Ten Hag's United
I've written that Ten Hag's pragmatic first-season model was a cheat code with a fatal flaw, and that once he moved towards his actual ideas the defensive gaps took over, exactly as they did for Slot.
The posts
- Opinion Carrick's struggles don't vindicate Amorim or Ten Hag The nostalgia for the previous two managers ignores that their problems were ideological, not executional, and that recruitment was built around the same flaws.
- 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.
- Longform Do players make the tactics or do tactics make the players? Why the idea has to precede the personnel, and what Ten Hag's refusal to commit to one approach costs United in recruitment, coaching time and identity.
- Opinion Death of gegenpressing Klopp's exit closes the era of gegenpressing as a system in itself, and United under Ten Hag have once again arrived at the tail end of a tactical cycle.