Ten Hag on his love of Twente and player overload
24/09/2024
Carrington training centre, Mancheseter, UK
24/09/2024
Carrington training centre, Mancheseter, UK
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Good morning.
00:02Good morning.
00:24Yes, good morning. Nice to be here.
00:26Welcome.
00:28Nice to see you. Long time no see.
00:30Thank you. 23 years with Twente.
00:34That's special for you.
00:36What has Twente brought to you, Erik?
00:38Also in your career.
00:40Yes, a lot.
00:44I've been in the professional team.
00:48Went through the whole academy.
00:50Was in the spotlight.
00:52The first team.
00:54The first youth team.
00:56After years of disbanding.
01:02I have a lot of history there.
01:04Diepman.
01:06The Arkenstadion.
01:08The Grolsveste.
01:10In different positions.
01:12Fantastic times.
01:14That has brought me a lot.
01:16Do you still follow Twente?
01:20I follow their football.
01:22Twente is the team I follow the most.
01:26You are very busy.
01:28Do you have time to watch the matches?
01:30No, I watch them as a fan.
01:32I don't watch them as a supporter.
01:34I don't watch them as an analyst.
01:38Normally you watch matches analytically.
01:40But I don't watch Twente.
01:44At least not for this match.
01:46That's true.
01:56It must have been very special.
01:58What did Twente bring you?
02:02Twente has brought me a lot.
02:08I was put through their academy.
02:12I was part of the generation
02:14of the first youth team.
02:18When the youth competition
02:20was started up again
02:22after many years.
02:24So for me there is a great deal
02:26of history there.
02:28The Diekmann stadium.
02:32The next stadium and now the Grolsveste.
02:38The next question was
02:40do you follow Twente?
02:42Do you watch their games?
02:44The answer
02:46of all the teams
02:48Twente is the team
02:50that I follow the most.
02:52Question.
02:54But do you have time to do that?
02:56Answer.
02:58I watch them as a fan.
03:00As a supporter.
03:02Not as an analyst.
03:04It's a different way
03:06of watching their games.
03:22The chance was there.
03:24In the new lineup
03:26of the Europa League.
03:28But there are a lot of cross-relations
03:30between Manchester United
03:32and FC Twente.
03:34That goes first for
03:36Rene and me.
03:38But also for Ruud.
03:40I have also worked
03:42with a number of players
03:44from FC Twente at Ajax.
03:46So there are a lot of connections.
03:48Do you enjoy playing against Twente?
03:52I don't know where that is.
03:54I would have preferred to play against other teams.
03:56But now you have to enjoy it.
03:58It has been a
04:00confronting week.
04:02Last week for Dutch football.
04:04In the Champions League of course.
04:06What expectations do you have
04:08about the difference in strength
04:10in the Europa League?
04:12It's hard to say.
04:14But it's clear.
04:16I think Dutch football
04:18has had a
04:20upsurge in 2019.
04:22We have scored a lot of points.
04:24With Ajax,
04:26Feyenoord, PSV
04:28last year as well.
04:30Now it seems
04:32that because of the success
04:34you have had
04:36you play in stronger competitions.
04:38And then
04:40it seems
04:42that it is going in the other direction.
04:44Dutch football will have to
04:46stop that process.
04:48Do you think that is something
04:50that can be fixed?
04:54I have always said
04:56that it is not easy for a Dutch club
04:58to get far in Europe.
05:00There were a number of teams
05:02and I think
05:04especially Ajax.
05:06Feyenoord have scored
05:08a lot of points in the last year.
05:10They have come a long way in Europe.
05:18Another question.
05:22Manchester United
05:24being picked to play against
05:26FC Twente
05:28must have been quite a surprise.
05:30What did you say to one another
05:32about those names
05:34being drawn?
05:36The answer?
05:38There is a great deal of
05:40connections to and fro between
05:42MUFC and
05:44FC Twente.
05:46Between me
05:48and Rene Haaker
05:50and me and Ruud.
05:52Also connections
05:54forged through the various Ajax
05:56players that we have all been involved with.
05:58Question.
06:00Are you pleased to be playing
06:02against Twente?
06:04The answer?
06:06I would have preferred to have played
06:08against somebody else.
06:10It is not nice
06:12to have to hurt something you love.
06:14Question.
06:16With the developments
06:18in the Champions League in the Netherlands
06:20lately,
06:22has that altered your
06:24expectations as to
06:26the difference
06:28in might between
06:30teams in this championship?
06:32The answer?
06:36Dutch football since 2018
06:38has only been on the rise.
06:40We have been scoring a lot of points.
06:42Lots of teams have participated
06:44in this tournament.
