Man United defeated Leicester 3-0 on Sunday and the comfortable victory highlighted Ten Hag’s management expertise again.
Shortly after Erik ten Hag took his first job in management at Go Ahead Eagles, the club’s players realised he was not an ordinary manager. He immediately laid down the law in pre-season and sought to improve discipline at every level.
Ten Hag wanted everything under control and that extended to the training bibs, which had to be colour-coordinated. He also once reprimanded those in the squad who completed a training run 10 seconds earlier than the time that was instructed.
The Manchester Evening News was told in October that the dressing room at Go Ahead Eagles initially thought Ten Hag was ‘crazy’, but that he was eventually regarded, at the end of his tenure there, as a coach who was destined for the top.
Ten Hag managed Bayern Munich II, Utrecht and Ajax after his debut season in management in the Netherlands’ second tier and he now finds himself at Manchester United, a club which he is currently moulding, in hope of reaching that summit.
That journey couldn’t have begun much worse, with embarrassing defeats against Brighton and Brentford at the beginning of the season, but Ten Hag has overcome that to become the most favoured manager at Old Trafford since Sir Alex Ferguson.
After the Brentford debacle, on the day after the defeat as punishment, it was revealed that Ten Hag had ordered his players to do a gruelling 14-kilometre run but that he also took part in the session himself, to show his togetherness with the squad.
Just like Go Ahead Eagles’ players did in pre-season, the dressing room at Carrington would have thought he was ‘crazy’, yet that training ground punishment worked, as United responded by winning four consecutive games and they have not looked back.
Ten Hag’s management has been outstanding this season and it’s certainly been tested. His handling of Cristiano Ronaldo, sensitive approach with Jadon Sancho and impressive in-game tweaks have all confirmed that he’s not an ordinary manager, which football director John Murtough, who was responsible for his appointment in the summer, was hoping to be true.
One of his greatest strengths is that he’s critical in victory and defeat, just as Go Ahead Eagles’ players appreciated in his first season in management, and that was seen again in United’s comfortable 3-0 against Leicester City on Sunday.
Leicester dominated the first half at Old Trafford but were trailing 1-0 at half-time thanks to Marcus Rashford’s goal, although it was David de Gea, who had produced two world-class saves, who made that one-goal advantage possible.
De Gea denied Harvey Barnes and Kelechi Iheanacho in the opening stages and Ten Hag had words with his players at half-time. He also replaced Alejandro Garnacho with Sancho and that decision was quickly vindicated.
Bruno Fernandes stayed on the right, Sancho played as a No.10 and he delivered a superb performance. United quickly put the result beyond doubt after half-time and Ten Hag, speaking in his post-match interview, branded the first 45 minutes as ‘rubbish’.
“I was really unhappy by our performance,” Ten Hag said of the first half. “We have to follow the rules and principles from our way of playing. When you don’t, it becomes a mess and when you face a good opponent like Leicester, you concede chances.
“And it was only down to David de Gea that we don’t concede a goal. So we were really lucky at half-time that we were 1-0 up. Of course, a great pass by Bruno, a great finish by Rashy. But for the rest was rubbish.”
There were concerns about whether the players would respond to Ten Hag’s approach but they are already a distant memory. He is the best decision the club have made in over a decade and he’s in ultimate control of the squad, which has been key.
Although his dressing room approach has been considered as ‘crazy’ by some in the past, there is a method to his forthright nature and his constant pursuit of raising the standards is what makes him the perfect fit for Manchester United.
It has been a brilliant season for Ten Hag so far and the business end of the campaign is only just starting.
Ten Hag is the ‘crazy’ manager the club desperately needed.
Source: www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
