Erik ten Hag and Manchester United begin their long awaited pre-season on Monday and hard, technical work seems to be ahead for the players as the Dutchman implements his way of training.
The new manager can finally get his hands on a few members of the United squad tomorrow as pre-season for the club officially starts.
Ten Hag will only have access to the first-team players who were not playing international fixtures earlier this month, like Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho.
Advert
Other key figures in the squad have been given extra holiday due to these international involvements and will join at a later date.
The 52 year old is renowned for his skills based training sessions and is meticulous with how he wants his teams to play.
This obsessive pursuit of perfection has led Ten Hag’s former captain, Tobias Schweinsteiger who is the brother of fan favourite Bastian, to describe him as “one of the best coaches in Europe”.
Reports suggest that he hasn’t changed his ways since moving to United.
Advert
According to Simon Mullock of The Mirror, the first two days of pre-season will be spent doing fitness tests to help gauge the level which the United players are starting at.
After this Ten Hag will then resort to having training sessions twice a day.
Erik ten Hag Is having an input on everything that might affect his players performances including the grass at Carrington being cut to precisely 15 millimetres to help the players with the slick passing that he wants to see.
As well, lunch together as a team, previously done by Sir Alex Ferguson, will be reintroduced as the new manager believes this is important socially and can bring the players closer to each other.
These might look like acute changes that would have little impact, however, the squad not having the same meal times reportedly led to fractures within the club.
Advert
Players had the habit of going home straight away after eating or going to the gym rather than socialising. The disconnect between the squad was stark last season.
The correct length of grass is important because at the centre of his training sessions is a football as Ten Hag wants his players to transfer their training on the matchday and improve mentally in the sport.
A source close to the new Manchester United man said:
“Ten Hag is all about training the brain, United’s players will do plenty of running - but they will run with the ball rather than just being asked to sprint up sand dunes.”
All this hard work should hopefully be visible when United play in the preseason tour which starts on the 12th of July as the Red Devils play their rivals Liverpool in Malaysia.
Advert
Many of the Manchester United squad have expressed their excitement to be travelling around the world again as United haven't had a global tour in recent years due to the pandemic and Euro 2020 last summer.
It's exciting times ahead at Manchester United as Erik ten Hag’s training techniques will aim get the United camp to a similar standard to that of Manchester City and Liverpool, something that hasn’t been the case for a long time.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Manchester United, Erik Ten Hag, Premier League, Sir Alex Ferguson, Football