Erik ten Hag hailed for 'taming egos' at Man Utd
Karan Tejwani
- Updated: 12 Sept 2022 09:37 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has been praised for “taming egos” after his first month of league football in England, which started off in a difficult way but is getting better.
The Red Devils started the season with two consecutive defeats but have won four on the bounce since, taking them only three points behind Arsenal at the top of the table.
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Ten Hag has turned the tide around in the first few weeks at Old Trafford, having made a few difficult decisions in personnel and transfers in his early reign at the club.
Now, former Manchester City and Ajax midfielder Nigel de Jong has been talking up Ten Hag’s start at the club, and praises his way of handling matters at Manchester United.
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Speaking to The Mirror, De Jong said: “Erik has 23 egos in his squad at Man United. You can have the best players in the world, but you can only start building a proper side when you can turn all those ego’s into a team.
“Ten Hag has chosen his players carefully. I can see one thing, he has picked players with whom he can win a war. I can see the strategy already.”
De Jong then picked out a few of Ten Hag’s new signings, believing some of them improved the mindset around the team and that they were worth bringing in for the big fees.
“Look at Martinez in the team. He has that killer mentality. Martinez will run through fire for Ten Hag. Antony is adding swagger,” De Jong added.
Patience is 🔑
All 1️⃣1️⃣ Reds were involved in @Antony00's goal on Sunday 👏#MUFC pic.twitter.com/4xSg47ozAX— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 6, 2022
“He too has a mentality what we call ‘over my dead body'. I have seen that side of Antony plenty of times,” the former Netherlands international continued.
He then praised the style of play, saying that the team are getting the results they need and there will be an evident change in the style of football as the team’s confidence grows.
“At this moment United are still scoring more goals from counterattacks than from a dominant style of football,” De Jong said about the team’s style of play.
“But the main thing is that they are winning games and for Ten Hag, that is how he can bring more confidence into the team. Eventually, he can get them to play the way he wants.”
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