Five areas which Erik Ten Hag has to address at Manchester United next season!!

Erik Ten Hag has agreed to join Manchester United as their new manager for the upcoming 2022/23 season.

It looks like Ten Hag has won the race ahead of Maurico Pochettino to become the new head coach of Manchester United.  

And now, it remains to be seen what the 52-year-old will have to offer Manchester United. Erik Ten Hag has a great philosophy, but many United fans weren’t happy with his appointment as he has never experienced a demanding role in his career except at Bayern Munich II. 

Ten Hag came to the limelight when he guided Ajax to the Champions League semi-final and back-to-back domestic doubles. 

Since then, he become the most sought-after manager in Europe and now Manchester United will have service next season.

So, what areas will Erik Ten Hag address once he becomes the new Manchester United manager? 

1. Re-build the Man United defence 

Manchester United have shown frailty in many departments, and one of them has been defence. Everybody thought the signing of Raphael Varane would bolster the defence as he and Maguire will make a great partnership at the back. 

But since his signing, it has been the other way around, as Varane has played very fewer games due to frequent injuries, and Maguire has been an embarrassment. 

This has led to David De Gea conceding 51 goals and has been forced to work very hard to prevent United from conceding and making 129 saves so far. 

Ten Hag, who likes to build-up play from the back, should know he has the most incompetent defenders and will have to look in the market for new defenders who will fit in his system or bring back Maguire’s form to make United’s defence robust again. 

2. Give young talents a purpose again

The arrival of Ralf Rangnick saw a steep decline in Rashford's form. He’s been faltered massively and now considering his future at Manchester United, who was once left physically battered by overuse during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign. 

Alongside him, Sancho’s arrival has been a disappointment at United; he has not shown what he is capable of, and Luke Shaw, who was a key figure in Euro 2020 and started every game as a left-back under Gareth Southgate is now seeing his form falling off a clip as he rarely started any game under Rangnick. 

And Erik Ten Hag can play a great role in bringing back their form, and these players hold a great potential capable of scaling great heights. Sebastien Haller has been a testament to it when he left West Ham and joined Ajax, where Ten Hag transformed him into a lethal striker. 

3. Implement a system where players will flourish 

If you go ask players individually who have played under the Ajax man, they will say, “his management is excellent, and all the players say they have learnt so much from him.” 

When Guardiola was managing Bayern, Erik Ten Hag was the head coach of Bayern B. He always liked producing players for the Spanish man, whom he respected and always loved talking to him.

So, Ten Hag is the type of manager who will go to players and spend an incredible amount of time on the training pitch. And at United, he won’t pay attention to star players; he will go to every player and won’t mind spending hours with them and discussing their potential in what position they can flourish. 

Ten Hag is a manager who counts on every player and will demand extra work from you. Currently, United needs this, and right now they are lacking under Ralf Rangnick. 

4. Fix transfer policy and work on the team’s structure

Last season Manchester United had a balanced squad, but they lacked a proper CDM who could set the tone of the game, which Scott McTominay failed to yield. 

This season Instead of buying a proper CDM United bought Ronaldo, who did play his role but dipped massively, and United were exposed in the midfield and defence because of not having a holding midfielder. 

So, when Ten Hag arrives at Manchester United, his first priority should be the holding midfielder. 

Ten Hag must know what role the new director John Murtough, technical director Darren Fletcher and soon-to-be advisor Rangnick will play to build a balanced squad. 

5. Giving more chances to youngsters and cutting loose the deadwood

One thing we are certain to expect at Manchester United under Ten Hag is the inclusion of more academy players in the first-team ranks.

Manchester United have been known in the past for nurturing their academy players to the first team. However, this hasn't been the case recently. 

Youngsters from the academy have always heaped praises and excelled, but the Red Devils have ignored them and promoted only one player Anthony Elanga, which is a serious issue United needs to reconsider. 

And at the same time, United should get rid of Cavani, Lingard, Eric Bailly, Juan Mata, Anthony Martial, Nemanja Matic, and goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who haven’t contributed anything this season.

Erik Ten Hag will have to revamp the entire squad and introduce the youths correctly next season.