Manchester United players are loving life under Erik ten Hag.
The Red Devils, who have the chance to go third in the Premier League table with a victory over Crystal Palace on Wednesday, are enjoying resurgence under their Dutch boss after a nightmare season last time out. Following the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and a failed experiment with interim boss Ralf Rangnick which saw United finish sixth,Ten Hag is already telling fans to "dream" of a title charge.
With the team on a formidable run of nine wins in a row in all competitions, new signing Wout Weghorst has walked into a buzzing dressing room. After joining on a half-season loan from Burnley, the 30-year-old striker was quizzed on how much he knew about Dutch compatriot Ten Hag and his achievements in their homeland.
In his answer, the towering frontman revealed his teammates' assessment of their manager, telling club media : "Yes, yes. They are good. I'm from the Netherlands, of course the players from the national team spoke always a lot about him (Ten Hag). The way he is training, the way he is living football, living winning also. So, for me, these are the first days.
"Of course, I know him quite longer, but never worked on a real serious [basis] like we are now. So for me, it's new, but, yeah, you can feel already what the guys have been speaking about. I'm really looking forward to contributing and working together."
No wonder the 6'6" striker is eager to get down to business, with United coming into the clash with Palace - his potential debut - on the back of a rousing 2-1 victory over bitter rivals Manchester City on Saturday. It was after the match that new teammate Bruno Fernandes, who has been captaining the side with Harry Maguire out of the side, hinted at how Ten Hag has restored the team spirit in what was a fractured camp.
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"I said it before the game to the team, 'We look like a team now'," Fernandes declared to BT Sport, having signed for the club three years ago when Solskjaer looked to be the man to change the Red Devils' fortunes, only for United to falter again.
"Some time ago, you could see sometimes [we were a team], sometimes each one of us was looking for ourselves. Now, you see a proper team that works hard for each other and you see that it pays [off]."
After a recent win away at Wolves, defender Luke Shaw echoed his teammate's sentiment. Ten Hag had ruthlessly dropped star man Marcus Rashford for sleeping in, and Shaw admitted: "I think at a top club, it has to be like that [dropping Rashford], people can't do whatever they want. Maybe that’s been part of the problem in the past, with people getting away with silly little things, but the manager takes that into consideration. You see today, if you’re not keeping the standards high, then you won't play."
