Former Manchester United coach Rene Meulensteen has appeared on a podcast to discuss the latest problems that exist at Old Trafford, where he worked under Sir Alex Ferguson once upon a time.
Meulensteen left United in 2013 following the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, and he has had a bee in his bonnet ever since David Moyes decided he didn’t want to keep him on as part of his coaching staff at Old Trafford.
The Dutch coach didn’t rule out a return to United, if Ruud van Nistelrooy was to succeed Ten Hag as manager.
Van Nistelrooy returned to United in the summer as Ten Hag’s assistant coach and he has been tipped as a potential successor for the role, should the club decide to part ways with the former Ajax manager.
Meulensteen fears that he would walk into something he ‘no longer recognises’. He also expressed doubts about the capabilities of Ten Hag and said the squad must accept part of the blame for poor results this season.
Speaking exclusively on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Sam Allardyce is joined by the former Manchester United first-team coach.
When asked if he would accept an invite to work under Van Nistelrooy at United, Meulensteen said: “Ruud and I know each other really well because I worked with him and always stayed in touch. I rate him highly, I think he jumped the ship at PSV a little bit too soon, he was doing really well.
“I always feel if I jump into a job, I want to make sure that I’d be able to make a difference, not to make up the numbers. I also have to make sure not to kick myself because if I go back into Manchester United, I would walk back into something I probably wouldn’t recognise.
“In those six years that I was the first team coach at Manchester United, I loved every minute of it, I didn’t feel any negative pressure any day when I was driving up to Carrington, and that was totally down to the man management of Sir Alex Ferguson and how much he trusted us with what we were doing.
“If Ruud would come calling, you would help him of course you would, you would talk to him and say okay what can I do for you?”
Meulensteen unsure about Ten Hag’s tactics
Later on during the podcast, Meulensteen shared his thoughts on the tactics he has seen from Ten Hag’s side this season, adding: “Whether you defend high up with a press, or in a middle block or in a low block, there are principles. You have the players to make the team to understand those principles. That doesn’t change from week to week or game to game.
“What is happening with United, if they do press, they’re isolated and that’s been the problem, so there’s no connection.
“With Alex Ferguson, when he promoted me to first team coach, he had a flip chart board for exactly how he wanted Man United to play, from a defensive point of view, from a transition point of view, and set pieces. Then he said this is the most important one, this is how I want United to attack, with pace, power, penetration and unpredictability, those four things, and I want you to instil that in that team every single day no matter what you do.
“Whether it’s a shooting exercise, a condition game, a possession game, an 11 v 11, those are the things I want to see. And if you go back to when United were at the best that’s what you saw – pace, power, penetration, unpredictability.”
