After a disappointing start to the season that saw them suffer back to back defeats to Brighton and Brentford, Manchester United had to rally themselves to try save the campaign.
It was early days, but given how they’d performed the previous terms, fans had started questioning the appointment of Erik Ten Hag as manager and his ability to return the team to glory days.
They were right in their concerns, but as it is clear now, Ten Hag had things under control! He has overseen their resurgence that has seen them transform from the bottom half of the table to now being tagged title contenders.
There was little hope left in the United camp, but fast forward to now and the Old Trafford outfit is the only English club still in pursuit of a quadruple having already secured the Carabao cup.
What would one attribute Man United’s success thus far to? Well, Ten hag inherited a dressing room that was controlled by stars who because of their success or price tags, thought they had to be treated in a certain way yet their input on the pitch was wanting. This had to stop! Discipline for Ten Hag, was first priority.
The first thing that the Dutch tactician did was to impose his authority in the dressing room, making it known to everyone that he is the boss and no player is above the club.
The former Ajax boss in doing so had stars like Cristiano Ronaldo vexed! The Portuguese is known for craving limelight and perhaps wanted the team to be built around him. Ten Hag was not taking that! He was not just going to be bullied as he had a different view. Ronaldo has since left the club, and the team is doing perfectly well.
The Dutch tactician changed everything at the club! Bruno Fernandez on Rio Ferdinand’s Between the Lines revealed that his teammates were initially unsure as to how strict the ex-Ajax boss would be on the players. It didn’t take them too long to find out just how strict their new manager is.
“He first arrived and we went on tour and the training sessions we had; he demands you do it or you are out. You don’t play. Everyone was a little bit like in the beginning; ‘Will he do that or not? If a big player doesn’t do what he wants, will he pull him apart or not?’ And he did that many times. He did it with Ronaldo, with Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford.”
Rashford’s case came out public. The forward arrived late for a team meeting, and despite having scored two goals in as many previous games, he was axed from the starting XI that started against Wolves at the Molineux in December last year.
Ten hag made it clear to the journalists that Rashford was out of the starting lineup due to disciplinary reasons. The 25-year-old, however, came off the bench to score the winner with 14 minutes remaining.
“For me, that’s why I never made a thing out of it because if I was a coach, I would have done the same. Because if you don’t have standards in the training ground, how do you expect to go out on the pitch and win consistently? It’s impossible.” Rashford said of his manager’s decision.
The England forward has gone on to score 13 goals in 15 games since then.
United’s resurgence can also be attributed to their unpredictability especially in regards to their lack of a target man. Clubs like Manchester City have won titles without a target man and instead used a false nine. The advantage here is that the team plays as a collective unit hence playing to their strength.
United may not have a traditional center forward as ex boss Sir Alex Ferguson pointed out, but Wout Weghorst who was signed to play that role has been of great value to the club.
Weghorst’s versatility and ability to hold up play keeps their opponents pondering without a target man to focus on hence creating space for his teammates to hurt their opponents.
This gives the opportunity to Rashford to freely switch positions to the center, left or right. This was witnessed in their games against Barcelona, Leeds, Leicester and Newcastle where the attacker scored despite being the center of attention.
Ten Hag’s ability to make spot on substitutions is the other reason his side is doing brilliantly well. His subs always go on to change the proceedings of the game as witnessed in their games against Barcelona, Leeds and Newcastle.
The club has started reaping the fruits of appointing the Dutchman as manager. Man United faithful can only look forward to more winnings.
