After a shaky start, Erik ten Hag's Manchester United reign has gone from strength to strength in recent months and he finally has the Red Devils performing like a team opposition sides fear again.
While the Dutchman has been mild-mannered in his press conferences, the ex-Ajax boss is not one to suffer fools gladly and has willingly laid down the law to a few United players who were acting out of turn. His darkest hour as Red Devils boss certainly came in just his second competitive clash, when Brentford inflicted a humiliating 4-0 defeat on Ten Hag's side.
It left United rock bottom of the table without a win after match-day two and Ten Hag made sure the squad knew exactly how unhappy he was with their performance - dubbing it "rubbish" in his post-match press conference.
He was in no mood for excuses either, so when one player complained about the 32c heat on that fateful day in west London, Ten Hag is reported to have hit back immediately.
According to the Times, an unnamed United star shouted "It's way too hot to play football," to which his manager simply replied: "Stop whining".
There has been very little whining since, with United losing just twice in the league in the four months that have followed - with one of those losses coming at the home of local rivals and reigning champions Manchester City.
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It would appear that Ten Hag's two-word response had the desired impact, setting the tone within the dressing room that the Dutchman will not accept anything less than a maximum effort at all times.
It must be said, however, that a similar approach didn't work for Ten Hag's interim predecessor Ralf Rangnick, though it is a damning reflection on some United stars that both managers were forced to deal with such issues.
Rangnick was appointed on a temporary basis in December of last year but his effort to steer United to a successful second half of the campaign fell spectacularly short.
A report from the Sun claims that the German coach was at one stage forced to actually demand the players stop publicly moaning, specifically about him, on social media to their millions of adoring fans and followers.
Where perhaps Ten Hag and Rangnick differ is that the latter had a tendency to make every issue public, such as openly telling the media that Jesse Lingard had allegedly asked for time off after his loan move to Newcastle collapsed - a claim which the forward denied.
Rangnick's methods seemed to grate on United's players, to the point where the former Red Bull Leipzig boss felt compelled to come out and insist he had no personal issues with Lingard, for instance.
Ten Hag's refusal to accept any sort of moaning appears to have earned the Dutchman respect and his handling of the recent Cristiano Ronaldo situation is likely to have only strengthened his status as top dog in the dressing room.
