Ten Hag: The Biography

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That was not always popular with the players because he was not the best player. When you are not the best player, it is hard for the better players to accept it. But he was thinking like a coach and the truth is that he always had the best tactical thoughts. A recurring theme of Ten Hag's career has been proving people wrong. That will be a challenge at Manchester United for various reasons. Patience is a virtue but the Premier League is full of sinners. Will he be given the time? Even his admirers doubt that. Harry Maguire, much maligned last season, has retained the captaincy and has been switched to the right in the heart of defence with left-footed Lisandro Martinez primed to offer balance on the other side. After four weeks of 11 against zero we were thinking, 'What is this? It is so boring.' But after a couple of months of the season, there were matches where we knew what we had to do and everyone was seeing it the same way. It was really clear and it was working."

For 1993–94 UEFA Cup: Ionescu, Romeo (2004). The Complete Results & Line-ups of the UEFA Cup 1991–2004. Cleethorpes: Soccer Books. p.54. ISBN 978-1-86223-115-3. Ten Hag is married to Bianca. The couple have two daughters and a son. [30] Playing statistics Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Winnaars Rinus Michels Awards 2016" (in Dutch). De Voetbal Trainer. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016 . Retrieved 25 October 2016. When Ajax is in possession, the two wingers, Dusan Tadic and Antony will stay wider, almost hugging the touchline. Whether the team is playing out of defence or the ball advances into the final third, at least one of the wingers will stretch play. The Ten Hag era has coincided with a wide-scale restructure of the club, with every department being shed of people that had been too safe in jobs with excessive power despite not being best in class. The manager ran towards the touchline after setting up the opening drill to voice his displeasure of "conditions not for us, not for our football" to staff.

In the end, these runs will cause chaos, and they will disrupt their organization! D. Playing between the lines All in all, it combines the best of two worlds: total control in possession and high pressing. Hard to break down for the opposition team in possession and hard to defend against out of possession. Sansom, Dan (11 January 2023). "Man Utd 3–0 Charlton: Marcus Rashford double and Antony strike send hosts through to Carabao Cup semi-finals". Sky Sports . Retrieved 17 January 2023. Perhaps influenced by having been released at Twente, Overgoor thought Ten Hag had a problem with him at first. "He would shout at me," he recalls. "I thought that he did not like me. Other players recognise it too and they said the same thing to me."

By the time that Vriends arrived in January, Ten Hag had established his idea and the mood had changed. "There were really interesting coaching sessions," he says. Overgoor agrees. "We became confident in our style of play and it became better and better." Everyone knows where to run and be, and when to do so, depending on the location of the ball and the movements of their teammates. Everyone understands how to provide cover for each others movements to remain a similar structure and shape. Ten Hag's demands have been physically and mentally taxing, with punishments of press-ups when a goal has been conceded or the maximum amount of passes have been exceeded, but the rewards have been evident in match situations. I sound like his agent but I think this is a really wise choice by Manchester United to go for him. It seems like a tough club to manage but I do think it is a wise decision. The new Ajax boss said: "We have sold a certain amount of players and I am expecting nobody else to leave. It would be bad for us if we would lose another starter."

After the winter break, Erik ten Hag started to use his preferred formation – a modern 4-3-3 formation more often. Here, Edson Alvarez is a single pivot who protects the area in front of the defence. This gives more freedom to Ryan Gravenberch who can hold a higher position and look to overload the left half space together with Dusan Tadic and Danny Blind. Following promotion with Go Ahead Eagles, there was some frustration Ten Hag decided not to continue the journey with them in the Eredivisie and instead moved to Bayern Munich, taking their reserve team while Pep Guardiola coached the seniors.A lot of the time it is only about football, not about family or something else. Every day he wanted to talk about football and improve, improve, improve. But he knew what every player needed and that is a good thing to have as a coach." At Ajax, he did return to that 4-3-3 formation but put his own twist on things - on and off the pitch. He had to convince a club, one with a very clear philosophy about how things should be done, that he had ideas of his own. It took time but that is what he did.

Outgoings, aside from those with expired contracts, have been slow too. United need to cut, especially in defence, and are aware their sales must drastically be bettered over time to reach Chelsea and Liverpool's level, with Manchester City also gaining great ground in this regard. Ten Hag is fastidious. One of the first things he noticed was that the woman in charge of the kits at the club would bring out drinks and set them out on the table inside the dressing room. "She would put the drinks there just randomly," says Vriends.If the five-time Ballon d'Or winner's presence is headline news, his absence can dominate the agenda, distract and destabilise to alarming effect.