A lot of Manchester United players have spoken about Erik ten Hag’s discipline this summer.
They are all getting to know the new manager and his backroom staff, including Mitchell van der Gaag and Steve McClaren, and it is clear they are making a quick impression.
Bruno Fernandes has already remarked on Ten Hag’s strictness, while Diogo Dalot has now revealed the United players must be prepared for ‘discipline’ under Ten Hag this season.
Speaking after the 2-2 draw with Aston Villa, the right-back admitted that the squad should be preparing itself to take criticism from Ten Hag, who doesn’t hold back in a quest to improve standards at the club. This will be welcome news to United fans that feel the players get off the hook after overseeing too many managers in recent years.
“It is discipline,” Dalot said, as quoted by The Athletic. “We need to be ready for that, to be ready to hear things that maybe we don’t want to hear, but I think everything is for the greater good of the team and that’s the most important thing.
“We should have come into the second-half a little bit more lively, obviously we are winning 2-0 but we need to keep the tempo, keep the bail, we don’t want to concede so many counter-attacks that we conceded.
“But it is something to learn for the future. We are gonna analyse the game for sure and take the lessons from today.”
After 3 wins from 4 matches on tour this summer, we can all begin to reflect on a positive pre-season. There are two games remaining before the competitive campaign kicks-off and the Dutchman is already showing signs that he is a tough task master, with footage going viral of him calling out David de Gea for kicking the ball away during United’s 3-1 win over Crystal Palace.
I hope this is the start of something special at Manchester United under Ten Hag.
SN’s verdict
We will see Ten Hag fall out with players during his time at United because that is just part of football. The way he handles those situations is massive and I’m intrigued to see how it plans out when he begins to settle on his favoured line-up.
Ten Hag is confident about his own ability as a coach and has hinted at developing players if targets can’t be reached in the transfer market this summer.
At the moment, everyone is trying to impress him. Everyone bar Cristiano Ronaldo.
I wonder if Dalot thinks Ronaldo should be treated like the other players for once?
