After his quick tenure at Bayer Leverkusen, Erik ten Hag is being dubbed Erik Ten Weeks by some critics.
Ten weeks is an exaggeration – his reign was truly sooner or later in need of 9 weeks, clocking in at 62 days. He lasted simply two Bundesliga video games.
He was sacked after Leverkusen threw away a 3-1 lead in opposition to 10-man Werder Bremen on Saturday, to attract 3-3.
That disappointing end result got here one week after Leverkusen misplaced to Hoffenheim of their season opener at residence. Ten Hag solely gained one aggressive recreation – a German Cup tie in opposition to a fourth-division facet.
The skilled Dutchman was appointed in late Could to switch title-winning coach Xabi Alonso, who departed for Actual Madrid, however he didn’t start work till 1 July.
At first, Leverkusen gave the impression to be satisfied he could lead on a partial rebuild, because the Werkself have been dropping quite a few key gamers, together with Florian Wirtz and Jonathan Tah.
However whereas early outcomes this season have been disappointing, they weren’t the only motive – and even the primary motive – for Ten Hag’s dismissal.
Virtually from the beginning, Ten Hag brought on irritation along with his choices and behavior.
As an example, he rescheduled a pleasant in opposition to Flamengo’s under-20s crew throughout Leverkusen’s coaching camp in Brazil. The sport was performed 4 days sooner than initially deliberate and Leverkusen misplaced 5-1 in fairly an upset.
Across the identical time, Ten Hag took a stance in opposition to Granit Xhaka’s departure, saying the midfield chief ought to remain and that Leverkusen had misplaced sufficient key gamers already.
Nevertheless, Leverkusen had made it identified that Xhaka might depart if the best provide got here in. He went to Sunderland.
As well as, Ten Hag criticised his gamers for not being match sufficient, despite the fact that he and his workers had overseen pre-season.
And he has been accused of missing the form of charisma essential to guide any formidable top-flight crew, however particularly a newly assembled group of gamers. He appeared to wrestle with convincing gamers of his concepts. Sources near the membership recommend he gave lacklustre pre-match talks.
Earlier than the season opener in opposition to Hoffenheim, it has been mentioned Ten Hag did not even give a pre-match speak.
In distinction, Spaniard Alonso tried his greatest to enhance his German and his management expertise as a supervisor throughout his tenure at Leverkusen.
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