A frustrating season from Manchester United has been blighted by injuries and off-field dramas, but it is the on-field shift in tactics from those of the previous campaign by manager Erik ten Hag that have perplexed fans and pundits alike.
Last season’s “Ten Hag ball” – a creative, progressive possession-based system with a deep lying playmaker and a fluid front three brought great success, with United qualifying for the Champions League, winning the League Cup, reaching the FA Cup final and Europa League semi-final.
However, somewhat inexplicably, the manager announced in pre-season that he wanted to make United “the best transition team in the world” and suddenly changed his tactical set-up completely.
The deep-lying play maker was replaced by a ball-carrying midfielder and Ten Hag Ball was replaced by what is not-so-affectionately termed Chaos Ball, a strategy based on quick counter-attacks, overloading the opposition when in possession and a high press out of possession.
The results so far have been, it is probably fair to say, disastrous. United have suffered more shots against them than any other team outside the relegation zone, the most in a season since 2003, with nine matches still remaining.
Watching United this season is like watching underdogs from a lower league, even against the likes of Luton Town and Bournemouth.
There is a lingering hope among many that the tactics were enforced in Ten Hag’s mind by injuries to key personnel, and that he may return to the more controlled system of last season.
But an interesting video that has been doing the rounds on social media shows that in fact, these tactics are not Ten Hag stepping out of character. They are not an aberration. He employed them at Ajax and defended them stoutly even when the legendary Ruud Gullit pointed out their glaring weakness.
Ruud Gullit questioning Erik Ten Hag’s tactics and his open midfield during a football talkshow on national TV.
ETH admits leaving the midfield wide open without anyone covering it, CAN NEVER HAPPEN, which should tell you, it’s all about player quality at United.
( 1/2 ) pic.twitter.com/djbra99O8o
— Erik Ten Shelby 🧣 (@ErikTenShelby) April 2, 2024
In the 2019 video, Gullit is analysing Ajax’s Champions League home defeat to Real Madrid (a tie Ten Hag’s men subsequently went on to win before eventually losing to Spurs in the semi-final of the competition).
Gullit points out the gaps left between defence and midfield when Ajax go forward, and how easy it is to exploit by Real when possession is conceded.
The great man also noted that similar gaps were left against Bayern Munich in the group stages that should have been punished more.
The compère asked Gullit if he recognises the pattern of a team seeming unbeatable one minute and beatable by anyone the next.
“The annoying part about Ajax is … when things aren’t going well, what do you do next?” he replied.
“And that’s when they’re vulnerable.
“Especially in transition…I’ve already seen it many times before.
“At the moment they’re taking a lot of risks, especially in midfield, and all of a sudden you get ridiculous counters.”
Gullit then talked through an example from the match noting, “it gets intercepted and then they can run straight through”.
Other examples were shown of teams mounting easy counter-attacks before the compère asked if that is not always the danger of playing a high press.
“Well, there always has to be a player in the middle, who says ‘what if?’” Gullit replies, citing Manchester City’s Fernandinho as an example.
“That is something you must have: ‘what if we lose the ball?’”
But Ten Hag disagreed.
“The way we play, those are the risks that are already calculated,” he said, before chalking the Real Madrid goal down to the quality of the opposition.
Ten Hag’s Ajax overachieved in that season, winning the Eredivisie by a landslide and enjoying that epic run in the Champions League. So his defence of the risks as “calculated” held some water.
However, at Manchester United, playing in the unforgiving Premier League, they clearly do not.
The horrific gaps in the video are chillingly familiar to United fans and the concerning factor is the manager’s stubbornness and belief in the system that allows them. It means, if Ten Hag stays at Manchester United, then so, it seems, will chaos ball.
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