As Erik ten Hag gears up to take charge of Manchester United for the first time with pre-season set to enter its flow, many fans of the club will be in the dark over what to expect from the club's newly appointed manager in a more tactical sense.
Whilst Ten Hag's principles are clear, largely centred around domination through attack-based possession, aggression and proactivity on and off the ball, there is plenty more to ponder in a deeper respect with regards to particular technicalities.
The first key element to touch on is fluidity. Positional interchangeability is often evident in Ten Hag's outfits, allowing creation of space and engineering unpredictability in order to disjoint opposing sides. Such exchanges of positions between players through their movement is integral in opening up gaps, which act as passing lanes or channels to make runs into, enhancing the ability to create chances.
Runs off the ball are said to "destroy" opponents of Ten Hag's teams, whilst the pace at which his sides execute particular actions, whether it be interchanges or phases of interplay, is enough to muddle markers and engineer openings. Given that much of their play is within the final third, the aforementioned abundance of movement is frequently vital in generating space in and around the penalty area.
In terms of build-up patterns, however, there is not any necessarily defined or consistent feature in Ten Hag's tactical catalogue, which further adds infliction of an element of uncertainty for the opposition. He is known to use variations of 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 formations, with the two sometimes moulded together within matches. For instance, the likes of Donny van de Beek or Bruno Fernandes may be required to operate in a flexible role as both a 'number ten' and 'number eight'.
The success of different approaches is majorly proven by Ten Hag's willingness to use a false nine in phases and a more orthodox striker at other times. His 2018/19 Ajax side that reached the Champions League semi-finals often saw Dusan Tadic effectively operate as a false nine, whilst Sebastian Haller excelled last season as a trademark striker providing a more pronounced focal point. In the case of the former option, an effective interchange would sometimes occur between the most attacking midfield player (Van de Beek) and the centre-forward.
One thing is certain: players have to be multifunctional and willing to adjust their skillsets where necessary to contribute to the overarching theme of fluidity in its different senses.
The defensive set-up and varying roles of defenders in Ten Hag's teams are often standout as some of the most noticeable, and influential, features. When in possession, his four-man defence often turn in to a block of three; one full-back inverts and tucks into the midfield in this instance, with the opposite full-back operating as an auxiliary centre-back. Here, the system appears a 3-2-2-3, with three defenders, the remaining full-back alongside a deeper-lying midfielder, two more advanced midfielders and and attacking trio.
Equally, the full-backs have license to operate in a more routine, familiar manner. Ten Hag likes to engineer overloads inside the final third, which can be achieved by allowing his full-backs to push forward. If the case is that the full-backs are permitted to join the attack, the deeper-lying midfielder operates as an anchor and shields the centre-backs, sometimes dropping further to create a back three.
The complexities can stretch as far as a roaming, box-to-box midfielder dropping amongst the defence to orchestrate the play, supporting a deep-lying midfielder that can also be relied upon to play-make.
One constant in the majority of Ten Hag's systematic iterations is the pivotal role played by wide players, especially those similar to Marcus Rashford's profile - encouraging for a player who has been lacking confidence and is in need of rejuvenation. Width, whether it is achieved through wingers or full-backs, is a major part of Ten Hag's ethos in order to stretch the field of play.
A strategy often deployed is that the wingers drift wide to allow the full-backs to underlap, or in the case of inverted wingers as Ten Hag likes, there is scope for them to shift inside to engineer space for the full-backs to overlap. Decoy runs from those in wide areas can also help to stretch the opposition; even those off the ball and not directly involved have key roles under Ten Hag.
For avoidance of doubt, the talk of fluidity and need for adaptability doesn't render Ten Hag's sides incoherent in the slightest. At all times there remains clear structure and discipline - both of which have been recent absent at United.
The structure that Ten Hag manages to create despite all of the interchanges has been likened to splitting the pitch into five sections lengthways: the wide areas, half-spaces and central area. The divides form a basis for run-making and movement, ensuring no area becomes too congested.
So, given the complicated nature of many of Ten Hag's tactics, pre-season will be massively important for the imposition of his principles. Speaking to club media, the manager said: "You know we want to transfer our way of playing and we can test that."
It will be an interesting few weeks building up towards the season opener at Old Trafford against Brighton & Hove Albion on the seventh of August.
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