Erik ten Hag has brought the swagger back to Manchester United and transformed the mentality at Old Trafford this season.
The Dutchman inherited a squad that finished 12 points off the top five in the Premier League last season and had gone six years without a trophy. Ten Hag has overseen a revolution, bagging the EFL Cup and with the FA Cup and Europa League trophies in their sights.
United are in the last four of England’s premier cup competition and into the quarter-finals of the Europa League – an impressive run which saw them eliminate runaway La Liga leaders Barcelona. They are also back in the top four of the Premier League and on course to return to the Champions League.
United’s players now have a winning mentality, regularly showing tremendous team spirit and the fledging signs of a team on their way back to the top. Two of Ten Hag’s predecessors, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jose Mourinho, highlighted how those ingredients were missing from Old Trafford.
Back in 2018, after an underwhelming draw at home to newly-promoted Wolves, Mourinho lamented: “They ( Wolves ) play like I like to play which is like the World Cup final. That’s the attitude I like my teams to have every match. We didn’t have that, they did.
“They play every ball with every second with the maximum intensity and desire and we didn’t.
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“This is something you learn when you are a kid in the academy, you don’t need experiences at the highest level to learn that.”
Mourinh’s rant continued: “It is a basic law of football, you have to play at the maximum of your potential unless you are playing in such a weak league against such weak opponents where playing at 30 per cent of your potential is enough. We all know that is not the case.
“I can’t explain the difference in attitude because I never had a difference in attitude. For me is difficult to explain that.”
A year later, Mourinho was gone to be replaced by Solskjaer. After an initial upturn in results, by late 2019 results at Old Trafford with slumped and the players were once again criticised. Solskjaer said: "Sometimes when you speak to the press when I'm speaking to you know, you can't defend them.
"The players know it and they don't defend it themselves, they are good lads and we just keep on working on changing some of these attitudes.
"If you are not willing to learn, if you are not willing to pick up the mantle or when you're left out that means there are two things you can do: you can either leave it or you can work harder to get back in to tell me and the club and your teammates that you want to get back into the team.
"They have got decisions to make the ones who feel they aren't getting the chances they deserve."
