A sumptuous win in the Manchester derby has left Manchester United on the brink of a remarkable turnaround. The Red Devils have been in burning form but a statement victory over Pep Guardiola’s mighty Manchester City has kept the oven of Old Trafford burning with confidence and hope.
You may thank Casemiro, Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, or Christian Eriksen for United’s change of fate, but the man pulling the strings is Erik Ten Hag.
The Dutch manager’s total football philosophy is working wonders for the team. After ousting Cristiano Ronaldo from the squad, Ten Hag looks in complete control of his team.
His vision and determination to bring United back on the perch is prevalent. Since he arrived at Old Trafford, Ten Hag has overseen a haul of changes. He has introduced stricter measures for all players; no one is above the team, he has reinforced the squad with fresh blood, and most importantly, the Dutchman has released Rashford from his mental shackles.
The English forward is on a dream run. So far, Rashford has 15 goals from 25 games in the season, which includes the winner against the Cityzens.
Ten Hag’s brilliance shone on Ajax before he landed in Manchester, but a glimpse of his genius can be found in a video that was shot back in 1984.
Surprisingly, this is no ordinary video. In this clip, a 13-year-old Ten Hag can be seen conversing with the legendary Johan Cruyff, who introduced the system of ‘Tiki-Taka’ that Barcelona inherited.
Given the results of his fruitful labour at United so far, this old clip shows the clarity and sensitivity of Ten Hag for the beautiful game.
The clip is from a Dutch program where a group of young kids sat around Cruyff discussing football. Among those kids was United’s current manager, Ten Hag.
Cruyff puts forward a tricky question for the kids, asking them whether their trainer yells at them a lot.
Ten Hag seizes this opportunity to speak and shares his wisdom which has bowled United fans over.
Ten Hag distinctively draws a line between youth players and professional players playing for clubs. He opines that you don’t need to be too rough with your words while working with young players, but if the senior or the more professional players make a mistake day in and day out, you should be able to confront them.
Ten Hag’s empathetic values were seen at the tender age of 13 in this clip. It’s the same values that have made him stand apart from the rest and allowed Manchester United to take a step to reclaim the glory days.
United fans were ecstatic about learning about their prodigal manager who had such clear insight about managing football players. They have seen the light in the darkness through Ten Hag’s flaming torch.