Whenever Manchester United and Liverpool clash it grabs international attention but across the Netherlands on Sunday interest will be higher than normal. In one dugout at Old Trafford: Erik ten Hag. In the other: Arne Slot. There is an undisguised pride in their home country that two of the world’s biggest clubs have put their fate in the hands of Dutch managers.
The mood was captured this week by Marco van Basten. “It will be a fantastic match, especially as Ten Hag just lost,” the former Netherlands striker said, referring to United’s injury-time defeat at Brighton last Saturday. Can Slot, who has started with two wins from two at Liverpool, achieve something that was beyond Jürgen Klopp and beat a Ten Hag side at Old Trafford?
In 2015 four Dutch managers had Premier League jobs in Guus Hiddink (Chelsea), Dick Advocaat (Sunderland), Louis van Gaal (Manchester United) and Ronald Koeman (Southampton). But there was a need for a new, modern generation. Dutch coaches seemed to lack what their German, Argentinian and Spanish counterparts could offer.
Slot, who is almost 46, and Ten Hag, 54, are the new standard bearers. In the Netherlands at the moment Slot is held by many in higher regard and carries the greater expectation, even though Ten Hag has more trophies. Ten Hag’s first two seasons in England have shaped that. He won the Carabao Cup, FA Cup and survived an ownership revamp but they were difficult campaigns with third- and eighth-place league finishes. That he remains at United, continuing to shape the squad and staff, is regarded as a surprise in his homeland.
Ten Hag is not getting the consistency or quality he achieved at Ajax, Utrecht and Go Ahead Eagles. “If you see what he is allowed to invest, it is just very bad,” the former Tottenham player turned pundit Rafael van der Vaart said last season.
That Ten Hag brought in a lot of countrymen and acquaintances this summer isn’t regarded as wise. Van Gaal did the same at Barcelona at the end of the last century and lost credit with the public and press. The difficult circumstances at United and Ten Hag’s achievements at Ajax, where his team humiliated Real Madrid and Juventus in the Champions League in 2019, are drawn to the background a bit.
The Dutch former manager Co Adriaanse once noted that coaches in the Netherlands are regarded like cars. A dent is forbidden, even though a coach might learn how to avoid the next dent because of the first one. The Dutch want cool, new cars without scratches.
And Slot is that flashy, undamaged car. He made Cambuur, AZ and Feyenoord perform much better, but also – and this is very important to Dutch football lovers – played attractive, energetic football.
The circumstances weren’t always easy. Slot joined Feyenoord in 2021 when the club had almost hit rock bottom, in financial and sporting terms, and Ajax, under Ten Hag, were on top of the world. But after three years with Slot at the helm Feyenoord had the upper hand over their arch-rivals in almost every way.
Now Ten Hag has a dent. And there is another big difference between the pair: their media appearances. Even in the Netherlands Ten Hag struggled for a long time to come across as relaxed in front of the camera. He could stumble over his words and would quickly go into defensive mode, eyes looking everywhere but at the interviewer.
His English remains a work in progress. Slot walks around in England as if he has been coaching there for ever. In decent English he explains his vision, gives clear and honest analysis and jokes not only with journalists but with pundits such as Jamie Carragher, as if he shared the Anfield pitch with him for years.
Slot, whose father was a teacher and who is married to a teacher, is quite clever with words and anxious not to step on toes. He will more subtly point out his achievements, dropping in for example that Feyenoord were not able to get experienced players in the way Ajax and PSV were.
Slot, like Ten Hag, grew up in the more rural east of the Netherlands where big mouths are not appreciated. Ten Hag, though, has been more forthright in his media utterances lately. “If they don’t want me any more then I go anywhere else to win trophies because that is what I did my whole career,” he said after beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
In an interview with Voetbal International he also said people in the Netherlands were “overly lyrical” about Slot’s Feyenoord last season. But there is no real rivalry or tension between the pair.
