It's hilarious they had Rangnick at the club and had him manage and not do the stuff he's actually good at. Sums them up really.
It really does. Bring in someone with a less than-mediocre coaching CV but a stellar CV as a talent spotter, allow him to build a list of talent and then throw it in the bin once a new guy comes in, who's been brought in because the less than-mediocre coach produced less than-mediocre results.
And there's not great crossover between the styles of Ten Hag and Rangnick. Ten Hag's style relies on short, intense presses in the central spaces but patient build up where you slowly move the wide forwards inside to feed off of the forward dragging the opposition markers with him. Cross-light, short central interchanges. There's not much positional fluidity outside of the front 3 because for the defence to maintain it's shape and not be got at, the whole team needs to move collectively and keep structure in the midfield and defence. Sort of a child of the original total-football idea.
Rangnick's style is more high-pressing all over, with quicker vertical transitions into wide players to hit a focal point as the end result. There's some similarities with Ten Hag's vision but more importantly some crucial differences, so if you're buying system players, it's actually probably better they didn't go for some of Rangnick's picks, as they might not have fit, but to completely dump a big list of recommended players from a man with such a good hit rate in talent finding is unforgivable.
Ajax have already received - by their standards - a decent enough fee for Gravenberch and will likely be selling Haller to Dortmund for £40m or so shortly. That takes the pressure off to sell Antony and Ajax still have rich cash reserves from selling 3 players for a combined £200m within the last two seasons. Antony will cost probably 50% more than he should, maybe as much as double. Ten Hag has worked with him, likes him, knows his talent, but if you're paying £60m for a player who plays in the same positions as three other established first teamers in your squad, when there's been such clear neglect to other crucial areas, you do wonder what the overall strategy is. £150m sounds a lot but when you spend nearly 40% of it on one player for a position they are well-stocked in, you again think of the current disconnect going through the club.
If they had any sense they'd be paying that for Ndidi or a cheaper deal like Ascacibar or Rodriguez, but they don't seem to be linked to players they need and fit the new proposed system.
Eriksen is more evidence of a lack of joined-up thinking. A player who plays in the position of one of their best players (the overrated but clearly decent Bruno Fernandes), in a system that only uses one such player, who will be on huge wages and likely subject to diminishing returns over the next 18 months. They need a centre half, a right back, two central midfielders and a proper 9 if Ronaldo goes.
