Implement style, sort captaincy and the many tasks awaiting Ten Hag at Manchester United

Erik Ten Hag has a huge job when he takes over at Manchester United. Fans will welcome his appointment and the optimists hope for an improvement after a very disappointing season, but United are a long way behind Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea and the Dutchman will need time and patience.

Not every issue is about the manager, but the focus will be. United are one of the biggest football clubs in the world and the pressure is intense, but the Ajax manager can look to do the following to get players, fans and staff onside.

United have been listless and Ten Hag has to implement his own style of play – or ‘philosophy’ to borrow the term often used by his compatriot and former United manager, Louis van Gaal.

That was meant to be what Ralf Rangnick did. Watch any Rangnick coaching session or seminar and his ideas are very clear – as they were in the first half of his first game at home to Crystal Palace when he played a 4-2-2-2 system, but not since. He’s careful what he says publicly, but he doesn’t command his own style because he doesn’t think he has the players to deliver it.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did have his own strong style of play for which he deserved more credit. United enjoyed some fine results against the biggest teams and were even defensively excellent with a high pressing performance in the 2021 Europa League final against Villarreal, but that was forgotten since the team couldn’t get a second goal to win a game which went to penalties.

Solskjaer was also about the collective from a coaching perspective. When he received his first manager of the month award, he insisted that he was pictured with all his coaching staff. That was admirable, but United also insisted that he was manager and the buck stopped