“They are both quite relaxed before the match because they have their plan ready,” says the former Heerenveen coach Kees van Wonderen, who often crossed swords with Ten Hag and Slot. “But they are alert to what can happen. Erik is perhaps a bit more pragmatic at the moment, adapting his team a bit more to the opponent. Arne is a bit more attached to stick to the neat, attacking football that [Pep] Guardiola advocates, but he is always keeping an eye open for new trends. You saw a bit more [Roberto] De Zerbi influences last season.”
Ramon Leeuwin, who played under Ten Hag at Utrecht and Slot at AZ, says: “I’m very enthusiastic about both of them as coaches and people, and I don’t know any player who isn’t. Arne comes across very charming from the very first moment. He wins everyone over in a natural way: the media, the staff, the players. He is just very clear, good and quick-witted.
“Erik, we had to get used to in the beginning. His way of training was very tactical and training was often stopped – sometimes you felt like a PlayStation figure. But if you feel that you are improving as a team and as an individual, that you are always excellently prepared for the match, you start to believe in it. And Erik also has a very good sense of humour and is extremely loyal to people.”
Bert van Marwijk, a former Feyenoord and Netherlands coach, said in his De Telegraaf column that he could already see the style Slot wants from Liverpool. “Most trainers think that they don’t get enough time to put their signature on a team, but that’s nonsense,” he wrote.
Of Ten Hag he said: “Against Brighton I saw much less of the recognisable things about the style of play he wanted. Ten Hag is more in a phase with United of a ball that just does or doesn’t fall well. That is not yet a solid foundation.”
In the same newspaper the former striker Wim Kieft stated that Slot had a “better vision” than Ten Hag. “He demonstrably makes players better,” he said, though he warned Slot would soon see “the pressure in England is much greater than in the Netherlands”.
Ten Hag could tell his countryman all about that this Sunday.
If there is a directors’ box in paradise, Johan Cruyff, the architect of modern football, will surely be taking a VIP seat to watch this weekend’s Premier League “Dutch derby” between Manchester United and Liverpool.
Cruyff’s legacy hovers over a fixture that routinely attracts global TV audiences of 500 million and will this year captivate football fans in Amsterdam and Rotterdam as much as in Salford and Bootle.
United’s Erik ten Hag and Liverpool’s Arne Slot built their reputation coaching Cruyff’s former Eredivisie sides, Ajax and Feyenoord and their vision is rooted in the Dutch master’s work.
“The incredible thing with my father is it is a never-ending, beautiful story. He was a legend and immortal,” says Johan’s son, Jordi, a former director of FC Barcelona. “My father used to say, ‘my wallet and my trophies do not fit in the coffin. What am I really leaving behind?’
“What people want to see is enjoyable, offensive football – to be happy with the effort and the intent and to be proud of the team. That was the religion of my father.”
The obvious follow-up question is: which Premier League coach is the most effective disciple of Cruyff’s total football? The answer, of course, is the one Ten Hag and Slot must overtake, Pep Guardiola.
“Pep always mentions my father and we are super grateful and immensely proud for that,” says Cruyff. “Although as a family we think that he has modernised it and all the credit is his own.”
“In general, the Dutch way is to say, ‘I am not afraid to lose, I play to win’,” says Cruyff. “It doesn’t matter who it is against, or if it is an away game, if we play well, the statistics show we are more likely to win, so I want to dominate, I want to play my game, I want to be the boss on the pitch and press as high as I can.
“This is typically Dutch, but it is no longer just Dutch. It has expanded across all levels. You see it with Spain because there is an obvious synchronisation between Spain and Holland and the way Barcelona played for many, many years.
“In Germany, the champion is a Spanish coach. In France, the champion is a Spanish coach. In England, the champion is a Spanish coach. Maybe there are small details that differ, but the philosophy is there.
“My father would prefer to win 5-4 than 1-0. I think 90 per cent of coaches prefer 1-0, but he had this romantic feeling. Pep also has it, although he would prefer to win 5-0!”
Cruyff says judgements as to whether Ten Hag or Slot most closely reflects those ideals, have to be made in the context of the conditions they are working in.
“Slot has brought that typical Dutch way of playing to Liverpool,” says Cruyff. “He knows how to combine what is needed for modern football. The challenge is to bring this into a game of such speed, knowing the English way is so different.
