Erik ten Hag – Is style of play enough for a Manchester United manager?

Despite a win against Brentford on Saturday afternoon, the prevailing opinion amongst many is still that Erik ten Hag and Manchester United are best off parting ways.

As always, fans have made their preferred choices clear on who the next Manchester United manager should be, with many options being chosen by fans due to the attractiveness of their current team’s style of play.

Fans want to see entertaining, exciting football at Old Trafford—I mean, who wouldn’t—and the tactics that any prospective coach employs are important for many to consider. But amidst all the talk of these beautiful buildups and fluid attacks, I posit that tactics and style of play cannot be the only key factor in choosing a new coach.

Read More: Manchester United’s Sekou Kone plan explained after first impressions under Erik ten Hag

My reason? Many of the things people are saying about their preferred coach choices are things the same United fans were saying about Erik ten Hag in early 2022.

Look, I’m not suggesting that anybody only cares about how the coach wants to play football, nor that it doesn’t matter. Of course that isn’t the case. But one thing that needs to be recognised is that Manchester United is a different world compared to most football clubs.

There is a different level of pressure here, and there is also a lot of rot from a decade of poor maintenance that now needs to be built into strong foundations for the future.

Ten Hag has done a lot of work on that side, and INEOS’ takeover of the club and reshuffle of the football department is making that process a lot easier. But the culture shift is not finished yet.

Even though United are not ready to compete for the sport’s top titles yet, there is a demand to perform at a certain level. Styles can take time to implement, the squad is now much more in line than it was before but issues still exist.

Ten Hag has so far not done a good enough job of successfully enforcing his style but another coach will not come in and change it overnight.

In some ways, the Manchester United manager is a personality.

You have to handle an expectation and level of pressure that isn’t there at most other clubs, and you need a strong character to do so. One of the reasons Thomas Tuchel was the ideal candidate before he took the England job was that he had a record of working in top clubs and handling this pressure excellently.

Another key aspect of the style point is that it should be adaptable. At United, you play to entertain, but above that, you play to win.

A name like Ange Postecoglou for example – United have not been linked – would not quite fit in the United dugout for this reason, a truly excellent coach but the refusal to adapt – especially given the risk that exists in his style – will likely not translate to winning league and continental titles. Which is the ultimate goal at the end of the day.

The idea of how to play football is important as fans want to be entertained. United, in particular, has a heritage of very quick, direct football predicated around wing play.

But the adaptability of the coach, and most of all, the man behind the coach, are incredibly important factors that fans need to consider when talking about their preferred choices.

Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is released every Wednesday at 6 pm (BST) on the United View YouTube channel.