In the summer of 2022, Erik ten Hag took over as the manager of Manchester United. The Dutchman was exceptionally successful during his time at Ajax, winning multiple Eredivisie titles and leading them to a UEFA Champions League semi-final.

In Ten Hag's first season, United won the Carabao Cup and finished 3rd in the Premier League. Ten Hag failed to build on that impressive start with United. They won the FA Cup, beating Manchester City in the final, but fell to an 8th-place finish in the league.

The expectation was that Ten Hag would be dismissed following the FA Cup final, but the United hierarchy triggered the one-year extension in his contract after reportedly failing to reach an agreement with either Thomas Tuchel or Roberto De Zerbi after talks.

After a poor start to the 2024-25 season, Ten Hag was sacked by United, just a few months after the club extended his contract for a year.

Speaking on the Charla Podcast, former United midfielder Fred praised Ten Hag for how good he was tactically, but strongly criticised him for his ability as a man-manager.

"There are some coaches who are very good tactically but bad with the group, and there are some who are very good with the group but are tactically crap," Fred explained.

"Solskjaer was good with the group, but he was helped by the assistants. He united the group.

"Ten Hag was tactically very good, but with the group he was a piece of crap. He argued with everyone. He argued with me, with Cristiano, with Casemiro, with Rashford...

"Only his Dutch players played. A clique-ridden coach. But tactically, one of the best I've ever worked with."    

After the way Ten Hag's first season went, there was a lot to be optimistic about at United. There was clear progress, both in terms of results and style of play. 

Following the losses to Brighton and Hove Albion and Brentford at the start of his first season, Ten Hag adapted the style of play from a possession-based system to a style that was far more pragmatic. It was more focused on maximising attacking transitions and defending the box well.

It worked very well, but it was a game model that needed to evolve if United were going to challenge for major honours. In Ten Hag's second season, he tried to implement a system that put a real emphasis on pressing and forcing turnovers high up the pitch.

While the idea was nice, there were numerous flaws in the system, mainly the amount of space between the midfield and defence. Ten Hag failed to find a solution to this, and many United games were basketball-esque. Constant transitions meant players had to do a lot of high-intensity running, which then led to injuries.

One thing that also did not help was United's recruitment strategy. Ten Hag was given a lot of power, which led to numerous poor and overvalued signings. 

If Ten Hag had a competent recruitment team behind him, his stint at United could have been far more successful than it was.