Manchester United appointed Erik ten Hag because they needed to change. They want to rebuild and put their dismal 2021/22 campaign behind them.
Ten Hag wants to turn United into a high-pressing team for next season, and he has now doubled down on that take. Late in 2021, Ralf Rangnick was appointed as interim manager and he wasted no time at all in looking to implement a brand of football that involved his side pressing from the front. He soon abandoned the plan.
Rangnick recently admitted he had to come to a 'compromise' with 37-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo leading the line. Ronaldo is expected to play a key role in Ten Hag's plans for next season, so it may be that Ten Hag looks back to last season in order to gauge how effective his plan could be.
ALSO READ: Every word of Ten Hag's Q&A with English press
However, he's insisted that he isn't interested in why things didn't work under previous managers. He says he wants to play a brand of pressing football and is confident he has the tools needed to make his plan work.
"I cannot talk about what is in the past," he told PA of Rangnick's failed attempt to make the team press. "I know only that I have my ideas, how I bring structure in a team and I do it in every topic of football. For me, pressing is an important factor. If you want to have initiative in a game I think it’s necessary.
“If you do that in a high block or in a low block, that is a tactic that can be both ways. I prefer to do it in a high way, in high pressing, but it will not always be the case. There’s also situations, games that you are lower. But what I demand from my team is that they press."
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