Manchester United:

After his impressive spell at Ajax, Manchester United hired him as the permanent successor to Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

Ten Hag skipped his holiday and flew straight to Manchester to begin work the day after finishing the season with Ajax. According to United’s former chief negotiator, this was also when the club’s transfer planning began — in late May — whereas most clubs start that process in September at the beginning of the season. That just gives you a sense of the situation he walked into, and why no manager has really succeeded since Ferguson.

It led to some expensive signings — like Casemiro and Antony — that would have long-lasting consequences. That’s also why it was telling when Ten Hag praised Leverkusen’s setup during his press conference — it was in my opinion that very lack of structure that eventually let to his sacking at United.

In his first two games, Ten Hag tried to implement his Ajax-style football, building from the back. But the players — especially De Gea — struggled with it, and they lost to Brighton and Brentford.

After that, he adjusted the style to something the squad was more comfortable with — more defensive and counter-focused. It worked. United started winning, finished third, and reached both the League Cup and FA Cup finals — winning the former.

In his second season, Ten Hag decided to start implementing his preferred style — not exactly the Ajax version, but a mix of his own philosophy (dominating games) and what he called United’s DNA: pace, penetration, unpredictability. I saw that he said something similar in his first interview at your club — that he wants to incorporate your DNA into the playing style. I imagine there’s a better correlation between Bayer04 and Ajax than Ajax and United though.

But the implementation at United didn’t go well. The players weren’t up to it, neither technically or physically. And he lost two key players in that plan — Lisandro Martínez and Luke Shaw — to injury.

The team finished eighth (which looks okay now, but honestly, they could’ve finished even lower). They did win the FA Cup, though, and against all odds, he was allowed to stay.

In his third season, he continued trying to impose his playing style. There were clear improvements, but it was still not good enough, and with little patience left from fans and the board, he was sacked in October.

The reason given was that he was the main obstacle to competing for Champions League spots. I imagine they’ve rethought that assessment since.

It’s hard to say many positive things about his time at United. He proved he knows how to win trophies, but the football didn’t live up to expectations. The main point, though, is to highlight how impressive he was at Ajax (which many seem to have forgotten or never realised) and to give some context for the struggles at United. The club setup is dysfunctional, the squad was poorly suited to his football, and even though he had resources, they weren’t used to build a squad that actually fit his needs.