Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United struggles are ‘sad to see’ but Ajax legend Marco van Basten is backing the under-fire manager to prove that he is still a ‘very good coach’.
The contrast between Erik ten Hag’s final Champions League campaign in charge of Ajax and his first in charge of Manchester United could hardly be more stark.
Ajax finished top of their group in 2021/22. Not only that, they won every one of their six matches, scoring 20 times and conceding just five. Compare that to Manchester United, crashing out of a competition they fought so hard to qualify for at the first round.
As far as the legendary Marco van Basten is concerned, however, the problems at Old Trafford go far deeper than the dugout.
Erik ten Hag under pressure at Manchester United
“I still think he is a very good coach,” Van Basten, a three-time Ballon D’Or winner, tells Ziggo Sport. “A coach’s credibility naturally depends on being successful. When that doesn’t happen, you get grumbling. I like how he always remains positive and he will be the last to surrender.
“It’s sad to see. The level is simply not good enough. The Bayern players are all better players. Better technique, faster, more skilful and smarter. It has also turned out that FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray are too strong for this Manchester United.
“It is, of course, a big club. But, at the moment, the team just weak.”
Van Basten accepts that Ten Hag has ‘made some mistakes’. His signings have frequently underwhelmed, with the £86 million Antony failing to score and providing only one assist in his last 25 matches.
Then again, which other club of this size operates without a sporting director or a proper structure behind the scenes? Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s minority takeover – and the subsequent appointment of a Paul Mitchell, an Andrea Berta or a Lee Congerton – cannot come soon enough.
So many reasons
“He has made some mistakes in recent times in terms of signings,” Van Basten adds. “He does not excel in that, and he receives a lot of criticism about that. And rightly so, because a lot of money has been wasted on not really good players.”
An almost unprecedented injury crisis has not helped either, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw limping off against Bayern. Ten Hag had Dan Gore and Joe Hugill on the bench at home to the Bundesliga champions with so many first-teamers unavailable.
“There are 17 or 18-year-old boys for such a big club,” Van Basten adds. “Which is really strange, even though there are many injured players.”
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