Workaholic Erik ten Hag is very demanding and Man Utd stars will NOT be allowed to lose focus, says Nick Marsman
MANCHESTER UNITED’S flops can forget about waltzing down easy street once Erik ten Hag becomes boss. The Ajax chief is gearing up to take charge at Old Trafford next season and knows he’s got a massive rebuilding job on his hands if he wants to challenge the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool. Too many […]
MANCHESTER UNITED’S flops can forget about waltzing down easy street once Erik ten Hag becomes boss.
The Ajax chief is gearing up to take charge at Old Trafford next season and knows he’s got a massive rebuilding job on his hands if he wants to challenge the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool.
Too many United stars have been slacking on and off the pitch under temporary gaffer Ralf Rangnick.
That simply won’t happen under hardline, workaholic Dutchman Ten Hag though.
Inter Miami keeper Nick Marsman – who played at three different clubs in Holland under Ten Hag as he was building his managerial career – reckons his old gaffer won’t stand for anyone not buying into his methods.
Marsman told SunSport: “I worked a long time with him in the academy at FC Twente, he brought me to the first team. Then he brought me to Go Ahead Eagles and then Utrecht.
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“I really like him as a coach. He’s very demanding though.
“At Ajax at first he changed a lot in the training and he demanded a lot of team. They were unsure, they were like ‘we are already playing at a high level.
“’Why are we doing this? We aren’t doing this everyday.’ But after a while they were saying ‘ yes, it works.’
“So all this stuff takes time but if anyone shows a lack of concentration or focus he’s right on top of that.
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“I think his quality is to get the best out of people and the team. There are always players who may take it easy sometimes but if you do that, he will see it straight away and be onto you.
“He was like that with me but Manchester United need something.”
Ten Hag, who worked with Steve McClaren in the 2008-09 season at Twente, has enjoyed a successful time in his native Holland.
He led Go Ahead Eagles to their first promotion in 17 years in 2012 and helping Utrecht into the Europa League in 2017 before restoring Ajax as a dominant force in Europe.
In between, the 52 year-old spent time working at Bayern Munich while Pep Guardiola was in charge, guiding their reserve team from 2013 to 2015.
There are always players who may take it easy sometimes but if you do that, he will see it straight away and be onto you.
Nick Marsman on Erik ten Hag
Marsman, who keeps in regular contact with Ten Hag despite moving Stateside after joining Phil Neville’s MLS side from Feyenoord a year ago, reckons the time his old boss spent in Munich under Guardiola helped him land one of the biggest jobs in world football.
He added: “He’s very ahead tactically, he learned from Pep at Bayern. I like his style. It’s a pleasure watching the teams he coaches.
“He likes to play like Pep does at Manchester City, very attacking, playing out from the back.”
The Glazers have chopped and changed since Sir Alex Ferguson ended his legendary reign at Old Trafford but could Ten Hag finally be the man to stick?
The Inter Miami stopper, 31, hopes so – saying: “In every club you work at you need time to have an impact.
“In the beginning at Ajax, they weren’t happy with him, but then he turned it around. It was the same at Utrecht.
GIVE HIM TIME
“So I hope he gets that time at Manchester United. The hard part of working in a top club is that you don’t get a lot of time. And it’s also hard to manage at that level.
“The annoying part is he’s putting everything in like 24/7. So there is no chance you find him doing something wrong.
“So when he says you did something wrong, you have to respect what he is saying.
“He started at the bottom of the ladder which can sometimes make it difficult to deal with top players but he’s great working with guys who can be hard to handle.
“He did a good job dealing with someone difficult like Marco Arnautovic when he was at Twente.
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“United have some amazing players but I just hope he has the chance to restructure. Louis van Gaal said recently that he thinks Erik is a good coach but Manchester United is different.
“It’s a hard club. But I hope he does well there.”