Erik ten Hag has quickly stamped his authority on Manchester United by dropping a player from a pre-season game for being late - just days after he was blasted for "overdoing it" with some of his hardline new rules.
The former Ajax chief has been tasked with restoring United's fortunes both on and off the pitch after the club endured their worst-ever Premier League campaign last term. And the Dutchman has wasted no time in implementing some new rules at United's training ground in a bid to try and improve the culture at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag's 'five commandments' include a ban on alcohol during match weeks and personal chefs, while he is also insisting on regular body mass index tests. The 52-year-old has also instructed players that they must come to him first with any concerns, while he has also warned players that they could be dropped from the squad if they are late to training.
It emerged on Monday that a member of United's squad has already fallen foul of Ten Hag's new rules, with The Athletic revealing that the United boss dropped an unnamed player from the team as a punishment for twice showing up late to team meetings.
Although most believe that Manchester United's misfiring stars desperately need some discipline to get them back on the right track, Gabby Agbonlahor insisted that Ten Hag was doing himself no favours with some of the rules he's set. The former Aston Villa man told talkSPORT last week: "The players don't [drink anymore]. They'll maybe now have a glass of red with dinner, maybe on the weekend or something like that.
"The rules Ten Hag is giving are normal rules. Players will always get weighed once or twice a week and it's normal to keep tabs on what you eat. With the drinking, the players don't do it anyway. So when he's come in and given out these rules, the players are probably thinking, 'we do this anyway, it's nothing new to us'.
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"I feel like that's overkill, [the ban on] personal chefs, they're going to cook them healthy food. Maybe just tell them these are the sort of foods you've got to eat."
Agbonlahor continued: "I think he's overdoing it a bit now because players are going to have personal chefs. They can cook healthy food and they know what foods to feed players, so why would they need to take food from the training ground?"
Despite Agbonlahor's criticism, the early days of Ten Hag's tenure have largely been promising. United enjoyed a successful tour of Australia and Thailand, bagging big wins over Liverpool, Melbourne Victory and Crystal Palace. They closed out the money-spinning trip by playing out a 2-2 draw with Aston Villa in treacherous conditions at the weekend.
