RocktheCasbah Hahah hope so.
Ten Hag has done a good job but it would be interesting how Man United react from such a shambolic performance. I'd say he's learned quickly from his mistakes and made some smart decisions so far. At the start, it appeared he wanted Man United to play dominant attacking football (insisting on always playing out from the back) but that defeat to Brentford was a reality check for him and he seemed to be in shock. He quickly changed tack, and switched to a game plan based on letting the opposition have the ball, too much running and hitting teams on the break. That moved paid off as they defeated us and Liverpool at home in subsequent matches and have gone on to pick up a lot of points playing that way.
Although results have been impressive, I'd say he's only done the easy bit so far. To provide some context, Ten Hag is a manager in the mould of Guardiola, Arteta etc. He likes playing dominant attacking football, that is in his DNA as a coach. He's in a kinda similar position to Arteta when he 1st joined us, who we all know decided to focus on us being compact and playing on the break - that's how we won the FA cup. But then the following season he tried to play more in a way that matches his philosophy as a coach and that was when our struggles started and led to a lot of people doubting him. That transition from being a reactive team to a dominant one has been tough, it took a lot of change in personnel and time on the training ground before our players finally "got it".
So Ten Hag also has to, at one point, make that switch from being a reactive team to a team that mainly plays in the opposition half with a lot of pace behind the defensive line, and I suspect it will this summer. If he can get Man United playing that way and at the same time challenging for the title, that in itself would be an unbelievable achievement. Personally, I think it would be a very risky thing for him to do in the next 12-15 months as some of their best players aren't suited to that style. Bruno for example, isn't patient enough on the ball to play in a dominant side IMO and Rashford would be nowhere be as good in such a system, he'll always be a counter attacking player. I have actually been secretly hoping after their impressive run of results this season that Ten Hag would get arrogant and decide to play that way but he's resisted so far. Hopefully he decides to do it next season and if he does, how quickly his team adapts to that change in style will determine whether he succeeds or fails at Man United IMO.
