Man Utd fans expecting ‘attack, attack, attack’ under Ten Hag in for rude awakening as analysis shows his real traits
MANCHESTER UNITED fans rejoiced when the club confirmed Erik ten Hag as their next permanent manager.
The 52-year-old will succeed interim gaffer Ralf Rangnick in the dugout at Old Trafford at the end of the campaign on an initial deal until 2025.
Despite the club being on course for their worst season in three decades - supporters of the Red Devils believe the good times may be coming back to the Theatre of Dreams next term.
The United faithful are hoping Ten Hag can transfer his success from Ajax over to England while also playing an attractive style of football.
But in data gathered by quantitative analysis experts , fans expecting an 'attack, attack, attack' philosophy may be in for a rude awakening.
That is because the Dutchman's 'attacking coefficient', a measure of how much a manager tries to play an attacking style of football, is relatively low.
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Incredibly, Ten Hag's coefficient is exactly the same as that of interim-manager Ralf Rangnick.
And even more worrying is that it's much lower than his biggest rival for the job Mauricio Pochettino and even former boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Carteret Analytics, quantitative analysis experts who have built a series of algorithms that utilise a huge amount of raw data, explain: "This suggests that Ten Hag does not play an attacking style of football for the sake of what he perceives supporters want to see, and instead plays each match in the manner that he considers maximises the chances of winning that match.
"In contrast, both Rangnick and, especially, Solskjaer, appear to have been attempting a more attacking style of play (possibly to appease the supporters) but with limited success in terms of it contributing to the winning of matches."
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The data suggests Ten Hag plays a possession-based style of football.
Analysis also shows that the incoming Manchester United manager's teams have a high shot creation ratio.
Another area he scores highly is in 'strategic intelligence' which measures how much in-game tactical changes influence matches.
It suggests Ten Hag has the ability to turn the tide in games with formation and personnel changes - a skill former permanent manager Solskjaer was often called out for failing at.
Summing up what Manchester United fans can expect next season, Carteret Analytics summarise: "Manchester United fans should not expect Ten Hag to play an attacking style of football by default.
"Ten Hag is driven by the objective of winning the next match, even if that requires a more defensive approach based on the relative strengths and weaknesses of the opposition for that match.
"Ten Hag appears to be more focused on utilising possession to achieve his strategic objectives for the match, and, in particular, to understand how he can use possession of the ball to create positive key match events that can lead to shot creation and, most importantly, shot conversion."
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Manchester United fans, who enjoyed decades of attacking football under Sir Alex Ferguson, may be disappointed to hear Ten Hag won't release the handbrake.
But right now, any method that can turn the tide at Old Trafford will be more than welcome.