In a harsh environment like the Premier League, success will give coaches time to work. No matter how favorable and pink the terms of the contract are, as long as the team loses continuously, any coach will have to take a seat.
When Manchester United finished the Premier League before the postponed period due to the funeral of Queen Eliazabeth II and FIFA Days, Erik ten Hag and his students could breathe a sigh of relief with a victory over Arsenal at home.
That peace of mind came shortly after the team suffered two crushing defeats at the beginning of the season, witnessing the worst start in the club's history. In the end, everything was temporarily stable, this feeling had never appeared under Ralf Rangnick.
Ten Hag knows one thing Rangnick may not have grasped, adaptation is the key to surviving in the Premier League. It is not necessary to just apply your own philosophy to the team before successfully digging. Coaches need to know how the Premier League is different, what to do to win.
You have to have good results first and then consider what philosophy you can apply. This is a seemingly opposite view, but practice has proven that in the Premier League, playing to win is always more important than playing to the philosophy but going nowhere, time waits for anyone.
Rangnick left the hot seat at Old Trafford after 28 matches with a winning rate of only 39%. The German coach knew the responsibility belonged to himself, so he admitted his mistake after deciding to break up.
"Everything should be better. My colleagues and I have hoped to help the team develop in the most sustainable way, but in the end, it was not possible. No player deserves to be blamed, we have to accept that result."
Rangnick is passionate about pressing and is considered the father of this trendy playing style. However, even though he once said that the M.U players could not play like that, he still stubbornly forced them to do it, until everything gradually slid in hopelessness. Sometimes, you realize what the team's shortcomings are, but whether you can fix them or not is another matter.
Before Ten Hag arrived at Manchester United, many experts in England pointed out M.U's shortcomings and implied that the Dutch strategist should look at them to correct them. Ten Hag respects and absorbs but has his own way of doing things, and cannot correct those mistakes if the human resources in his hands cannot do them.
Last season, M.U passed the 5th most in the Premier League, the number for this season is only 14th. With statistics on the number of touches, last season the "Red Devils" were 6th but now they are only 17th. However, Ronaldo and his teammates are having better results.
Counter-attacking defense helped Manchester United beat Arsenal in the context of Ten Hag not caring how Mikel Arteta put his players in control. Just seeing the space behind the opponent's defense, Ten Hag sealed Marcus Rashford there and the English striker scored the "Gunners".
Manchester United are seeing a change in the number of shots per match thanks to a change in Ten Hag's tactics. Last season, the Old Trafford team had the 5th most shots in the league but were ineffective. This season, they are only 16th in the Premier League in terms of shots but have won 4 consecutive matches.
Although he loved ball control when he was at Ajax, when he came to Man United, Ten Hag still accepted that there were matches where the team only controlled 39% of the time.
Having tried to follow the philosophy and suffered two resounding defeats at the beginning of the season, instead of being stubborn, Ten Hag chose to adapt first, implementing the idea later. Gradually, M.U will not play like it is now, it may be similar to what Ten Hag did at Ajax, but for now, let Ten Hag adapt and think about it.
