Erik ten Hag has hailed the impact of Benni McCarthy, who was appointed as a first-team coach at Carrington back in the summer.
The former Porto forward, who scored twice against Manchester United in a Champions League tie back in 2004, has been working with the club's attacking stars. Ten Hag bought with him several new additions and, having never played as a forward, was thrilled to bring the South African on board.
The Red Devils are in a rich vein of form, winning five Premier League games on the bounce, with their latest success coming over neighbours Manchester City. Marcus Rashford has been particularly impressive this season, scoring on 16 occasions, with Anthony Martial and summer signing Antony also contributing.
Ten Hag told the club's website on McCarthy's impact: "In our coaching staff, we had a lot of defenders and midfield players. I wanted also to find a good balance. He is offensive [minded] as he is a former striker and that is also a really specific job task in the team.
"I never played there [striker], so I’m lucky to have someone in my staff who played there. Football is about scoring and you have a goalkeeping specialist, but you also have offensive specialists and, in particular, we have a specific scoring trainer. He has to add that, in details, working and for the rest of us, he has a relationship to all the players in our squad. He also has to work on the togetherness and he is doing a great job on that."
United's attacking line failed to fire last term. Rashford struggled massively for form, Jadon Sancho took time to get up to speed before recently being sent on an individual programme whilst Martial has long been plagued by inconsistency despite his obvious talent.
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France forward Martial has opened up on dialogue he has with McCarthy, saying: "Yes, he’s a coach I speak with a lot. Both on and off the training ground. On every occasion, he gives me a lot of good advice and that can only be a good thing for all the players involved."
Bruno Fernandes, another man who looks to be back to his best, is also among those to cite the impact of McCarthy as a major positive. The Portuguese said of his coach: "He was quality as a player and is quality as a manager because we do many drills from finishing, headers, many stuff that he was really doing when he was playing, and it can help us score some goals."
18-year-old winger Alejandro Garnacho is also enjoying a breakout campaign with his impact as a wide forward. The youngster scored a late winner at Fulham back in November.
