The Erik ten Hag era officially began this week as the Dutchman took charge of his first few sessions of pre-season training for the returning Manchester United squad.
Senior players at Carrington, Manchester United’s training ground spoke of the ‘intense’ week of work with the new manager.
Melissa Reddy’s detailed report with Sky Sports provided the inside scoop as to what training has been like under the new Manchester United manager.
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Staff and squad alike have remarked how Ten Hag has left his mark with fresh, new ideas seemingly wildly different from the Ralf Rangnick and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer days.
Similarly to managers like Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel, Ten Hag is said to take every element of training, overseeing the drills himself, providing instruction where needed.
This is a wildly different approach to where Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna would take charge of training with Solskjaer overseeing the sessions from afar.
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Some of the criticisms of these sessions at times could be described as symbiotic of the team under Solskjaer, as the sessions were described as ‘basic’ and ‘giving too much freedom with little correction’.
In gaining a second-placed finish behind Manchester City in 2020/21, Solskjaer’s team were a brilliant ‘roll with the punches in chaos’ team but not bulked when needing to break down teams that sat deep as there wasn’t so much of a system in place besides counter-attacking football.
Rangnick's sessions heralded by his number two Chris Armas were branded ‘jargon heavy’ and too much of a focus towards what to do out of possession, rather than structured attacks.
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Training was taken by Ten Hag, joined by his team Mitchel van der Gaag and former Sir Alex Ferguson assistant Steve McClaren.
As opposed to the eras under Rangnick and Solskjaer there seems to be more of an emphasis on this occasion of a style of play, a particular modus operandi for the players to follow.
Ten Hag is unafraid of stopping a session and correcting players, before running the drill again if he sees something he is unhappy with.
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The arrival time for training has been 9am, previously this was only relevant for the youth players, but Ten Hag is said to be satisfied with the new energy created around the place, with how the players are responding after the misery of last season.
A senior player in David De Gea is reportedly positive about the renewed optimism the Dutchman has brought with his ideas and standards.
As well as his clear typically direct form of communication, making his sessions intense but easy to take on board.
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Thus far meetings with players at this early stage has been kept as introductory and at the moment are solely on training instructions which is normal as Ten Hag is still very early in his tenure.
There is renewed optimism, which is a breath of fresh air after the absolutely torrid time under Rangnick, as Ten Hag’s arrival has given everyone a much needed shot in the arm, but in a manner in which has everyone thinking that this time things actually will be different.
Featured Image Credit: Manchester UnitedTopics: Manchester United, Premier League, David De Gea, Erik Ten Hag, Football, Steve McClaren