Gareth Southgate vs Thomas Tuchel: How would rival bosses transform Man Utd flops and who is best man for the job?

MANCHESTER UNITED have not enjoyed the bright new era they had hoped for following the arrival of Ineos.

Nine games into the season have yielded just three wins and left the new Old Trafford hierarchy with a huge decision to make on manager Erik ten Hag.

Ineos backed the Dutchman with a contract extension along with new players and coaches in the summer.

But the lifeless display in last Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Tottenham appeared to be the final straw for many disenchanted fans.

Reports after the game suggested Ten Hag had two games to save his job. The first of these ended in a 3-3 draw at Porto after going 2-0 ahead and down to ten men.

The second comes at Aston Villa on Sunday and is likely to be the day of reckoning for the former Ajax boss.

It poses the question though, who will replace Ten Hag if he is sacked? Two of the most leading candidates are Gareth Southgate and Thomas Tuchel.

The ex-England boss’ old partnership with Dan Ashworth is one reason for the Southgate links, while former Chelsea boss Tuchel turned down the job in the summer, as SunSport exclusively revealed.

Both have impressive managerial records in their own right, with Tuchel winning the Champions League with Chelsea and Southgate leading England to two European Championship finals.

But how would they apply their differing football philosophies to try to sort the mess at Old Trafford?

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He would have them play as a team

One of the biggest criticisms of United has been a shocking lack of organisation in transition, with the defensive, midfield and attacking units often too disjointed to execute an effective game plan.

Last season for example saw United’s backline exposed time and time again as the midfield pushed up to press while the defence sat back, leaving acres of space for the opposition to run into.

The positions and specific roles of the players in the team such as Bruno Fernandes, who likes to drift to where the space is, don’t help this situation.

One thing Tuchel has excelled at previously is teaching players to play in a more compact block with little space between the units that the opposition can then exploit.

Tuchel’s 5-2-3/3-4-3 shape proved very difficult to break down while also handing players a platform to spring attacks from, whether playing a high defensive line or lower block.

United have signed defenders with decent pace and have one of the strongest sweeper keepers in European football in Andre Onana, which would allow Tuchel to fully make use of his high-line system.

Southgate, however, went for a different approach during his Three Lions tenure, with England tending to sit deeper and stay as a more compact unit in matches against more even opposition.

Given the quality that United have in the final third Southgate would need to be more expansive and attacking in his approach.

Either of the two coaches would certainly be more effective in terms of turning United into an organised block that is more difficult to play through or around for opposition teams.

It is likely, however, that given the current playing squad at United, Tuchel would be better suited for the role.

Building from the back is still not working

When Ten Hag first took over at United there was a clear sense he would be looking to put in place a shape and structure that helped the team to become effective at building out from the back.

At Ajax, this method of bringing the ball out was seen as one of the cornerstones of his in-possession tactical philosophy, but this has struggled to transition into tangible terms.

With the alarming lack of a true left-back, Diogo Dalot has been asked to fulfil the role this season but comes inside as an inverted full-back to play as an extra midfielder when United are in possession.

In the match against Spurs, this prompted the North London side to push into higher positions and press man to man, forcing United into mistakes.

But Dalot rotating into the midfield with nobody to fill the left-side space simply unbalanced United and made them very easy to defend against.

Tuchel’s tactical intelligence would again come into play were he to take over from Ten Hag as United coach.

The former Bayern Munich boss is capable of creating teams that can play out from the back and through the thirds in this manner, but he understands the details of how you work to achieve this matter.

Against Spurs, Tuchel would have likely seen the value in playing more directly to bypass the man-to-man press Ange Postecoglou‘s side commit to.

Under Southgate, we saw England be more expansive in terms of the way that they wanted to build the attack.

There were, however, issues within the patterns of play as they moved the ball through the thirds and at times the players were still unsure as to how they were supposed to play.

United should have the players to be able to play out from the back in this manner, but there appear to be key details missing or a lack of execution from this plan under Ten Hag.

Once again, Tuchel appears to be a better fix for these issues than Southgate.

Tuchel would make United more balanced and effective in possession

There is no doubt Ten Hag is in a difficult situation with the presence of Fernandes as, perhaps, the key player in their team.

There is no doubt that on his day the Portuguese international midfielder is one of the best creative players in the Premier League.

The issue this season, however, appears to be that he feels like he needs to do everything and at times he is getting pulled into positions that are unbalancing the United attack in general.

This then feeds into the earlier point of United making it easy for the opposition to both defend and attack against them due to a lack of build-up options and a lack of bodies able to defend a transition.

Fernandes, of course, is not the only player this applies to. While Dalot has looked competent moving into midfield, the deeper position of Joshua Zirkzee has seen United end up in some quite strange shapes in possession.

United need a coach who understands that Fernandes is one of the key players in the team but also that the Portuguese international is more effective when he is playing in structure.

Tuchel is not the kind of coach who would allow a player to constantly break out of position and role to the detriment of the overall team structure, and would likely start by trying to give players more defined tactical roles.

Whether Southgate would be more effective in giving a player like Fernandes a more structured role is up for some debate.

Look at the role of Jude Bellingham for England during the recent European Championships.

While Bellingham was free to move and roam from the 10 position his performances dropped as the tournament went on and he would have benefitted from a more fixed position.

There is no doubt for us that United have added quality players to an already talented squad.

They seem to be missing some real structure to their play in and out of possession though. This is, without a doubt, something that Tuchel could add.

Conclusion

There is a growing sense that time at Old Trafford is running out for Ten Hag.

His team have the beginnings of an idea and identity in terms of the way he wants them to play, but the details behind it still appear to be missing.

Given the analysis of Tuchel’s and Southgate’s coaching styles in reflection of the United squad, the choice between Tuchel and Southgate appears clear.

Tuchel is a top tactical mind and appears to be the best fit for United, and the fact he remains available on the market could spark the club into action in the next few weeks.