06:46AZ, Feyenoord,
06:48PSV.
06:50But the more success
06:52Dutch football has in this arena,
06:54the more likely that it may have to
06:56start going in the other direction.
06:58So the next follow-on
07:00question is, have we been spoiled
07:02by Dutch football?
07:04The answer?
07:06It is not always
07:08easy for Dutch teams to get
07:10very far in a European tournament.
07:12But notwithstanding,
07:14a lot of our teams,
07:16such as Ajax,
07:18Feyenoord, have
07:20gained a great deal of points
07:22and have come far in this competition.
07:40Do you have any memories
07:42from this tournament?
07:44One of the
07:46memories that
07:48stayed with me for a long time
07:50was the game
07:52between FC Twente and Ipswich Town.
07:54Twente played
07:56in England
07:58and played
08:00a great game there.
08:02The example
08:04was the positional play.
08:06I think they had the ball
08:08in possession.
08:10Ipswich Town
08:12and midfield with
08:14Frans Thijssen, Arnold Muren
08:16and Kik van der Valk.
08:18It was a great game between
08:20FC Twente in the mid-1970s.
08:22The games
08:24that stayed with me
08:26were the games we played
08:28against Olympique Marseille
08:30with FC Twente.
08:32I was involved as an assistant coach.
08:34That is also an image
08:36that stays with me.
08:38It was a great game
08:40against a great team.
08:42Did you see it on TV?
08:44No, I saw it on TV.
08:46I think the BBC even made a movie about it.
08:48About the game?
08:50Yes, about the positional play
08:52of FC Twente at the time.
08:54A beautiful childhood memory.
08:56That is a childhood memory, yes.
09:06You must have seen
09:08a lot of their games
09:10as a player, a coach and a fan.
09:12What memories
09:14do you specifically have of any
09:16particular games that FC Twente
09:18played in the past?
09:20The answer?
09:22One particularly memorable
09:24game that FC Twente played was
09:26away at Ipswich Town.
09:28It was a very
09:30fine example of a position
09:32game where Twente
09:34had possession
09:36of the ball a great deal.
09:38Some of the players in that team
09:40were Frans Dijsse,
09:42Arnold Muurer,
09:44Gitte van der Vaal. I think it was sometime
09:46in the mid-seventies.
09:48And then another
09:50spectacular away game
09:52for FC Twente that I remember
09:54as an assistant trainer was playing against
09:56Olympique Marseille.
09:58And then the question
10:00was, did you
10:02attend the Ipswich away game?
10:04To which the answer was no.
10:06I saw it on TV. I think the BBC
10:08actually did
10:10a special
10:12feature on it because it was such
10:14a good example of position
10:16play.
10:18OK. And now we move on
10:20to English questions.
10:22Simon.
10:24We're obviously going to see
10:26training a little later, but is there anyone
10:28going to be back available to this match?
10:30No.
10:32No difference to the squad
10:34from last Saturday against
10:36Palace.
10:38With Luke Shaw, when are you expecting him to be
10:40back available? Are you expecting
10:42him back before the international break?
10:44I think it's
10:46probably,
10:48but I can't say it's
10:50100% sure. Is that back in training
10:52or back available for matches?
10:54The plan is
10:56just be back before, but
10:58as I say, I can't say it's 100%
11:00for sure.
11:02It can be also short after the
11:04break.
11:06All cup competitions
11:08are important, but given the
11:10increased competition for a top-four place
11:12in the Premier League, and the fact
11:14there's a Champions League place for the winners of this competition,
11:16does that place extra
11:18significance on this tournament for you and
11:20the club as a whole, in terms of
11:22trying your best to win it?
11:24Yes, I think so.
11:26It's
11:28an opportunity, and
11:30there are more roads to achieve
11:32the targets you want, and
11:34this is definitely also a road.
11:36Of course, it's
11:38the most difficult, probably,
11:40because in a tournament
11:42of 32,
11:44you have to be the best,
11:46but
11:48it's a target,
11:50and it's a road we want to go.
11:52So would you say winning this tournament
11:54is harder than getting a top-four place
11:56in the Premier League?
11:58That's because
12:00in the end you get knock-out states,
12:02but I think it's don't look
12:04too far ahead from game to game.
12:06Let's first do 20, but
12:08as you know,
12:10we want to win all the competitions
12:12we are taking part in, and this
12:14is one of them, but you have to go game by game,
12:16and let's first focus on the first game.
12:18Hi, Eric.
12:20I know the format's in its infancy,
12:22but you could finish
12:2424th in this league format
12:26and still be in the competition.
12:28There are more games,
12:30Rodri complained about it last week.
