Erik Ten Hag’s philosophy and the approach to rebuild process at Manchester United as the club finally appoint a 'proper modern manager'

Manchester United has officially confirm the appointment of dutch manager, Erik Ten Hag as the new coach of the team and the current Ajax boss is expected to assume the reigns right after the conclusion of the pressing campaign.

Manchester United confirm the appointment of Erik Ten Hag as new manager.

The long awaited big news has finally broke in the early hours of Thursday, and it is the 52 year old from Haaksbergen, in the Netherlands who will pilot the affairs of the Manchester United first team starting after the end of the season.

The former Pep Guardiola apprentice, who had been linked with the United job over the past couple of years became Old Trafford bound in the past few months after the dismissal of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and the appointment of Ralf Rangnick as interim manager to see them out of the season.

It is obvious Rangnick will only be managing on a temporary basis as results failed to improve, further intensitying the speculations of Ten Hag becoming the club's next permanent manager.

United finally reached an agreement with the tactician and in an official statement on Thursday, 21st April, club football director John Murtough said: “During the past four years at Ajax, Erik has proved himself to be one of the most exciting and successful coaches in Europe, renowned for his team’s attractive, attacking football and commitment to youth.

“In our conversations with Erik leading up to this appointment, we were deeply impressed with his long-term vision for returning Manchester United to the level we want to be competing at, and his drive and determination to achieve that. 

“We wish Erik the best of luck as he focuses on achieving a successful end to the season at Ajax and look forward to welcoming him to Manchester United this summer.” he concluded.

Upon the announcement of his appointment, Erik ten Hag said: “It is a great honour to be appointed manager of Manchester United and I am hugely excited by the challenge ahead. I know the history of this great club and the passion of the fans, and I am absolutely determined to develop a team capable of delivering the success they deserve.

“It will be difficult to leave Ajax after these incredible years, and I can assure our fans of my complete commitment and focus on bringing this season to a successful conclusion before I move to Manchester United.”

A good population of the United faithful believe he is the right man ans his announcement will surely lift spirits around the club after a dismal showing at Anfield in the midweek, which saw them lose 4-0 to Liverpool and fall to sixth on the log.

Ahead of the trip to the Emirates on Saturday, this will considered a good move to help alter the negative atmosphere as the result of that match will be significant in their push for Champions League football next season.

Erik Ten Hag Philosophy

Being an apprentice of Pep Guardiola, Erik ten Hag approaches the game just like his master and prefers his team to keep the ball. He is attack-minded and looks to be in charge of the game with lots of possession.

“I learned a lot from Guardiola. His philosophy is sensational, what he did in Barcelona, Bayern and now with Manchester City, that attacking and attractive style sees him win a lot. “Bayern have become my club. Since Pep, football in Germany is different, I looked at almost every training back then, and I took a lot of methodical lessons on how to transfer his philosophy to the pitch. Ten Hag said in February 2019.

“I want to have possession and hurt the opponent. It’s about possession, about movement, about vertical attacking patterns, about pressing, wingers moving into the middle to make room for the full-backs. Everyone is attacking, everyone is defending. It’s this structure that I’ve tried to implement with Ajax.” He added.

As per the testimonies gathered from some personnel to have worked with him, Ten Hag likes to take into account even the smallest detail like the length of the grass. 

“He makes every player better. Tactical, physical. Erik left nothing to chance. He was prepared for every opponent, down to the last detail.”

“Every morning he’d go to the pitch to see if the grass was high enough,” said retired midfielder Sjoerd Overgoor.

Even Liverpool manager, Jürgen Klopp has nothing but high praises form the incumbent United manager.

Speaking to the press in 2020, Klopp said: “Erik [ten Hag] is rightly regarded as one of the most exciting coaching talents in world football at the moment because of the work he does with Ajax,”

“Of course, it is a wonderful club [Ajax] – one of the stellar names of European football – but in this moment it is clear they have outstanding leadership of the organisation and Erik is a big part of that.”

Manchester United will hope these good reputation will continue during his time at the Theater of Dreams.

In the Eredivisie, he has turned Ajax to an Invincible team and under him, the club has a 79% win rate, the best of any manager with 100+ games for a single team in the competition's history.

Head coach Erik ten Hag of Ajax prior to the TOTO KNVB Cup Final match between PSV and Ajax at Stadion Feijenoord on April 17, 2022 in Rotterdam, Netherlands (Photo by Geert van Erven/BSR Agency/Getty Images)

He has overseen 210 games with the club, recording 156 victories and 25 draws. He also helped them reach the Champions League semi final in 2018, beating Real Madrid and Juventus along the way.

Since his appointment in December 2017, he's won five titles with Ajax, which includes winning the league title in all his full seasons with the club.

His side is also currently topping the league, four points ahead of second place PSV Eindhoven with five games to spare. Ten Hag will be looking to end his time at the club on a high and wining the league title will help him achieve that object.

Work to do at the Theater of Dreams

Taking over at a bigger club births a bigger test and Ten Hag will not find it easy at Manchester United, although with the new project at the club, a lot of changes is expected at the helm of affairs to help straighten every aspect where the club is failing.

A lot of players are expected to leave in the summer and with the current squad United has, you can not be too sure who will be at the club next season.

After Nemanja Matic announced he'll leave in the summer, the likes of Juan Mata, Edinson Cavani, Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard and others will have their contract at the club run out in the summer and knowing the kind of football Ten Hag adopts, it will be a surprise to see any of the above mentioned names remain at the club beyond the summer.

Players like Harry Maguire, Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Bissaka might also be looking to move on because they don't seem to fit in anymore. However, a good preseason might change the fortune of a few.

Manchester United has been linked with a lot of players like Darwin Nuñez of Benfica, Christopher Nkunku of RB Leipzig, Aurelien Tchouameni of AS Monaco and most recently, Pau Torres of Villarreal.

These players surely look like ones that will flourish under Ten Hag and with his appointment now official, it will be known whether these are the ones he'll choose to help him succeed with his new job.

Brazilian winger, Antony is being linked with a lot of top teams in Europe and United might have the edge if Ten Hag wants him at Old Trafford since he does well working under the former Go Ahead Eagle's manager.

Ralf Rangnick already revealed that the club will bring in up to ten new players in the summer in the wake of their loss at Anfield. This is a time to be excited as there are lots of players in the current side who are not really up to playing at the club.

This is also part of the issues that needs fixing at the club and good for Ten Hag, most of them will be out of contract in the summer.

Fans are becoming impatient with the club's downgrade but will now start to believe again, now that a 'proper modern Manager' has been appointed and hope he will be able to bring back the glory days at the club.

So that the fans can again sing glory glory Manchester United at the top of their voice, Ten Hag has to get off to a good start and maintain consistency, just like his master, Pep Guardiola at the other side of Manchester.

Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi