Manchester United have a man.
After weeks of debate and speculation, the club has decided on a new manager who will take the club to the top of the European game.
How big a challenge is it for Manchester United to compete with the likes of Manchester City and representLiverpool?
On the Euro League's podcast, Guillem Balague, James Horncastle, and Julien Laurens are joined by a Dutch journalist to discuss whether the current Ajax manager is the man to transform the club.
The type of coach everyone agreed was needed was Ten Hag. He is the first tactical modern coach of the club.
It will take more than three years for Ten Hag to change the culture of a club that has been going the wrong way for a long time.
At a time when you need to be in love with your leader, that will not happen. Manchester United are going with someone who doesn't have an aura about him and that matters to people outside the club. The fans want to see a spectacle. Is he prepared? Absolutely.
We know what will happen. Ten Hag is going to be blamed for everything. The guy is prepared. He can do it, but if it doesn't happen then the analysis has to go further or we will be fooling the audience.
English football has judged managers on their personality as well as their results for decades. Unai Emery had success but was ridiculed and mocked on social media. Does Ten Hag have a personality?
No big Dutch manager has ever turned things around in the premier league.
The new style of football that Louis van Gaal thinks he can introduce to Manchester United didn't work out, despite the fact that he was successful with several European clubs. He couldn't comprehend the club.
It's the most difficult job in world football if you've played in the premier league or managed it.
He needs the support of the club. The hierarchy is also British, as can be seen with Phil Jones, Harry Maguire, and others. It might be difficult for Ten Hag to make his ideas clear to everyone.
I can't see how it would work with him. Ten Hag wants his forwards to be aggressive, but he doesn't like it.
He is an amazing scorer, but he doesn't do anything else that Ten Hag wants from his number nine. He is coming to United to implement his philosophy, not use a player who doesn't do half of what he wants.
Is there a fit for United? If you sign a player likeRonaldo, you have to think twice about appointing a manager who is not up to date with modern tactics. If you want to keep the best player in the world, you have to appoint someone like Carlo Ancelotti.
There is an incoherence between the two. It will take time and patience because the media will have to accept that this might not work immediately with the coach's ideas and the personality available.
Right now, Ten Hag doesn't fit this Manchester United.
The style of Ten Hag makes it necessary forRonaldo to leave. He creates a machine and players are a part of it. The players he is working with have to be willing to accept the idea of punching above their weight in order to work with him. At Manchester United, he hardly has anyone like that.
He is going to need every transfer window available to do that and it will take more than three years. Is every player willing to buy into the plan? Some players will have to go, the fans have to accept that, and the media has to accept that the transition will be long, and the club has to accept the changes will be deep. I don't think that person is willing.
For him to accept Ten Hag, he has to offer less of what he can do. He wants the whole design of the team to be for him to get more goals.
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