It hasn’t taken long for Erik ten Hag to impose himself at Manchester United, but the Dutchman isn’t getting his own way all the time.
The 52-year-old has become a forceful figure on the club’s pre-season tour, a 16-day odyssey through Bangkok, Melbourne and Perth, the fruits of which have been seen on the pitch. United won three of the four friendlies and only stumbled on the final night.
They have made clear strides under Ten Hag. They had plenty of training time in all three cities and return to Manchester today feeling encouraged at what they’ve seen.
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Ten Hag has made an impression on the players and the staff. One staff member described his thought process as “football, football, football” and he’s barely switched off on tour.
There was a meal out with staff and he did show a lighter side there, engaging with people about their families and lives away from the club, although such is his intensity it’s not always clear what is small talk and what is fact-finding.
Ten Hag has got what he wanted from this tour. In his first pre-season with the club, Louis van Gaal was critical of the travel involved and the difficulty in focusing on the football while there is so much jet-setting and commercial activity.
Van Gaal clearly still has a bee in his bonnet about that and he told Ten Hag to join a “football club and not a commercial club” when his compatriot was linked to United. Thankfully, Ten Hag did his due diligence and was happy with what he heard.
There has been plenty of travelling again this summer and the players have had to do their fair share of commercial work, but Ten Hag is pragmatic and he’s happy with what he’s achieved on the pitch.
“It is part of nowadays football, you have to accept it as a manager, as a team, you have to take the best out of it, that is what we did,” he said.
“I think it’s great for team spirit to be so long together, you can really improve that, develop that, you have a lot of time to work on your team because you are so close together. That is great, I would say.
“It’s brilliant to be in great cities, Bangkok, Melbourne, Perth. There are disadvantages, it is clear, but you have to deal with certain things that are decided when you don’t have influence on. When you have influence it’s only on game – that is our focus point.”
The reality of life at United is that the manager can never really design a tour that gives him only what he wants. There has to be some give and take.
Ten Hag was open about the “disadvantages” and the travelling has been gruelling this tour. United spent just four days in Bangkok, then six in Melbourne and four in Perth. There’s not really been a chance to settle anywhere.
But the training was productive, with plenty of double sessions, and Ten Hag has made strides in moulding a team that will be ready to face Brighton on Sunday, August 7.
His team selections have made it clear that is the priority and the squad is clearly starting to take shape. Ten Hag might never get to build his perfect pre-season tour, but he has made the best of it on the pitch and that is something Van Gaal didn’t always do.
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