When you look at the big leagues, Spain is more technical and England is more transitional. There are good players with technique, of course, but the games are much more about a lot of back and forth, very fast.
“On Tuesday you can have a game go one way [tactically], and on Saturday you might play a team that goes with long balls and you need a different adaptation. That is the beauty of the Premier League. But Slot is definitely ready for this step.
“Ten Hag made the step a while ago for what he did with Ajax. Ajax has always been a huge ‘export’ club. If you do well at Ajax all the markets are open. Feyenoord is also a huge club, but with Feyenoord you have to do a lot to be seen.
“Feyenoord is not a team that won the league seven times over 10 years, so Slot has done very well and he made a clever decision waiting for a year when Spurs came for him and he decided to stay.”
Cruyff believes Ten Hag shares many familiar Dutch traits. The Old Trafford manager famously quizzed – or more precisely lectured – his idol Johan as a 13-year-old appearing on Dutch TV. Cruyff Jnr almost appointed the United manager when sporting director of Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2016, opting instead for the then more experienced Peter Bosz. He suggests it is now, under a “calmer” United board, that a fairer assessment of Ten Hag can be made.
“United is a club that has been waiting to make that next step up again,” says the former United winger. “It has all the potential, but it has not been easy with the ownership situation and now new people coming in. It has not been the ideal moment because sometimes you need 100 per cent stability to get the maximum from yourself and the team.
“When it is unstable it is more difficult. But now is the moment Ten Hag will really be expected to produce. People will be saying, ‘you have everything the club needs’ with stability, new people coming in and the players he has been able to bring.
“The FA Cup gave Ten Hag more time and belief. It was an important moment for him. He is bringing more players he has worked with before, so you would imagine that will bring the Dutch style he wants. From the outside, it looks like he is surrounding himself with more people who understand what he wants and expects.
“Now you have to do it, whereas Slot is at the beginning and will have more patience.”
Sitting in his plush Barcelona apartment preparing for his own return to coaching after a two-year spell as sporting director at the Nou Camp ended last year, Cruyff recognises the genetic trail from Rinus Michels to his father and every aspiring coach.
When appointed at Anfield, Slot remarked on the “expectation” at the biggest clubs to play possession football back to front, while also being open to tactical flexibility.
“If a coach stays with what was happening 30 years ago, they are already falling behind,” says Cruyff. “It is about certain characteristics to play to win and play in the opponent’s half. There are many different ways to play to win, of course.
“I am always shocked when I see some images from the World Cup in 1974. You see Holland playing the offside trap so high up the pitch and when you look at it now, it looks crazy. Seriously, look it up. What that shows is how much football is always evolving.
“I am still curious if the fans in England still prefer for the keeper to kick it long and play for the second ball. Is there still nervousness if the keeper risks too much from the back, or do the fans enjoy it? I think it depends on the club’s DNA. Now, even in the lower leagues, you see goalkeepers taking a lot of risks and I love it.
“This idea of the goalkeeper being an extra player started with my father. He did not see the keeper only as someone to stop balls. He wanted a better build-up. This was a discussion as far back as 1986-87 when Carles Busquets [Sergio Busquets’s father] was the example. My father would tell him to play 20 or 30 yards out of his area to be like [Franz] Beckenbauer.
”Then it was a huge shock to people. Now it is normal. My father also played his full-backs inside and believed in the multi-system which Pep now evolves so much. If the opponent played with only one striker, he asked, ‘why do I need four defenders?’ He would rather have more players in midfield.”
Cruyff hopes the appointment of Ten Hag and Slot to such stellar positions reflects a renaissance of Dutch coaches after a period out of fashion at elite clubs.
“I have worked as a sporting director and on the coaching side and now I would like to go back into coaching. I think it is an advantage to have both visions,” he says.
“Football goes in cycles and there was a time when there were a lot of Dutch coaches at top teams. Then it went quiet for a little while. Suddenly Portugal went up and there were a lot of Portuguese coaches at big clubs in Europe.
“To have two Dutch coaches at England’s two historical red clubs is a moment of pride for the Dutch people. It is beautiful to see and it will be a special game on Sunday.”
