Erik ten Hag will be the new Manchester United head-coach
and his appointment promises the greatest reward,
with the slick, fluid and successful football that became Ajax’s trademark under his reign.
But what will it look like at Old Trafford?
Ten Hag’s work at Ajax was impressive. There’s always the expectation that they should win
the Eredivisie, but they hadn’t triumphed in the three campaigns before his arrival.
He has won two league titles and is likely to go out with a third.
And Ajax’s Champions League record demonstrates that ten Hag is capable of building sides to
compete in European. Their dramatic failure to reach the Champions League final in 2018-19
is a source of regret for Ten Hag, but Ajax deservedly eliminated the holders, Real Madrid,
and the Italian champions, Juventus. In the group stage, they twice drew
with the German champions, Bayern Munich.
This season, Ajax recorded six wins from six in the group stage before
surprisingly falling to Benfica in the round of 16. Before his reign, however,
Ajax hadn’t reached the Champions League knockout stage since 2006.
But his work has also been varied; Ajax’s 2022 side is almost entirely different.
Noussair Mazraoui is still playing at right-back, and Daley Blind and Dusan Tadic are still involved
but in different positions. The formation has changed and the attacking style has changed. Ten
Hag now plays with a classic No 9, whereas in 2019 — in Europe, at least — he played with a
false nine. Since Ten Hag’s Ajax of 2022 looks so different from his Ajax of 2019, the precise
approach of his Manchester United side will be different again, albeit with similar principles.
Variations in build-up
Ten Hag’s Ajax play out from the back, keeping the ball,
progressing up the pitch and dragging opponents out of shape as they do so.
And that’s because they’re so effective at varying the way they manage possession.
In the Champions League defeat to Benfica, Ten Hag wanted to build
up play with three players in defence. The precise identity of the three kept varying,
though it was always drawn from the same five players: the back four and holding midfielder.
Here it’s left-back, centre-back, centre-back.
Then left-back, centre-back, central midfielder.
Here it’s centre-back, centre-back, right-back.
Finally: centre-back, centre-back, central midfielder.
It keeps the opposition guessing,
and often opens-up gaps to break into as their press becomes disjointed.
Purposeful defenders
Ten Hag’s Ajax break into space so well because their defenders
are encouraged to be aggressive in possession.
Not only are the centre-backs good distributors, but they’re also comfortable carrying the ball.
Outside, their full-backs often take it in turns to become half-backs,
tucking inside to turn Ajax’s three-man midfield into more of a diamond,
and are then encouraged to push into attacking positions too.
One consequence is that they often end up with a huge number of players in attack,
with seven, eight – and very occasionally nine – players around the opposition box.
And that’s a theme of Ajax games and something for Manchester United fans to look for.
Midfield fluidity
The Ajax side that nearly made the Champions League final back in 2019 generally played two
deep midfielders and one just ahead, which would generally be considered a 4-2-3-1.
But in the Netherlands, this was still often considered a 4-3-3
—partly because the wingers stay high rather than defend in a second bank of four,
and partly because the No 10 would often drop deep and allow his midfield colleagues to push on.
Similarly, Frenkie de Jong would come extremely deep to receive possession and then motor forward
past his partner Lasse Schone. Again, much like the variations in build-up play in defence,
this keeps the opposition guessing and makes it hard for them to be pressed.
Edson Alvarez has played more of a permanent holding role this season,
but the two other midfielders often rotate their positions to good effect, with runs into
the channels and quick one-twos around the box a fundamental part of Ajax's approach under ten Hag.
Counter-pressing and aggressive marking
Ten Hag’s Ajax are generally aggressive without the ball,
squeezing the play and keeping a high line whenever possible.
They’re particularly adept at counter-pressing, getting men around the ball quickly to cut out
potential opposition counter-attacks and creating quick turnovers — here, against Feyenoord,
they have four players clustered around the man on the ball shortly after losing possession.
Because this often means Ajax committing multiple midfielders to the counter-press,
their defenders are handed very active roles, often practically man-marking opposition strikers
as they drop deep into midfield. At times, this works well as part of the press, but if
the defender doesn’t win possession and is turned, Ten Hag’s side often find their defence exposed.
Clearly, Ten Hag is confident that the aggressive pressing is worthwhile. But there are occasions
when opponents can bypass centre-backs with relative ease, then break into space.
Width
In keeping with the great Ajax sides, Ten Hag’s approach places big emphasis upon wingers — but
whereas previous iterations emphasised the importance of attacking down the outside, Ten
Hag has generally favoured inverted wingers who cut inside and shoot, often to devastating effect.
A further nuance is that, particularly during that celebrated 2018-19 campaign,
there was great emphasis upon one of the wingers moving across to the opposite flank
to combine with his counterpart and overload the opposition down one side. At times,
this produced goalscoring chances in itself, like Hakim Ziyech's swept finish against Tottenham
when he moved across the pitch to combine with Tadic, on that occasion playing on the left.
But on other occasions, Ajax concentrated on overloading one flank with multiple
players down that side before suddenly switching play to the opposite full-back,
usually unmarked because other opponents have been dragged across.
Attacking flexibility
In attack, we'll have to wait and see.
Ajax's Champions League run in 2019 was based around Tadic as a false nine
but in domestic competition, Ten Hag often used a traditional striker.
His move for West Ham flop Haller was a surprise, even if they had worked together at Utrecht,
as it meant Ajax would use a central striker more regularly. But it has worked marvellously,
with Haller scoring 11 goals in eight Champions League games and 31 in 43 Eredivisie games.
Tadic has returned to his old position on the flank, where there's less switching of sides
than previously — in part to provide permanent width and get service into the box for Haller.
Ultimately, it's difficult to be certain how Ten Hag will want his side to play in the final third.
He's likely to adjust to the attackers at his disposal,
but at present, it's difficult to know who they are.
Jadon Sancho and Anthony Elanga are likely to be options out-wide but the future of Cristiano
Ronaldo is uncertain, Edinson Cavani is likely to leave, Marcus Rashford has been desperately
out of form and Anthony Martial is on loan but has a contract for another two years.
In deeper positions, however, the fundamental principles won't change.