doing? Are they responsible enough to cover for say, Fred, if he makes a box to box run on attack? What does the team look like when they're being countered? I mean VdB looked like a star in that setup, so he's one guy that can make it work, but I'm not sure McT/Matic/etc are.

 

[Adnan]

Just want to be clear that I was attacking the video, not you posting it.

No problem mate, I mean I could've posted a longer version but was too lazy. But Ajax destroyed Dortmund in the game in question and could've won by 8 such was their zonal/positional dominance.

 

[Adnan]

It looks great because the players know what they're supposed to do to get the ball from the back onto the attack. The problem is, for this year, with our current setup, do we have the midfield to replicate what Ajax was doing? Are they responsible enough to cover for say, Fred, if he makes a box to box run on attack? What does the team look like when they're being countered? I mean VdB looked like a star in that setup, so he's one guy that can make it work, but I'm not sure McT/Matic/etc are.

Tbh with you mate, I personally would hope a effort is made to integrate Hannibal Mejbri into the team. Not many of our fans talk about him but he's someone who I feel would be appreciated by a coach like Ten Hag. And Mejbri would also potentially benefit from a teacher like ten Hag along with the other young players we have the club.

 

[Loon]

We've had the "proven" manager go around, but the "up and comer with a modicum of success" hasn't been tried. I know little of Ten Hag, but his appointment would intrigue and excite me more than Conte.

 

[Red_Heisenberg]

Jose won the title in 14-15, the following season was probably Chelsea's worst season in modern history, he was sacked in December for losing 9 out of 16 epl matches. He then didn't join us until the 16-17 season. There were warning signs with Jose, but you're right the general consensus was that he's a world class manager and should win us the league soon. However, it didn't work out but that doesn't mean we stop hiring World class managers that have won it all i.e Conte just cos it didn't work out with Jose.

Yes that's 12 months. He won the title in may 2015 and was appointed at United in may 2016..

 

[Caesar2290]

So apparently Conte is out of the running. We've briefed the media that we're not interested.

Rodgers is being touted as a potential replacement. Poch was yesterday's candidate #1.

So far complete radio silence on Ten Hag which might actually be a good thing.

I think our board is waiting to see how he performs in Europe.