Former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel is adamant that Ineos should stick with Erik ten Hag following Sunday's exhilarating 4-3 FA Cup triumph over Liverpool, insisting a change could do more harm than good.
01.03.2024 - 20:09 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
When Erik ten Hag was in charge of Bayern Munich's B team some at the club had a nickname for him: Mini Pep. This had more going for it that just a similar look up top, as it were. The Dutchman was preaching a style and a philosophy similar to Pep Guardiola's.
The two men didn't see an awful lot of each other at Saebener Strasse. In many ways, their jobs were quite separate. Their teams were competing in different leagues with different targets. But what they did share was an obsession for football and this led to the nickname that Ten Hag was, in effect, just a Dutch Guardiola.
That comparison would have thrilled United fans when Ten Hag was appointed at Old Trafford ahead of the 2022/23 campaign and for much of that season he looked like the man who was finally going to take the fight to Manchester City. But ahead of his 100th game in charge this weekend, that narrative has turned and there is a groundswell of opinion that this might be his last league derby as United manager.
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In reality, the idea Ten Hag is a 'mini' version of Guardiola doesn't really pass the litmus test. He's actually the older man by 11 months, for starters, but having been apprentice to the master in Munich, their paths have converged in Manchester. This will be their fifth meeting in a derby, but Guardiola has three wins to Ten Hag's one and nobody seriously expects the tally to improve in the latter's favour at the Etihad.
But there is a mutual respect between the two men and Guardiola even touted Ten Hag as a potential candidate to take over from him at City, before that ship
Former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel is adamant that Ineos should stick with Erik ten Hag following Sunday's exhilarating 4-3 FA Cup triumph over Liverpool, insisting a change could do more harm than good.
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