Bayer Leverkusen has chosen Erik Ten HAG as the successor to successful coach Xabi Alonso. What can the Dutchman of the Werkself give? What is the comparison of his predecessor?
Bayer Leverkusen has finally completed the Xabi Alonso success chapter. “We want to write a new story,” said sports manager Simon Rolfes. The protagonist of the new chapter is none other than Erik Ten Hag.
The Dutchman has long been a big name in international football. Ten HAG was repeatedly associated with top European clubs in recent months, Bayer had already tried it himself in 2021. Now he has to compete with Alonso’s success. In advance: In terms of experience, he surpasses the Spaniard, who took his first steps as a professional coach in Leverkusen in October 2022.
The new trainer brings title experience
His title yield is also impressive: everything started in 2014 in the even smaller but no less remarkable setting than he won the regional league championship with the second team of FC Bayern (Alonso, by the way, played in Munich under Pep Guardiola).
After two years in Utrecht, his most successful time followed. At Ajax Amsterdam, no fewer than three championship titles and two cup wins jumped out in four and a half years – which made it possible for him to jump to one of the largest clubs in the world in 2022: Manchester United.
The 55-year-old stayed in the shark pool Premier League until October 2024, just a few months after the much acclaimed FA-Cup victory with the Red Devils, he was put at the door. In short: As Rolfes likes to underline, Ten Hag has “proven to win titles”.
What Bayer Leverkusen from Ten Hag can expect
The mixture of experience, title ability and immediate availability were certainly the basic ingredients for Bayer Leverkusen to deal with ten HAG. But that alone is not enough. After all, the Xabi heritage must also match the sporting ideas of the runner-up and the qualities of the players who were used to power ball ownership for two and a half years.
A look at the numbers of Coachinsidethe world’s strongest scouting database via professional trainer, clearly shows that Bayer with the Dutchman is using continuity in the playful orientation.
If you compare the statistics of their previous stations – the period from July 2015 to October 2024 is based, at Alonso from July 2019 to May 2025 – it comes out very interesting values: In a total of 321 games analyzed by coachinside, Ten HAG won 2.04 points per game (Alonso comes to 1,79 points/game in 136 games), his team achieved on average in 136 games) 2.2 goals and collected 1.1 goals.
Sounds suspiciously like Xabi Alonso
Alonso’s protégés met an average of 1.9 times and caught 1.2 goals. So both move at a comparable level, with minimal advantages for ten HAG.
It is probably crucial for the Bayer bosses: the new coach, like the predecessor, relies on ball possession football. In the scouting database it is said to be tactical orientation, ten HAG prefer “a game idea based on possession, control and dominance”. More than a third of the gates (since 2021) resulted from ball ownership phases, almost as many were achieved after switching after a conquest of the ball.
With “variable positional game”, his players should create overnight moments “and penetrate into the last third with a deep pass and combination game. After loss of ball, the football teacher relies on the “immediate counterpressing” – sounds suspiciously like Bayer Leverkusen under Xabi Alonso.
However, there are differences: the Spaniard generally relied on a 3-2-4-1 basic formation in Leverkusen, in which the full-back players played an important role. It is not for nothing that Jeremy Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo have been the key players at the Bayer Cross in recent years. But both – Frimpong is moving to Liverpool, Grimaldo back to Spain – could not be there next season. Ten Hags prefers a 4-2-3-1 system, he also liked to play in 4-3-3.
What Bayer Leverkusen from Ten Hag cannot expect
Whether Erik Ten Hag am Rhein also becomes a success story, but behind it is at least a question mark in view of his ultimately disappointing chapter at Manchester United. The eventful time at the Red Devils left scratch with the Dutch, and his standing also had to suffer. He remained behind the expectations – sporty and tactical.
After all, for 850 days he stayed there on the coaching chair. Supported by insane millions of investments in new players -in all three summer transfer phases, over 200 million euros were bought for (!), Including stars such as Antony, Casemiro, Höjlund or de Ligt -should not be less than a new era in the northwest of England.
In his debut season, he was able to trace United in third place and thus after one year abstinence to the Champions League – but also thanks to the good performance of individual players. According to the calculations by the data service provider Opta, Manchester scored ten points more than expected (Expected Points).
“I can’t let Ajax play because I have other players here”
He was able to inject his Ajax soccer into the team only in phases. “I came here with my philosophy, based on possession of the ball, but I wanted to combine it with the DNA of Manchester United, the players and their characteristics,” he said in May 2023: “I cannot have Ajax played because I have other players here.” But that alone was not the problem.
In the second year, Ten HAG rely on fast and direct football, for example with pressing players such as Mason Mount or Rasmus Höjlund. But the team was visibly overwhelmed with the guidelines, especially in midfield, blatant gaps temporarily gaped.
The result: At the end of the season, the Ten-Hag team was, which, however, also had to cope with numerous injury-related failures, which with the shots approved on the second most. According to Coachinside, the ranking of the expected goals was 18th. It also hooked tremendously on the offensive, after 38 games you scored a goal less than you collected. Even the derby victory in the cup final could not hide the disappointing eighth place in the league.
After the defeat near West Ham in October 2024, Ten Hag had to clear his place
After only eleven points in nine games in the 2023/24 season, the club finally pulled the ripcord and released ten HAG.
Will the chapter at Bayer Leverkusen be successful?
At Bayer Leverkusen you will know what you can expect from the new head coach – and what not. A big advantage: At the runner -up, ten HAG is now moving into a much quieter environment. On the Rhine does not feel that after every defeat, the expulsion, ten Hag will be able to try to implement his ideas with the appropriate calm.
But it will also be important which players he lures together with Simon Rolfes to Leverkusen and which leader players go in summer (keyword Florian Wirtz). The prerequisite must be that the newcomers fit its playing style – so that incorrect handles as in Manchester are not repeated. His contract is initially designed for two years.
By the way, the new Bundesliga coach does not look back on the chapter in Manchester, as he said after his idea at “ESPN”. Instead, he had it more experience. The new in Leverkusen should be much more successful.