Erik ten Hag finished his four-and-a-half-year spell in charge of Ajax with a very impressive domestic cup record.
As well as winning three Eredivisie titles, the 52-year-old also won three Dutch cups with the Amsterdam giants.
The Dutchman will be hoping to replicate his impressive domestic cup record in his homeland with Manchester United.
United’s fifth permanent manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired will take charge of his first Carabao Cup game when Aston Villa come to Old Trafford on Thursday night for a third-round tie.
In Unai Emery’s first game in charge of the Villains, the Spaniard’s side beat the twenty-time league champions 3-1 at Villa Park on Sunday.
But with the opportunity to exact immediate revenge in his second managerial meeting against the former Villarreal manager, Ten Hag will be hoping to secure progress to the last-16.
Erik ten Hag’s domestic cup record with Ajax
Ten Hag’s last cup game in charge of Ajax did result in a 2-1 defeat to PSV Eindhoven in the 2022 KNVB Beker final with United target Cody Gakpo scoring the winner for PSV back in April.
That defeat was one of three losses Ten Hag suffered during 22 domestic cup matches in charge of the Johan Cruyff Arena side.
Having taken the reins at Ajax in December 2017, Ten Hag won the league and cup double during his first full season at the helm where his talented young side also reached the Champions League semi-finals during the same 2018-19 campaign.
Ajax, who had the likes of Matthijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong, Donny van de Beek and Hakim Ziyech in their starting line-up, battered Willem II 4-0 in the 2019 KNVB Cup (Dutch Cup) final with ex-Red Devil Daley Blind opening the scoring.
To mark the start of the 2019-20 campaign, Ajax beat fierce rivals PSV 2-0 in the Johan Cruyff Schaal (Dutch Super Cup), which is the equivalent of the Community Shield.
Lisandro Martinez and Van de Beek were in the starting line that day and Blind was once again on the scoresheet.
In the same campaign, Ajax were knocked out of the KNVB Cup at the semi-final stage by Ten Hag’s former club FC Utrecht.
But the following season (2020-21), Ten Hag won the Dutch Cup for the second time after his side beat Vitesse 2-1 in the final with former Ajax man David Neres, who is now at Benfica, scoring a 91st minute winner for an Ajax side that had Martinez and Antony in the starting line-up.
PSV did the double over Ten Hag’s Ajax last season and they started the 2021-22 campaign with a signal of intent by battering the Amsterdam side 4-0 in the Dutch Super Cup.
United’s manager will be hoping to have similar success in the domestic cup competitions during what is hopefully a long successful tenure.
With the Carabao Cup final taking place in February, it represents the first opportunity to lift silverware in the campaign.
Ten Hag will no doubt be earmarking the competition as a perfect chance to get his hands on his first trophy as manager of Manchester United.
The Red Devils haven’t won a trophy since Jose Mourinho won the Europa League in 2017.