![]() That speaks to style of play and manager instructions as much as anything. You'd expect United to be lower (and it is) but you wouldn't necessarily expect it to be a paltry 54%, behind clubs such as Brighton and Chelsea. Ajax had the Eredivisie's highest possession numbers (66%). But there are other indicators that stand out. Some of it, no doubt, is that Ajax were the best team in Europe's sixth- or seventh-best league, whereas United have to compete in the Premier League against tougher opposition. ![]() It's not surprising that his Ajax team scored more goals (2.88 a game to 1.52 a game) and recorded a higher xG (2.48 to 1.51) than United. I chose the 2021-22 side and not, say, the 2018-19 team that reached the Champions League semifinals and did the domestic double (the one with Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, etc.) because that was a side Ten Hag largely inherited, whereas the 2021-22 version is one he built after 3½ seasons at the club. But it also illustrates what United can become. In fact, comparing Ten Hag's 2021-22 Dutch champions with this season's United underscores just how long the road ahead might be. If you assume - and I think it's a safe assumption to make - United hired him because they wanted to replicate at Old Trafford what he built in Amsterdam, we're a long, long way away from that. And here it's striking how different this United team is from his Ajax side. For a guy who didn't appear particularly charismatic when he took over, he again went above and beyond.īut then there's the actual football on the pitch, which, you presume, is the reason United hired him in the first place. United started the second with back-to-back defeats, got hammered 7-0 by Liverpool and tossed up another stinker in getting eliminated by Sevilla in the Europa League semifinal, yet Ten Hag avoided a lot of the criticism some of his predecessors would have faced in those circumstances. Second, he managed the bumps along the way with aplomb, deploying the sort of public messaging that generally resonated with fans. These aren't things to take for granted when you make the step up from Ajax - where most of your charges are youngsters or club lifers, and unlike United, you have a strong, visible and vocal club leadership backing you up - to Old Trafford. More than the results, he has done very well - well, he far surpassed my expectations, anyway - in two other key aspects of the job.įirst, he instilled discipline and showed excellent man-management skills internally, whether it was navigating Cristiano Ronaldo's presence (and his departure) or Marcus Rashford's contract negotiation (he's set to become a free agent in June 2024, yet that didn't stop Ten Hag from punishing him for being late to a meeting or coaxing his best-ever goal-scoring season out of him). ![]() And, of course, he got them to this FA Cup final. In his first season, Ten Hag guided United to third place, won the League Cup and came within 14 points of the top of the table, which, incredibly, is closer than United have come to first place than any year since 2013, bar one. Watch our FA Cup preview show: 8:30 a.m. Possibly because he's not a throwback attempt to recapture left over stardust from the Sir Alex Ferguson Era or a pugnacious quick fix. ![]() They changed chief executives last summer, they finally appointed their first ever director of football (welcome to 1998!) and brought in a manager, Erik ten Hag, whom most fans are genuinely excited about. They have a higher wage bill than City, they outspent City (in net terms) in three of the past four years - in fact, since summer 2018, their net spend has been more than double City's. There's no question that Man United want to be where Man City are now (in terms of results, not investigations for cooking books). One club strengthened by bringing in a tall center-forward named Erling Haaland the other by bringing in a tall center-forward named. One club won the Premier League in five of the past six seasons the other haven't won one since before the release of the iPhone 6. One club (Manchester City) have very popular owners who are under investigation by the Premier League for breaching financial rules the other (Manchester United) have very unpopular owners who have put the club up for sale, but may end up just loading more debt on the balance sheet. And sure, there are plenty of vantage points from which to do it. On FA Cup final day - also a Manchester derby day - it's impossible not to compare the blue half with the red half. Man United have had a great season under Ten Hag. Gabriele Marcotti, Senior Writer, ESPN FC You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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