In the weeks before his sacking in October 2024, Manchester United’s manager at the time, Erik ten Hag, gave an interview to Dutch publication Voetbal International that contained a rather harsh assessment of the now under-fire Liverpool boss, Arne Slot.
Ten Hag would be replaced by Ruben Amorim and move on to Bayer Leverkusen to succeed Xabi Alonso at the end of the season, a job he only held on to for three competitive matches before being sacked at the beginning of September. Since then, the 56-year-old has taken up a role with FC Twente, moving away from management and becoming their Technical Director.
Ten Hag Takes Aim at Arne Slot
erik ten hag
Ten Hag suggested Slot had been handed a far more comfortable situation at Anfield than the one he walked into at Old Trafford in the summer of 2022. He made reference to how Jurgen Klopp and his assistant Pep Lijnders had left behind a squad that was already built, already balanced, and capable of challenging at the very top.
"He comes into a better position than I did at the time when I went to Manchester United from the Netherlands, in terms of structure at the club, in terms of balance in the selection."
He went further, taking aim at the reputation Slot had built at Feyenoord before his move to Liverpool. "People have been going overly lyrical about Feyenoord," Ten Hag said.
"Feyenoord were steady this year, but not top. PSV Eindhoven were two classes better in all areas. In terms of dominating the ball, in terms of putting pressure, in terms of intensity, you name it. [Peter] Bosz and his staff did that top-notch, but the rest of the club is also well put together. PSV Eindhoven were better than the rest by such a long distance, even so much better than Feyenoord."
Ten Hag was equally passionate in defending what he’d achieved at United. He pointed out that he’d won trophies in each of his two seasons at Old Trafford. The League Cup in his first year and the FA Cup in his second, while navigating a club he described as being in a "mess" when he arrived following a decade of underachievement after Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement.
His plans to build on a third-place finish in his debut season were significantly undermined by injuries, with United eventually finishing eighth the following year.
What Time Has Done To Ten Hag's Words
Arne Slot
This is where it gets interesting. At the time of the interview, Ten Hag's comments read as the slightly bitter words of a manager who sensed the end was coming and wanted to make his mark on the way out. With the benefit of hindsight, his words look rather different today.
Slot had a fine debut season at Liverpool by most measures, winning their second Premier League title. But the suggestion that he inherited a squad ready to challenge, rather than one that required significant rebuilding, is difficult to argue against. Klopp did leave him a strong foundation. But fast-forward to today, and Liverpool are in a totally different situation.
They’re coming to the end of a trophyless season, where they never put up a defence of their title at any point, after spending over £400 million on new recruits such as Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz.
Ten Hag, meanwhile, walked into a club that was still searching for its identity a decade after its greatest ever manager walked away. Whether ten Hag was the right man for the job at United long-term, can’t be answered, but his reading of Slot's situation, however self-serving it may have appeared at the time, wasn’t entirely wrong.