When Erik ten Hag described the information that the 2 largest golf equipment in English soccer could be coached by Dutchmen as “fantastic for our football” you would perceive his level. This has not been a golden interval for the land that gave us Johan Cruyff.
The fates of the 4 Eredivisie title-winning coaches who preceded Manchester United’s Ten Hag and Liverpool’s Arne Slot reveal that a lot. Simply take a look at how they fared of their first jobs after leaving the confines of the Netherlands. It was not fairly.
Phillip Cocu lasted 15 video games at Fenerbahce. Giovanni van Bronckhorst had 23 video games answerable for Guangzhou. Frank de Boer managed 14 at Inter. Steve McClaren had 24 with Wolfsburg. All 4 had been later given alternatives in Britain however with little success.
On this context, Ten Hag’s 117 video games and counting with United, profitable a trophy in every of his first two seasons in cost, seems one thing of a triumph. In contrast to so many earlier than him, he has not crashed and burned, though his piloting stays unsteady.
In spite of everything, he has simply presided over the membership’s lowest end within the Premier League period. He’s already the third favorite to be the subsequent Premier League supervisor to be sacked. An early assembly with Slot at Previous Trafford on Sunday comes laced with threat for Ten Hag.
Slot did the double over his Ajax facet when AZ Alkmaar threatened to turn into the shock winners of the Eredivisie just for the pandemic to place paid to their ambitions. Nonetheless, Ten Hag did win each video games towards Slot’s Feyenoord of their most up-to-date encounters.
Can they be separated this time? On the face of it, there are extra similarities than variations. However Pascal Jansen, Slot’s assistant at AZ, and somebody who did his UEFA Professional Licence alongside Ten Hag, insists that these comparisons are merely superficial.
“They do have the same hairstyle,” Jansen tells Sky Sports activities, “but the rest is different.” He highlights one key benefit for every man. For Ten Hag, it’s his understanding of the Premier League. “That will help him. It is something that Arne now has to experience.”
For Slot, it’s his potential to deal with the media. “If you look at them personality-wise, I think Erik is a little bit more within himself and Arne is more known for being a little bit more eccentric,” says Jansen. As with Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, that may win folks over.
Arne Slot pictured together with his former assistant at AZ Alkmaar Pascal Jansen
Slot ‘simpler on the ears’
Jurjan Mannes, who performed below Slot at Cambuur, factors out this high quality too. “He is really keen to play with the press and respond to things,” Mannes tells Sky Sports activities. “He is just a smart man, clever with his answers and his behaviour. He likes to be sarcastic.”
As Mannes sees it, Slot would put together for a press convention as he would put together his staff for a match. “What are the questions going to be asked? How can I respond? That was really recognisable during his time at Feyenoord but it was the same at Cambuur.”
One other supply within the Netherlands describes Slot as “easier on the ears” and agrees that this might be important at a membership that values that connection greater than most. However there’s a caveat. “You cannot compare anything with the media at Liverpool,” says Mannes.
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Jamie Carragher sits down with Liverpool head coach Arne Slot
In the end, Slot should ship on the pitch if he’s to succeed. As Ten Hag would possibly inform him, translating the soccer for which his status was earned at dwelling to the Premier League just isn’t easy. United’s identification – or lack of it – stays a speaking level.
Ten Hag was as soon as mentioned to have remarked that Jose Mourinho favored to play with the black chess items whereas he most popular the white – that means that he wished his groups to be proactive fairly than reactive. However that has not at all times been apparent in his staff set-up.
His FA Cup remaining triumph was a masterclass in the right way to win with out the ball, punishing Manchester Metropolis on the transition regardless of having simply 27 per cent of the possession. Within the good moments and the dangerous, the management he loved at Ajax has been lacking.
Arne Slot and Erik ten Hag confronted one another 4 occasions within the Eredivisie with two wins every
‘Some particulars will change’
Will Slot face the identical problem in implementing his established type of play? There have already been notable tweaks by way of using the full-backs. The problem might be so as to add to Liverpool’s possession sport with out dropping their depth off the ball.
Jansen is assured that Slot will preserve their urgent. It has lengthy been a characteristic of his strategy. “Out of possession, it is going to be a spectacle, it is going to be high energy like Liverpool is very well known for. So, that will be quite similar,” he says.
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Jamie Carragher analyses Liverpool’s use of their full-backs towards Ipswich
“Maybe some details will change, but getting the interaction with the fans when out of possession was something that he also created here in Holland with Feyenoord. And it was also something that we created when we were working together at AZ.
“And in possession, I feel he’ll focus extra on getting extra possession-based. So not as many turnovers however making an attempt to manage video games via possession. Liverpool are in a position to management the sport with the ball too however they’re extra well-known for his or her transitions.
“And obviously, that is something that is a huge part of the Premier League. But if you look at Man City, for instance, they show that possession-based play is also part of the game. And that is something that Arne created here in the Eredivisie with Feyenoord.”
Feyenoord’s dominance was, in fact, simpler in a league the place the expertise was loaded in the direction of the highest groups. “The traditional top three basically have far better squads than the rest of the league so it is not uncommon to have more possession,” explains Jansen.
“It will be very interesting to see what does in the Premier League, where counter-attack strategies are more developed than in the Eredivisie. You have stronger opposition, better players across the league. Will he be capable of doing such a thing again?”
If there’s a doubter, Slot won’t must look too far on Sunday. Whereas Ten Hag has since mentioned that Liverpool’s type “suits Arne Slot completely” he was much less effusive in his reward of Feyenoord’s soccer when talking to Voetbal Worldwide this summer time.
“People have been going overly lyrical about Feyenoord.” That was Ten Hag’s verdict on a “steady” season by which the Rotterdam facet had been effectively overwhelmed to the title by PSV. It is a sign, maybe, that Ten Hag is one thing of a pragmatist at coronary heart, in spite of everything.
He might declare to love his groups to be proactive – however not for aesthetic causes. He desires to win. The reward for Slot’s facet in a season by which they failed to take action was one thing that he was unable to reconcile. The possibility to place him in his place comes early.
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For Slot, it could characterize a primary setback as Liverpool boss, the primary inkling that this competitors is able to throwing up new challenges for him to unravel. For Ten Hag, it could elevate considerations about United’s progress in what’s his third season as supervisor.
Two very totally different Dutchman, two very particular English soccer golf equipment, this has the makings of a rivalry that would seize the creativeness. In fact, each might want to stick round a bit longer than so lots of their Eredivisie predecessors if they’re to make it occur.
Watch Man Utd vs Liverpool stay on Sky Sports activities Premier League from 3.30pm on Sunday; kick-off 4pm
