After Rajue decided to keep Ten Hag in his post, his Manchester United coaching staff made a lot of changes, first not renewing the contract of attacking coach McCarthy, and then Romano reported that former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy returned to replace McCarthy, and today Romano said that Ten Hag's contract extension is almost complete, and also brought a manager-level Rennie Haque to the coaching staff, as for what position is unknown. What kind of coach is Huck exactly? He is a coach who has only Klopp's semi-successful ability and forms a "complementary" to Ten Hag.
Why is Huck only half successful as Klopp?
Harker is still shown to be the head coach of Eredivisie side Advance Eagles, who has been in charge since July 1, 2022, and has made some progress every season during his tenure. In his first season in charge, the Eredivisie finished 11th, up two places from last season, and in his second season, they finished ninth, also up two places, which was also the best result for the Eagles in the Eredivisie. During his tenure at the Eagles, Harker insisted on an all-out attack and defensive tactics and asked players to coach high pressing, which was very similar to Klopp's tactics, but Harker could not make the team play as effective as Liverpool
In Jurgen Klopp's first year in charge of Liverpool, even if Liverpool encountered top teams, they could play back and forth with these opponents with their undead physical fitness, and even played the role of robbing the rich and helping the poor in the Premier League, defeating the top giants many times. But that was not the case with Harker's Advance Eagles, who drew just one of their top five teams in the Eredivisie last season, scoring more than three goals in each of their defeats. In terms of defense, because Harker insists on attacking and defending all the time, and coaching high pressing, it consumes the physical energy of the players very much, which is very similar to Klopp's first two seasons in charge of Liverpool, and at the end of the game due to physical exhaustion, the defense is very difficult, which is why Haque is the 0.5 version of Klopp.
'Complementary' with Ten Hag
Haque and Ten Hag have a very good relationship, having worked together at FC Twente in 2005, when he was inspired to become FC Twente's Under-19 coach. When Haque was in charge of Utrecht in November 2020, Ten Hag also publicly supported Haacke, praising him as a good coach who can help Utrecht get out of the quagmire, but in March 2022, Haque was sacked by Utrecht due to inconsistent results, and his tenure lasted less than a year and a half. Why is it said that Harker and Ten Hag form a "complementary", because last season Harker's Advance Eagles had a goal difference of 1, and Ten Hag's Manchester United had a goal difference of minus 1, and the two together are zero goal difference, which is a perfect "complementary".
Harker's prospect of joining Ten Hag's coaching staff
Just looking at the performance of the Advancing Eagles, he is indeed the 0.5 version of Klopp, and it is difficult to say that he will coach Manchester United in the future. First, will Manchester United's group of players really spare no effort to implement Hack's all-offense and defense, high-position pressing tactics? Rangnick can't do it, Ten Hag has also advocated such tactics before, but I don't see Manchester United playing such tactics. If United's squad can't execute such a tactic, what's the point of bringing in Harker?