What lies ahead for Steve McClaren at FC Twente?

Steve McClaren

Steve McClaren replaced Dutch coach Co Adriaanse last week at FC Twente after a combination of problems led chairman Joop Munsterman to let the manager go with six months still remaining on his contract, despite good results in general.

Under Adriaanse, Twente ended 2011 with three successive defeats, including a loss to Feyenoord in the league, Wisla Krakow in the Europa League and PSV in the Dutch Cup. These defeats led to the players and staff losing trust in the methods and tactical choices of Adriaanse. McClaren enjoys a good relationship with Munsterman and will know most of the key players at the club who remain from his previous time there.

The Twente squad may have changed in places though but the staff remains largely the same since 2010. McClaren’s staff will include Boudewijn Pahlplatz, Alfred Schreuder and Youri Mulder.

Only Belgian coach Michel Preud’homme and more recently Adriaanse have taken the helm at Twente since McClaren left to join Bundesliga side Wolfsburg in 2010. He will once again manage a club that is organised and well run. McClaren will continue to play attractive football but this time, he will be expected to build his side with more youth players at the club.

Under Adriaanse Twente used a 4-2-3-1/ 4-3-3 formation, but McClaren is likely to stick with his favoured 4-3-3 that he employed in his first spell at the club. Adriaanse relied heavily on 6ft 5in target man Marc Janko but it is unlikely that McClaren will resort to such tactics. Young Dutch striker Luuk de Jong should flourish along with wingers Nacer Chadli and Ola John in the new system of play to be adopted by McClaren and the coaching staff. Twente fans will expect less high balls aimed at De Jong and Janko.

Twente have the third highest budget in the Eredivisie, only below that of PSV and Ajax. They are currently third in the league, just five points behind leaders AZ. Hopes for a Dutch Cup triumph were dashed by a defeat to PSV before the winter break. McClaren will therefore be expected to challenge for the title, but finishing in the top four is a minimum requirement along with a strong showing in the Europa League this season (Twente will play Steaua Bucharest in the round of 32). European qualification via the league is a must for the club.

In terms of transfers it is unlikely that Twente will buy any players in the January transfer window. McClaren faces a challenge to keep key players such as Douglas, Ola John, Nacer Chadli and Luuk de Jong this month and in the summer. It is fair to assume a key player will leave in the summer for a new challenge, with Twente having to be creative to acquire a replacement for a significantly smaller sum than they receive. It is a situation that Twente are familiar with.

McClaren enjoyed a very successful first spell as Twente manager. He recorded 65 wins, 20 draws and only 17 defeats in 102 official matches. That’s an impressive 83 per cent of games that he did not lose, which will be very difficult to improve upon. In the 2009/10 season Twente managed 27 wins in the 34 league games on their way to the title.

Twente have evolved from a club that attempted to challenge the traditional big three clubs in the Netherlands in 2008 – Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord – to a club that is now part of a top 5 along with AZ. There will be pressure to maintain recent high standards but McClaren’s previous history with the club should give him time to achieve his targets.

More on Steve McClaren at Les Rosbifs

Our exclusive interview, which went live in November, where Steve spoke about the cultural differences between English and Dutch football.

How we broke the story of Steve returning to FC Twente last Monday, which was subsequently picked up upon by the BBC Sport website.