Footage has surfaced of Erik ten Hag ordering one of his Ajax players to "shut up" after they failed to listen to his tactical instructions - showing the Manchester United squad the type of character they will be working under next season.
Ten Hag was confirmed as the next permanent United manager on Thursday and he will begin his three-year deal at Old Trafford this summer. The Dutchman is a highly-regarded tactician renowned for developing youngsters and employing an attractive brand of football.
But he is also not afraid to give his players a piece of his mind when he believes their work rate is lacking, as shown by one of his interactions with Noa Lang. While the winger has been one of the stars of Ajax's season with nine goals and 13 assists to his name, his manager was unhappy with him for not "running deep".
"Noa, you have to run deep! You have to shut up. You have to listen," Ten Hag can be heard bellowing in a clip shared on Reddit. "You just need to do it. No, cut it out. It's our game, not just yours." Ten Hag's methods have brought great success to Ajax, who have won two Eredivisie-Dutch Cup doubles since he took over in 2017.
Although they were defeated by PSV Eindhoven in last weekend's cup final, the Amsterdam giants are on course to win another league title this season, meaning Ten Hag can depart his homeland for the Premier League on a high. Ajax have a four-point lead over PSV at the top of the table with four games remaining after Brian Brobbey came off the bench to score a late winner against NEC on Saturday.
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Speaking after the match, Ten Hag was quizzed about the United's 3-1 defeat at Arsenal earlier that afternoon. "I don't have an opinion about that," he responded. "I showed respect for the people now who are at Man United, and I'm responsible for Ajax."
Ten Hag also confessed he was relieved to see Brobbey find the back of the net in the 88th minute, saying: "One thing I was happy about was that the team stayed calm. They didn't get too frantic. And that's when you get the goal."
The goalscorer added: "Of course, everyone was happy that we got the three points. We still have four matches to play. Naturally we were also self-critical, but the victory was the most important thing. Even if you play badly, you still need to win."
