Erik ten Hag
Erik ten Hag was sacked by Manchester United last month
Former Liverpool ace Ryan Babel believes two mistakes cost Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.
The Dutch winger, who retired last month from football, played under the ex-United boss at Ajax. Babel was impressed by Ten Hag during their time together but believes the coach fell short in the Premier League.
Ten Hag won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in two seasons at Old Trafford but was unable to survive as the Red Devil's poor Premier League form saw no sign of improving. The 54-year-old was given his marching orders in October.
Babel reckons his former manager was unable to employ his tactics effectively after missing out on key transfer targets. "I experienced Ten Hag at Ajax, and he was very clear on his vision and on how he wanted to play," Babel told Instant Casino.
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"Over the years I’ve seen managers succeed and managers fail and that’s not because they are bad managers all of a sudden.
"You have the arguments as to why it didn’t work out for him at United. Did he spend money? Yes, he did, but I also think that he missed out on some of the players that he really, really wanted while he was at Manchester United.
"There were occasions where he couldn’t get his top targets and he had to divert to plan B, plan C. Maybe the players he was presented with couldn’t execute the type of football he wanted to play."
Erik ten Hag during his final Manchester United match
Erik ten Hag during his final Manchester United match ( Image: PA)
Ten Hag's second mistake according to Babel was proving inflexible. The ex-Red does not believe his former boss looked to utilise a plan B when United were clearly struggling.
"I do know that he is a great coach, he has a great vision, he has a great eye for football but, again, the Premier League is a different ball game to the Dutch way of playing," Babel added
"It is not always suitable in the Premier League to play with those principles. In the Premier League, you need to be able to adapt. You need to have a plan B for strategy. I’m not sure if he had that.
"I think he was too wedded to his plan and tried to make it work even when it was turning against him. That’s what I believe happened. It’s sad of course to see a fellow Dutchman go down like that, but I’m sure he will bounce back."
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