It is coming up to a decade since the Sir Alex Ferguson era came to an end at Manchester United, but the influence of the club’s legendary manager has lingered in the background since he walked off with their last Premier League title in 2013. Plenty of his predecessors have attempted to invoke the spirit of Ferguson during their attempts to restore United to glory and Erik ten Hag recently dined with the Scot, before inviting him into the dressing room after winning the Carabao Cup against Newcastle at Wembley. Ferguson used to give his players the hairdryer when he felt they needed a telling off, with his furious outbursts passing into the stuff of legend, and Ten Hag has used a similar approach on occasions this season.
Erik Ten Hag said: “Sometimes yeah, I can go strong in certain situations. But it’s about the timing of when to use. As a coach, communication style, you can pick many styles and this is one of them,”
There were some mitigating circumstances on Thursday night, given the injury crisis facing United and the number of games they’ve played this season, but Ten Hag refused the offer of letting the players off the hook for their collapse.
Erik Ten hag said: “[On Thursday] I was really mad. For me it was so unacceptable. You can make a mistake but you have to carry on. If you play a quarter-final in the Europa League you give everything and we didn’t. For any club, for any team, for me that is unacceptable. As a manager I can’t accept that my team is not giving its best. The team, individuals … I will never accept it.”
The defeat followed a pattern of capitulations for United this season. They have lost 4-0 at Brentford, 6-3 at Manchester City, 7-0 at Liverpool, 2-0 at Newcastle and now 3-0 at Sevilla, all performances that Teg Hag has been critical of. He made his feelings clear to his team in the dressing room in the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium and said the players didn’t match the standards he expects.
Erik Ten hag said: “Yes, of course, I make them aware what my analysis was, what my feelings about the game was, what my effects of the game were. They didn’t match the standards of how I manage a team in professional football.”
