Problem with Enrique is having to wait until after the World Cup. It causes a few problems over the summer and 3 months into the season we end up in limbo a bit longer.
The consensus in the sporting press seems to be that Ten Hag is all but a done deal - at least he seems the only one to have been actually interviewed for the job.
I was listening to Guilem Balague yesterday and he genuinely thinks Poch's debacle at PSG won't be held against him. It's the club that's viewed as the failure not the man. It was interesting the insight he was giving about the problems inside the club, driven by a short term mentality, and the players particularly Neymar.
I was very much pro-Poch a couple of years back but I now have reservations about him. If you can go to a club the size of PSG, a club littered with some of the world's finest talent, a club that are serial winners in a farmer's league and it all suddenly falls apart..... that's the part I don't like.
Was a fan of Poch too. Especially when Mourinho was sacked. But his management of the PSG star players have been well below par. Whether it’s the club’s fault or the players is not really certain but that situation is exactly mirrored here and no certainty the current issues would have been sorted by the time he gets appointed.
A bit of background info here and Ajax are my second club after Watford. United have a great chance of getting EtH and negotiations with Ajax won't be difficult because of van der Saar being their CEO and he still holds United in very high regard. EtH was also manager of Bayern Munich's reserve team at the time Guardiola was manager of the first team - the two are great friends which may change the character of the City derby. Pep is also a great fan of Ajax. EtH gives all team talks at Ajax in English although his German is better. He will be a great success for United if you give him two years to do it and don't expect instant results - although you're not a club known for kneejerk reactions like some others in the Prem. so that should be ok. He gives very boring interviews so don't expect anything like you would get from Jürgen Klopp - he also doesn't shout and scream from the sidelines. He is great at working at player relations but there is a doubt about whether he can work with big egos - and you have a few of those. His only weakness is in game management ie. his substituting isn't always the best and he has problems finding a plan B if plan A doesn't work. But plan A normally does work at Ajax. He wanted to guide Ajax to play like Bayern, because that is his dream club - and, to be honest, I would have expected him to move to Germany. Other clubs have shown interest and there have been rumours about Real Madrid and PSG but he wouldn't fit in at either of those - Borussia Dortmund would be your main competitors.
What's his coaching team/backroom staff like? And does he rely on a number 2 who influences or makes up for some of his weaknesses like game management?
Frankly, that is hardly a ringing endorsement - many of the areas in which we already have issues seem to be inherent weaknesses in his management style. ****, does this mean we'll have to settle for Poch?
Mate, you ****ing ruin bourbon by putting coke in it (or it in coke). Straight, or with ice. Really, bourbon is the best-tasting whisky of all - you wouldn't put coke in a single malt, would you? Or would you.....
I never see it as a proper whiskey or bourbon. More like rye which is ok with a bit of coke. That and I'm a heathen.
Well put them back, we're nowhere near that level. It's a tenuous comparison imo with large differences.
The assistant coaches are Mitchell van der Gaag, Michael Reiziger and Winston Bogarde - none of them are being suggested by Ajax fans as a possible replacement for Ten Haag, which suggests that their influence has not been that great. As you probably know the real strength of Ajax has always been their youth academy and the fact that Jong Ajax (the reserve team) plays in division 2 of Dutch football (something which is not possible in England). i think that Ten Haag has more or less complete control over team selection and game management, though who knows what goes on behind the scenes. The big plus for Ajax over the last few years has been team recruitment which centred around Marc Overmars - this has come to a sudden end by his ignominious departure from the club. All of their best transfers over the last 5 years have been done by him. When Ten Haag has taken a hand in bringing players in then it hasn't worked out so well. So if he takes over at United then it's not a good idea for him to take an active hand in transfer policies. His main strength has been in getting the best out of individual players who have not shown up so well under other managers, which is always a good sign. Players like Matthis de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong, Hakim Ziyech, Donny van der Beek all played better under him than elsewhere. The same goes for present players such as Sebastian Haller and Dusan Tadic (apparent failures at West Ham and Southampton). You could say that any half decent player can impress in the Eredivisie. As Ajax manager you also have to cope with 3-4 of your best players leaving every year and he has done that very well and actually improved the team despite these forced transitions.
It very much is. PSG is full of talents on paper, but on the pitch, they have the tendencies to bottle it when it mattered. Certainly reminds of this team. Come to think of it, Tottenham had the same tendencies when Poch was the manager there.