12:32Are you a fan of the new format,
12:34or do you think it's becoming too much
12:36for the players?
12:38I think there are
12:40two things you address here.
12:42First of all, the format,
12:44and
12:46the format, I think we have to
12:48take this experience and then judge.
12:50But, yeah,
12:52one thing is for sure, I think every
12:54match is significant,
12:56and probably every goal is
12:58significant.
13:00First you get also
13:02a split after January
13:04where the first eight teams qualify,
13:06and that can help you in February
13:08to continue, but
13:10when you're in the first 24,
13:12you can win this
13:14competition.
13:16So there's always an option to win it.
13:18The second part of it,
13:20but we discussed it
13:22so many times,
13:24there are too many games,
13:26it's clear.
13:28Too many competitions for the top players,
13:30they are overloaded,
13:32and this is not good for football.
13:34In the end of the day,
13:36it's maybe good for commercial,
13:38but there is
13:40a limit.
13:42Players get
13:44injured, it's almost
13:46unaffordable,
13:48because of the overload from so many
13:50games.
13:52Just on that, does that overload of games
13:54and the amount of games that you're going to have to play
13:56affect the way that you pick teams,
13:58particularly for a game in the Europa League tomorrow?
14:00And particularly because of what happened
14:02with the injuries last year, because obviously
14:04the injuries just decimated your squad last year and it affected your form.
14:06Are you going to be more cautious
14:08in the way that you pick teams
14:10for these games and all these competitions?
14:12But in all the games, I already
14:14did this on Saturday.
14:18Is that going to have to be the case going forward as well?
14:20We need
14:22a squad, more than 11,
14:24to line up.
14:26We need more players.
14:28And then from game to game,
14:30we will pick a team,
14:32but you can't address it,
14:34this is the best 11
14:36in this moment.
14:38And we will see, and of course,
14:40form is
14:42part of it, tactics
14:44is also part of it, but definitely
14:46the management of the load
14:48of the players is definitely part of it.
14:52So far you've got
14:54a goal difference of zero, but you've scored
14:56five goals, so obviously allowed five in.
14:58I think you had a minus goal difference last season.
15:00Are you concerned, I know you were without Rasmus Hoyland
15:02for example, but he was available last season
15:04and you didn't do particularly well.
15:06So are you concerned your attacks will be toothless
15:08again this season?
15:10Are you concerned your attacks
15:12are going to fail again this season, not scoring enough goals?
15:16We create a lot of chances
15:18in the
15:20first games of the season.
15:22Last week we scored seven against Barnsley,
15:24so we are capable of scoring
15:26many goals.
15:28But it's a part of the game
15:30and we have to be
15:32better, we have to improve, we have to
15:34kill more
15:36in the box.
15:38For the players, your attackers, is it a mental feeling?
15:40They're obviously talented enough technically
15:42to be here, but is it just a sort of mental
15:44focus for them to
15:46score more maybe?
15:48I think there are different
15:50aspects on this.
15:52Most important is
15:54that you create chances, and that is
15:56what we're doing in this moment.
16:00We create a lot
16:02of good moments, we are very
16:04creative and we have
16:06many opportunities to score goals.
16:08We have to keep this process going,
16:10and of course, finishing, we have to
16:12work on it.
16:14Eric, just on the games
16:16and the loading, how can you as a club
16:18change that? It seems like this kind of stuff
16:20gets made by the authorities and you have to go along
16:22with it. Would you have to consider
16:24going on strike potentially as players?
16:26I think
16:28as a club,
16:30alone, you can't change
16:32this. It's more about
16:34the total industry.
16:36It's about clubs
16:38and players and coaches
16:40and so
16:42many others
16:44who are there
16:46in the environment
16:48of football, who have to work on this
16:50to improve the game, but of course
16:52to find the right balance, because
16:54at the end of the day, it's financial.
16:56And also, we are
16:58professional, so
17:00revenues have to come, but
17:02we have to balance this out.
17:04Last question.
17:06Eric, you were obviously talking about
17:08having to rotate, you said you did that
17:10on Saturday, and when you did, you left out Marcus Rufferford
17:12and there was a lot of attention around that.
17:14Do you feel
17:16we're sometimes too quick to criticise,
17:18considering you're trying to balance so much that we probably
17:20don't understand what's going on with the players
17:22and what's going on behind the scenes?
17:24I didn't understand
17:26the criticism in this.
17:29But, yeah,
17:31people are entitled.
17:33If they want to, but
17:35they are not entitled to bring
17:37speculation in.
17:39If I give an explanation,
17:41then they have to trust my words
17:43and to trust my explanation.
17:45And that's not right.
17:47OK, thank you very much.