Nearly a decade since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, the Old Trafford leadership bench has become so attractive. What Erik ten Hag is bringing specifically cannot be shaped immediately, but looking at the playing style, scores and confidence of the players on the field, it is enough to see that everything is gradually improving. As Diogo Dalot said 2 weeks ago, the current generation of "Red Devils" players can be remembered for bringing Manchester United back to their heyday.
Ten Hag's appeal is currently incomparable to Sir Alex after the great achievements of the Scottish coach. However, it is being felt from very small things. Last season, Marcus Rashford was unprecedentedly bad, caught up in rumors of leaving the team to join PSG. Up to now, Ten Hag has described the English striker as improving because the surrounding working environment is very favorable. Not only that, the Dutch strategist's fairness also brought a positive view from his students. Not just buying Casemiro, Scott McTominay will be on the bench. The opposite is happening and when other players look at it, they will see that this team no longer has a relationship mindset, everything depends on the performance and ability to contribute at each time.
When losing to Brighton and Brentford, Ten Hag did not show any dependence on his students in the media. He even said that the Premier League opener defeat was "a good start". The Dutch strategist shared that the important thing is the spirit and attitude of the players after each result. The M.U captain focuses on promoting and caring for the will, inspiring the players, in parallel with teaching them what to do on the field for the team to achieve success.
The development of Ten Hag and the M.U generation of players is now seen as being more positive than the best period of Louis Van Gaal or Jose Mourinho - the last to bring titles to the "Red Devils". That positive signal sometimes does not necessarily lie in the results on the field, it comes from the selection of personnel for each match. Harry Maguire and Ronaldo have been on the bench for Man United's wins, making Ten Hag's image more respected by the remaining players. The Dutch coach dared to put aside old egos to bring immediate positive results. From there, when looking at Ten Hag, M.U's stars also strive more to avoid the prospect of sitting on the bench and being able to become the main duo at any time.
Except for the stars who have hundreds of millions of Euros, for other players, when they accept to join Ten Hag's team, what comes to mind is not whether Man United will accept them or not. On the contrary, the first thought is how to gain the trust of your teacher. Tyrell Malacia has rejected Lyon, Christian Eriksen has rejected Arsenal to join Manchester United, not every coach has such appeal even though these players and Ten Hag have never worked together.
Finally, the fighting spirit is clearly demonstrated through Lisandro Martinez. Changing the environment and being skeptical, before assessing how well he has done, the Argentine centre-back still maintains the same passion as what he did at his former club Ajax. In this match after another match and for a long time in the future, Martinez is expected to keep that ironess as a foundation for his teammates in terms of expertise and spirit. If it were not for Ten Hag and his skillful fire-insetting, Martinez would not have been able to shape his form as it is today.
