New Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag is implementing changes at the club now that a number of first-team players have returned for pre-season training.
As reported by Mirror Football, the new boss implemented four changes to United's training on his first day in office on Monday. This included more varied training drills to increase teamwork and understanding of team roles and double sessions to increase fitness to match his desired physical demands. He also asked for the grass to be cut to a specific length to improve passing speed and has made it compulsory for players to dine together during training days to bolster team spirit.
Ten Hag held meetings with his new players and staff throughout his opening days while he has now drawn on Sir Alex Ferguson's old demand of players arriving at training sessions at 9am. The Dutchman is renowned for being a disciplinarian and believes these rules will bring greater unity and focus, which will subsequently improve results.
As outlined by the MEN, this aspect at the club had been lost in recent years and was a particular issue under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The Norwegian was viewed as lacking in conviction to impose strict measures upon his players, who would have usually arrived at the club's Carrington training facilities around 10am.
Ten Hag arrived at the club's training facilities at 8am on Tuesday, shortly after his returning assistant Steve McClaren – who served under Ferguson between 1999 and 2001 – had arrived by car, while Ten Hag's number two Mitchell van der Gaag was also an early arrival.
The returning players all weighed in at 9am, having arrived in groups at 9.30am and 11.30am on Monday to undergo medical tests and assessments on their first day back. This was by demand of Ten Hag, who is expectant that these earlier starts will now become regular.
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United players who participated in the recent international break have been given an additional week off, so will not be returning to training until the first week of July. The departures of Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata, Lee Grant, Jesse Lingard and Edinson Cavani, complemented by no summer signings as yet, ensured that the training numbers were bolstered by Under-21 players.
Ten Hag is inheriting a club that struggled badly on the pitch last season – finishing 11 points off a top-five place in the Premier League – but arguably his biggest challenge is restoring discipline and unity to a dressing room that was a constant source of disharmony and leaks last season.
