Profiling the best players
A game model should give your best players the conditions to succeed, which is why Ten Hag's first season worked and why, once the model changed, Rashford, Bruno and Onana all got worse.
The posts
- Opinion Slot and Ten Hag failed the same way, for the same reasons Both arrived from the Eredivisie, both succeeded by profiling their best players, and both were undone once they moved towards their actual models.
- Tactical analysis Ten Hag's game model is making Rashford, Bruno and Onana worse Three seasons of data on shots, final-third touches, box entries and launches show United's best players being moved away from what they do best.
- Longform How Ten Hag's initial success created a ghost The compact block, primitive baiting and vertical attacking that worked in 2022/23 became the end product rather than the pathway, and United never moved past it.