Erik Ten Hag's first Man Utd challenge is Gary Neville and company
Paul Macdonald
- 22 Apr 2022 02:12 CDT
- 4 min read
Erik Ten Hag has many things going for him.
It’s generally considered that he is comfortably the most intelligent and competent candidate for the Manchester United job, especially after Mauricio Pochettino’s bridges burned along with PSG’s Champions League challenge.
He has said all the right things, has impressed most of the right people and, in general terms, his arrival looks to be one of the smartest moves United have made in some time. The Glazers chose to get involved and ETH emerged as the outstanding candidate. There’s logic being applied here - that is, at least, a step forward.
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Ten Hag’s problem isn’t his ability, rather the rest of the noise that surrounds the club and the structural deficiencies which may well make his job impossible. It remains unclear whether he or indeed Ralf Rangnick will be given the power to move that situation to a marked positive, and that will prove absolutely integral to his success.
But the biggest problem that Ten Hag faces is that, quite simply, he’s not well known enough for some of the media. Manchester United’s ex-players like to talk, and some of them are better at it than others. They extol the virtues of what they did when Sir Alex Ferguson was at the helm.
How they would never have lost matches in that fashion. How they would never have shown their face in the dressing room after performances as bad as we’ve seen. How things were better in their day.
And the only times the criticism abated was when the arrival was blockbuster (Jose Mourinho, at least at the time), or was one of the old brigade, in the form of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The United pack in the media are nothing if not loyal to one of their own and the manner in which they stood by Ole in the face of the obvious was endearing, if nothing else.
You just need to remember Rio Ferdinand’s BT Sport dancing when claiming Man Utd were back (they weren’t) as they defeated PSG a few seasons ago. And Gary Neville’s commentary in the heavy defeat to Liverpool on Tuesday was a brutal condemnation - a stark contrast to the excuse-ridden conversation held during the 5-0 battering at Old Trafford six months ago. The mood is completely different when it’s something they either recognise, or respect.
Unfortunately, Ten Hag is none of those things, not yet. It’s clear the same quarters that demanded change but yet so vociferously protected Solskjaer will be readying their takes if things don’t go immediately to plan.
And that’s what the Dutchman has to be wary of. His coaching career? Bayern Munich’s reserves and Utrecht, pah. Winning the league regularly with Ajax? So did Frank De Boer, and look what happened to him. The Eredivisie? A farmer’s league, with more bad exports than good. That Champions League run? Meh, it was three years ago, and his team bottled it to Spurs anyway.
The lines of attack write themselves and Ten Hag won’t be able to sweet talk his way out of it, or issue blame elsewhere as Mourinho could, nor know that the media will jump in front of traffic for him as they did for Ole.
He’s got to hit the ground running, while wrestling with a squad packed with brutal underachievement and utter disarray. While building something resembling a youth system to flow into the first team. While managing the hapless Harry Maguire into something usable, and massaging the ego of Cristiano Ronaldo.
He’s got to do all of this. And he’s got to do it with any allies, at least in the beginning. He needs to provide something immediate, whether it’s wins, or performances, or a sense of something building - even if most level-headed supporters would know that he needs time to build from the relative ashes of what he is inheriting.
He’s got to be a lot of things, and he’s got to be them from the off. But the very first thing he’s got to watch out for are former Manchester United players because they can make, or break, him before he’s had the chance to begin.
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