Talking about Manchester United’s journey this season, it seems like they’ve become their middle name. Inconsistent performances, commotion in the dressing room, changing coaches, and various other chaos came and went. So chaotic, they had to wait until near the end of the season, to be able to announce a new coach, because they had to “select a number of coach candidates.
After undergoing a fairly long selection process, the Manchester Red Team finally inaugurated Erik Ten Hag as their new manager on Thursday. The Ajax Amsterdam coach will land in England at the start of next season. Previously, Ten Hag emerged as a strong candidate with Mauricio Pochettino, who both had interviews with club management, before being appointed. Later, it was discovered that United only needed to pay a compensation fee of 2 million euros to the Dutch giants.
This bald-headed coach is seen as an ideal solution, because he has a classy record of achievements at the Johan Cruyff Arena: winning the Dutch Eredivisie League and qualifying for the semifinals of the Champions League. In terms of tactics, this former FC Utrecht coach also seems to fit in with the current tactical trend, because he combines attacking football with tight pressing and ball possession, in a 4-3-3 mainstay pattern.
This is definitely not a surprise, because the 52-year-old coach is known as an admirer of Johan Cruyff, The Master of Total Football. Plus, he had been on the coaching staff of Pep Guardiola, who incidentally was a student of Cruyff, when the Spaniard was in charge of Bayern Munich. A coach with a flashy track record, an attacking style of play, and a former protégé of a genius coach. Looks convincing.
In addition to his playing style, record of achievements and background, this Dutch coach is known to be able to develop young players. At Ajax, names such as Matthijs De Ligt, Frenkie De Jong, and Donny Van De Beek were successful. Of course, there are high hopes from Manchunian, so that a similar story can be repeated at Old Trafford. What’s more, Donny Van De Beek, the player he used to orbit, was already there.
The prospect of the former Bayern Munich youth team coach also looks increasingly promising, because he is given full power to buy players, and bring in his chosen coaching staff. Regarding transfers, the Red Devils’ management ensures that there will be massive spending to rebuild the team.
One name that has definitely been brought in is Mitchell Van Der Gaag, assistant coach of Ajax Amsterdam. Like Ten Hag, he is also known as a very detailed person. In terms of evaluating players, the former coach of Jong Ajax is even known as the interrogator, because he likes to do detailed personal evaluations. This of course would suit the chaotic situation in the MU dressing room, which does need this type of control.
It all looks promising, but, looking at the track record of the Red Devils lately, there is still one doubt. Understandably, they had failed when coached by Louis Van Gaal (2014-2016), with a situation more or less similar to the current Ten Hag. As is known, Van Gaal (who is also from the Netherlands) came to the Teater Impian, also when the team was in a slump. Optimism is also rising, because the Iron Tulip came after bringing the Dutch national team to a bronze medal at the 2014 World Cup, and a series of achievements in the past, such as winning the Champions League with Ajax Amsterdam.
With a wealth of experience, achievements and reputation in developing young players, the club management also did not hesitate to spend large amounts of money on player transfers, with Angel Di Maria and Memphis Depay as two of the names brought in at that time. However, the short axis of patience between club management and supporters, coupled with the complexity of the club’s internal situation, made the short period of Jose Mourinho’s mentor ended gloomy. Many of the transfers flop, while the team often appears inconsistent.
In the end, Van Gaal was still sacked, despite winning the FA Cup trophy, and bringing in young players like Marcus Rashford. The similarity of this situation, which needs to be watched out for. In addition, the British media are also good at heating up the situation, or at least making bombastic reports.
With a contract duration of three years plus an option to extend a contract for a year for Ten Hag, this can be understood as a “just in case” maneuver of the club management, should a situation like Van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer happen again.
On the other hand, there are also indications that the Ten Hag only have a maximum of two years, to conduct trial and error in Manchester, with the third season being the season of judgment”
For some of the fans and club officials who are still in a dream with post power syndrome after the era of Sir Alex Ferguson, this kind of pressure will obviously continue to exist, whoever the new coach of United is. This is a general test for them, in the coach’s hot seat.
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