Erik ten Hag leading Manchester United into exciting new era
The Dutch manager has transformed the club's fortunes in a short space of time and Sunday's Carabao Cup win should be just the start
Erik ten Hag met Sir Alex Ferguson for dinner last week. Manchester United’s Dutch manager and the club’s legendary boss were pictured in a restaurant in the build-up to Thursday’s Europa League clash against Barcelona and Sunday’s Carabao Cup final win over Newcastle. And the image was symbolic: almost 10 years after the Scot’s retirement, it seems he may finally have a suitable replacement at Old Trafford.
After knocking Barcelona out of Europe on Thursday, United beat Newcastle 2-0 to win the Carabao Cup at Wembley on Sunday. It was the club’s first trophy in almost six years, ending their longest drought in almost four decades. And fittingly, Ferguson was there amid the celebrations to congratulate Ten Hag.
The Carabao Cup is the least important of the major prizes on offer in English football. But it is a start. It can build momentum and create a culture of success. It should lead to bigger prizes in future.
Top managers have always understood this. The League Cup was the first trophy in English football for both José Mourinho and Pep Guardiola. Ferguson won it four times at United. He described it as “a pot worth winning”. It is. And a list of recent winners shows that the top clubs take the competition extremely seriously these days: in the past decade, it has been won by only Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and United.
Naturally, there were celebrations at Wembley on Sunday, but there was no dwelling on this triumph. United returned to Manchester in the evening and were back to work on Monday in preparation for the challenges ahead: FA Cup on Wednesday, Premier League at the weekend, Europa League next week.
It is all a far cry from the beginning of this season. United were well beaten in their first two Premier Legaue games, losing 2-1 at home to Brighton and then 4-0 at Brentford. Ten Hag was written off, ridiculed even. Just as he had been at Ajax.
“He makes Ralf Rangnick look like the most dynamic personality you’ll ever meet at a discotheque,” said Alyson Rudd of The Times. And talkSPORT’s Simon Jordan added: “I watched him step up at the end and I saw a small man in a suit that doesn’t fit him and I thought ‘you don’t look like I thought you would.’”
It was nothing new. At Ajax, Ten Hag was mocked for turning up with a suitcase on his first day and also for his regional accent. In press conferences, he was not particularly expressive and he was not charismatic as previous coaches had been. He received a rough ride from the media, but responded with results: three Eredivisie titles (the first after a five-year drought), two Dutch Cups and a remarkable run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2018-19.
At Old Trafford, he has transformed the club in the space of nine months. In difficult circumstances, too. While the Glazers have continued to use United as a cash cow, stripping the club of funds which could be used for strengthening the team and renovating the stadium, Ten Hag has focused on what he can change. He also had to deal with the noise surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portuguese gave an explosive interview to Piers Morgan. The Dutchman stood firm, Ronaldo left and United have not looked back.
Mourinho won a couple of trophies at United but his style of football and antics off the pitch meant he was never quite the right fit. In fact, the club had been wary of appointing him in the first place. Ole Gunnar Solskjær was more popular but could not deliver any silverware and often looked out of his depth tactically. Rangnick was an interim with little authority and complained that he was not allowed to change anything much.
Ten Hag is different. His United team play on the front foot. Tactically, he is a deep thinker, not afraid to make big changes when things are not going well. He has created a strong bond in the group, but demands the highest standards, and he does things his way. The combination has helped turn United into one of Europe’s most in-form teams.
“Huge day for Manchester United. Casemiro is at the heart of it but really it's about one man having transformed this team from whiners into winners in such a short period of time: Erik ten Hag – what a job that he's done,” Gary Neville said on Sunday.
“Players that we'd given up on, players that we thought shouldn’t play for Manchester United again, they’re still out there performing at a really high level.
“They've got a spirit, they've got a fight and they've got a real chance of coming back and winning trophies beyond this again because you can see something emerging with him.”
It is only the Carabao Cup, but it should see the dawn of a new era for England’s biggest club. “Ole’s at the wheel and Manchester United are back,” Rio Ferdinand once famously said after Solskjær’s strong start as manager at Old Trafford. That turned out to be something of a false dawn, but with Ten Hag in charge, Manchester United really are back.