[ad_1]
3
Erik ten Hag is back with the sack after a few agonizing weeks of waiting to hear if he still has a job as Manchester United manager.
After interviewing at least six possible replacements for the Dutchman, the Ineos co-owners decided to keep him, at least for now.
This resulted in discussions about a new contract, which Ten Haag himself confirmed when he appeared on Dutch TV as a pundit yesterday.
There was little humility or relief evident in the coach’s manner as he offered his expert views on England’s opening match against Serbia, in fact convulsive is probably the best word to describe it.
His comments on the new contract, interviews with other candidates and Luke Shaw’s fitness have been covered elsewhere, but one interesting line of conversation came after the game when he was asked to comment on England’s poor performance.
“That’s the manager’s (Gareth Southgate) vision,” he said (via The Telegraph). “England will be 1-0 up and then decide to start gambling by making their team compact and relying on moments in the remaining minutes of the game.”
The irony and pointedness of the comments were not lost on United fans either.
Ironically, one thing that brought Ten Hag to the brink of the sack was his inability to achieve a compact United squad during the 2023/24 season. His midfield had more holes than a colander, and his side had the worst goals against record, on average, in the club’s history.
The “relying on moments” part of the comment was also ironic, given that Ten Hag have consistently employed a system based on transitions, where United have conceded possession for large periods of the game even against lower-ranked opposition, waiting for an opportunity to counter.
As for the clarity of his comments, it was widely reported that Southgate was one of the favorites to take over from Ten Hag at Old Trafford. In fact, the England manager’s refusal to enter talks with United until after the Euros may have been the only thing that saved the Dutchman’s bacon, with Ineos having to make a decision earlier.
Ten Haag’s caustic comments about his opponent’s tactical acumen therefore carried considerable weight.
Does Ten Hag still feel threatened by the specter of Southgate looming over his shoulder? Or was it just bitterness and resentment at the very thought of being so close to being replaced by such an inferior being? We can’t say.
His confirmation that an agreement on a new contract “is not easy to reach” and that “we still have to talk about this”, along with his general demeanor, made it clear to everyone that his relationship with employers is now frosty, to say the least.
The Dutchman is seeking a two-year contract with a host of other clauses, while Ineos will seek to wrest different degrees of control from him and build escape hatches into his contract, so a major compromise will be needed to avoid an impasse.
If a deal is not reached, with the euro at stake, Southgate could once again become the biggest threat to Ten Haag’s future.
Want to be the first to hear the latest Man United news? For handpicked, key updates, join our WhatsApp channel: https://bit.ly/United-Breaking-News.
[ad_2]
