Of course he would like to implement free flowing attacking football, an Ajax type philosophy but has had to make sacrifices for the good of the team. Knows the players aren’t good enough to play that kind of football, so Ten Hag is obviously making the right decision to abandon some of his principles to grind out results for the clubs benefit. Lots of injuries of course haven’t helped him either but does what he can with what he’s got. Right now United are only 5 points off top 4 and 7 points away from 1st place.
In contrast look at a team like Burnley that try’s to play full on attacking football every week but doesn’t produce the results and sit bottom of the league table. A great manager uses the tools efficiently at his disposal and does what’s right to get the results.