Six great quotes from Ten Hag's podcast
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag oversaw his 50th competitive fixture at the club when his team took on Sevilla in the Europa League at Old Trafford.
From personal inspirations to tactical systems, here are six of his best quotes from the interview:
“Kees Rijvers could change games with one exchange inside his starting eleven. He would give someone in his team a different position and games were changing so I really admire him.”
Dutch football legend Kees Rijvers had an impact on Ten Hag from an early age. His FC Twente team in the 1970s made a big impression on lots of football fans across the Netherlands, including Erik.
This particular quote above is key as it touches on positional tactics. Examples of Erik utilising these include Luke Shaw being used as a centre-back and Wout Weghorst in the no.10 role, tweaks that have been designed to help the team manage difficult moments of the season. Erik’s open-mindedness has given us an extra edge throughout this campaign.
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Our gaffer went to coach Bayern Munich II – the second-team of Bayern Munich – and he cited this as a key learning experience for him as a manager. He learnt from Guardiola, then managing Bayern's first team, and Sammer acted as a sporting director in Munich.
Given the prominence of sporting directors in the modern game right now, Sammer’s role certainly will have helped Ten Hag to get to grips with the ever-evolving nature of how football clubs are being put together behind the scenes.
Erik has highlighted the demands his football can have on the boys in red. He knows that some players can cope with his intense requirements more than others.
This demonstrates why some of the players feature every week while others are prone to more rotation.
“Some players are so important for the style of the team and then it’s difficult to replace them. You still have to do it but it will also change your game and you have to be aware of that. A lot of our game is now set up for Marcus Rashford so we have to adjust a little bit but still we have to do it.”
Some strong honesty from the boss here about the importance of individuals. He admits that there have to be compromises when key men – like Marcus – are out with injury. Erik is showing the footballing world that he has several tactical strings to his bow with his current group of players.
“It’s not my aim to mould an ‘Erik ten Hag team’, it’s about how we form a great Manchester United team.”
The manager recognises the size and stature of the football club he is working at and even though he wants to build a tactical setup in his own image, Erik does not want any individual acclaim to overshadow collective success.
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“Hopefully, at big teams now you can keep your best players, develop your young players out of the Academy to make the right transfers so you can build a team for the future. That is of course what we are aiming for at this moment at Manchester United.”
A clear message to the fans and the football club: we can achieve success if we stay on the same journey together. At Ajax, where his brilliant team shocked Europe with its giant-killings in the Champions League, Ten Hag was resigned to losing his best players overseas. At United, he knows the club not only nurtures but holds on to its best young talent, with the likes of Alejandro Garnacho thriving in the first team under his tutelage.
Erik ten Hag's episode of 'Michael Calvin's Football People' is available here now and on all the top podcast platforms.