Dutch joy as Ten Hag and Slot lead United and Liverpool into battle | Premier League

WWhen Manchester United and Liverpool clash, it attracts international attention, but across the Netherlands, the interest will be greater than usual on Sunday. 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 placed their fate in the hands of Dutch managers.

The mood was captured this week by Marco van Basten. “It’s going to be a fantastic game, especially since Ten Hag just lost,” the former Netherlands striker said, referring to United’s injury-time defeat at Brighton on Saturday. Can Slot, who started with two wins from two at Liverpool, achieve something beyond Jurgen Klopp and beat a Ten Hag team at Old Trafford?

In 2015, four Dutch managers had Premier League jobs: 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 colleagues could offer.

Slot, who is almost 46, and Ten Hag, 54, are the new standard-bearers. In the Netherlands, Slot is now held in higher regard by many and more is expected of him, even though Ten Hag has more trophies. Ten Hag’s first two seasons in England have shaped that. He won the Carabao Cup, the FA Cup and survived a change of ownership, but they were difficult campaigns with third and eighth-place finishes in the league. That he remains at United and continues to shape the squad and staff is seen as a surprise in his home country.

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,” former Tottenham player and now analyst Rafael van der Vaart said last season.

Ten Hag’s decision to bring in many compatriots and acquaintances this summer is not considered wise. Van Gaal did the same at Barcelona at the end of the last century and lost the respect of the public and the press. The difficult circumstances at United and Ten Hag’s performances at Ajax, where his team humiliated Real Madrid and Juventus in the Champions League in 2019, are fading into the background.

Former Dutch manager Co Adriaanse once remarked that coaches in the Netherlands are seen as cars. A dent is forbidden, even though a coach might learn how to avoid the next dent by 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 that is very important for the Dutch football fan – play attractive, energetic football.

The circumstances were not always easy. Slot joined Feyenoord in 2021 when the club was almost on the ground financially and sportingly and Ajax was at the top of the world under Ten Hag. But after three years with Slot at the helm, Feyenoord had the upper hand over their arch-rivals in almost all respects.

Now Ten Hag has a dent. And there is another big difference between the two: their media appearances. Even in the Netherlands, Ten Hag had trouble coming across as relaxed in front of the camera for a long time. He could stumble over his words and quickly become defensive, with eyes that looked everywhere but at the interviewer.

His English is still a work in progress. Slot walks around England as if he has been coaching there his whole life. In proper English he explains his vision, gives clear and honest analysis and makes jokes, not only with journalists but also with experts like Jamie Carragher, as if he has 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 does not want to step on toes. He will address his achievements more subtly, for example by saying that Feyenoord were not able to get experienced players like Ajax and PSV were able to.

Slot, like Ten Hag, grew up in the more rural east of the Netherlands, where big mouths are not appreciated. Ten Hag has recently been more direct in his statements to the media. “If they don’t want me anymore, I’ll go somewhere else to win trophies, because that’s what I’ve done my whole career,” he said after beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final.

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In an interview with Voetbal International he also said that people in the Netherlands were “overly lyrical” about Slot’s Feyenoord last season. But there is no real rivalry or tension between the two.

“They are both quite relaxed before the game, because they have their plan ready,” says 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 and adapts his team a bit more to the opponent. Arne sticks a bit more to the neat, attacking football that (Pep) Guardiola advocates, but he always keeps an eye open for new trends. Last season you saw a bit more influences from (Roberto) De Zerbi.”

Ramon Leeuwin, who played under Ten Hag at Utrecht and Slot at AZ, says: “I am very enthusiastic about both of them as trainers and as people and I don’t know a player who isn’t. Arne comes across as very charming from the start. He wins everyone over in a natural way: the media, the staff, the players. He is just very clear, good and witty.

“Erik, we had to get used to that in the beginning. His way of training was very tactical and the training was often stopped – sometimes you felt like a PlayStation figure. But when you feel that you are improving as a team and as an individual, that you are always excellently prepared for the match, then you start to believe in it. And Erik also has a very good sense of humor and is very loyal to people.”

Bert van Marwijk, former national coach of Feyenoord and the Netherlands, said in his column in De Telegraaf that he already saw the style that Slot wants from Liverpool. “Most coaches think that they don’t get enough time to make their mark on a team, but that’s nonsense,” he wrote.

About Ten Hag he said: “Against Brighton I saw much less of the recognisable things of the playing style he wanted. At United Ten Hag is more in a phase of a ball that just falls well or not well. That is not yet a solid basis.”

In the same newspaper, former striker Wim Kieft stated that Slot had a “better vision” than Ten Hag. “He demonstrably makes players better,” he said, although he warned that Slot would soon see that “the pressure in England is much greater than in the Netherlands.”

Ten Hag was able to tell his compatriot that on Sunday.