Erik ten Hag has claimed it's impossible to make Manchester United play like his successful Ajax team, after reflecting on the Red Devils' bitter 3-0 defeat against rivals Manchester City.
Erling Haaland netted a brace for the Premier League champions before setting up Phil Foden for City's third, as Pep Guardiola's side won the Manchester bragging rights in style on Sunday.
And Ten Hag, who watched his side slip to eighth in the Premier League table at Old Trafford, has made a stunning confession in relation to his successful Ajax team which reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2019.
'We will never play the football we played at Ajax here,' he told ViaPlay after the defeat. 'I now have other players, that's not why I came here.'
'The player material you have determines how you will play. That's why we play here in a different way than I did at Ajax. That will have to be the case, because I can't play the same way here.
'That is not in the DNA of Manchester United at all. The football at Ajax is very typical, here we will play much more directly. We also have the players for that, especially at the forefront.'
S_Kapembe
992
So this guy think that Ajax team could make even a top 6 finish in the EPL?
UEFAchampions
757
I understand what he's saying because there's too much noise surrounding the team from English media to Man united legends and pundits. In addition, the players have too much ego
jokacdlmyz
586
The Material is not the same like Ajax but you are the manager must use your skills to chenge them as Ajax products
VIKINGSB
514
Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp be like... END OF ERA!.
pythagorasofficial
457
Dude has spent over 450m and he’s still talking trash. I thought y’all said Ronaldo is the problem, then he bounced on De Gea and Sancho. Very soon, he’s going to blame someone else. Just wait and see. Imagine coach making this kind of statement. With this statement, then he doesn’t deserve to be Man United coach.
Collibsodinaka
369
ETH lack the criteria to coach Man Utd. His performances in Ajax doesn't merit Man Utd job because they lack strong competitors like other european top 5 leagues.