Ten Hag exclusive: Replacing Yoro, building on FA Cup & working with INEOS

It is not an attempt to redirect the conversation when Erik ten Hag says the saga over his future feels so long ago that he has already become detached from his thoughts, emotions, and coping mechanisms during the period when his status as Man Utd manager was uncertain.

So much has happened since, the dial has moved that far forward that there has been no time to revisit a matter he considers closed. The present and future of United requires maximum energy, so he finds it counter-productive to pour some of that energy into an issue already resolved.

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News, Ten Hag reveals details about his relationship with the club’s new football leadership structure, his ambitions for recruitment and his game model, as well as turning the exceptional FA Cup final performance against Manchester City into the norm…

Erik, it was a very difficult last season, a very uncertain summer, but there seems to be a different feel, look and vibe around Manchester United, this pre-season. It’s been very positive and and energetic…

It is. And yeah, we are in a project and we won two trophies, but we want to build on that and we need then the right energy. We need the right spirit and fight and good ideas to make this happen.

Is part of the reason there’s been this positivity, the fact that the new football leadership team and you and your coaching staff seem to be building this relationship together during pre-season? We’ve seen Sir Dave Brailsford, Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox at the training sessions, having conversations with you. There seems to be very supportive relationship and an open working relationship?

Yeah, it’s true. And we just started and it had to get really to come together. But we have a good start. We already have a good foundation and we work very hard in togetherness and that is a foundation to get the success.

Can you give us an idea of the relationship? How have you guys been spending pre-season? Do you guys go for meals together? How do you discuss recruitment? Does it have to be pencilled-in meetings or can you just speak openly?

That happens in different structures. Sometimes informal, some formal. We are in the way; we have meals, always together communicating very strongly with each other so that everyone knows where we are. We create a vision about our club and about our team.

It wasn’t the best start to the relationship – so how did you guys get from the point where the new leadership structure was looking at other managers, then they’ve decided to keep you on board, and now you are on tour together and building? Did you have to be quite upfront with them and say, ‘listen, if this is to work, we have to be honest with each other. We have to communicate.’ Did you have to say all that to them in Ibiza?

They know and they’re so experienced in different groups, in different sport, arts and in business. And then they know when you are not together, you don’t achieve the success you want to. And we are highly ambitious, so we need to be unified and in that unity we have to fight together because we have to be the example for our players and for the team.

What we’ve seen is a lot of changes from Manchester United in various approaches. And one of them is recruitment. It seems to be more aggressive, more proactive, but also more in keeping with the profile of player that can actually execute your vision on the pitch.

So you have to be there aligned and that we want to be proactive and we want to attract players who can execute our game model. And so yeah, from profiling we get the right players and that’s a daily process. It’s a continued process as well in the window, but also in between the windows. But yeah, that is an area that has to grow.

You’ve spoken about profiles there. One of the things you mention a lot is balance between the squad on the left and the right. Are you still keen on a left-sided defender?

We have left-sided defenders with Luke Shaw, Licha Martinez…

Do you have enough?

We are always looking for having squad depth cover for all the positions as possible double, because we know we go into the season and it’s a survival of the fittest. But it needs to be the right player and finance, FFP all fits. These things we have to take into mind otherwise we can’t bring a good squad on the pitch.

One of the things that could affect recruitment is injuries. Leny Yoro is out for at least three months. Would that alter your thinking in any way?

No. We have a clear plan. We know what to do. Injuries are part of the process. You can’t avoid it because top football, you go intense and it’ll happen. Then you need a squad who can cover this.

We’ve spoken about how positive it’s been around Manchester United, but then 33 minutes into the opening game on tour, there’s two injuries. How do you keep the message that, ‘okay, those are two setbacks, but we’re not going to let that lead the agenda?’

Because we know what we are doing and what direction we are moving and so we know exactly the leadership, the coaching staff, the place where we want to go, and yeah, setbacks is also a part of the process, but we have to be ready to deal with the setbacks and we need a plan under need who can cover this setbacks.

In this restructure that’s happened, you’ve changed a lot of your coaching staff. What have you noticed from the introductions of Rene Hake and Ruud van Nistelrooy particularly?

So first of all, I’m very grateful for the people who left us and they were all different.

Was that hard? To let them go – especially with Van der Gaag, because you guys have worked together for so long?

I’m very, very grateful for what he did for us. But he wants to go another way, he wants to be a head coach. Similar with Steve McLaren, which is good for them, but also I think for our process is good to go into the next level. We need new ideas, new energy, new dynamics, and it will help us to energise the team and to bring it to the next level.

There seems to be a big focus on making sure that there’s repetitive movements and motions so that the players, without even thinking, will be able to execute on the pitch. Is that one of the aims for the season to just drill them so much that it just becomes automatic, especially in the offensive patterns?

Sure. And we, we are building our foundation and actually we are not even into detail yet. It is just a foundation and football is very complicated sport, especially at the top. And we are building now the movements and the fine details of attacking which so important is course scoring goals. There’s a lot of work to do, but we are already building a foundation.

Some of the attacking play that we saw against Real Betis was really good. Were you happy with that? The combinations and especially with Amad’s performance?

I think the team did very well. We trying to build the structures, but I will not say it is already perfect. And when the resistance will be higher and then the intensity is getting higher, we have to do it quicker and building better relationships on the pitch to get the connections right. But again, that’s what we have pre-season for. We getting into a structure and now we have to do it quicker. And as you say, it has to be a way of life – automatic.

You seem on a personal level now, a lot more relaxed, a lot more light-hearted, a lot freer this pre-season. Is that because you feel that extra security at the club now? The support and the fact that there is a structure in place to aid you to help the United get even better along with this reinvigoration to the coaching staff?

I think I was last year also relaxed.

You think so? Last season was so stressful.

No, but in the pre-season we are talking about. Last season we had many setbacks and of course when you get set setbacks then everything around you goes into a negativity. And still, I thought I was quite positive. I thought I brought some energy all the time and calm, but also composure in the team and in the club. And I try to motivate them all the time. It is not easy when you had so many setbacks and when so many people are getting disappointed because of the setbacks from injuries and then of course the setbacks from results. But we kept believing and in the end we got our reward.

Is it taxing being Manchester United manager? Because you’re talking about that negative spiral and sometimes when it starts it just seems like there’s no end to the noise?

Well, you need some resilience, but I’m used to it. Because I had already some experiences in Ajax, even the club before Utrecht was really on a smaller level, but also very toxic. So I know how to deal with this, know how to manage this. I hope to avoid it, but if not, we have to deal with it.

You speak about resilience, but we’re all only human. And no matter how thick-skinned we can be, there are things that affect us. Was it difficult for you to be in a position last season, preparing for an FA Cup final and to have all the speculation that you’re going to be fired whether you win the game or not?

I know what I’m doing. In such moments I know that me with my coaching staff, with my players, we were aligned. I knew we had a strong belief to win that cup. And I think that was the outcome because there was such a strong foundation. There was such a strong belief that we could beat the best team in the world.

Where did that belief come from and and how did that all materialise? Because what we saw throughout the season from United and then what happened at the FA Cup final felt like two different worlds.

Yeah, but also we had some amazing performances as well. We had very high highs and very low lows. It’s a challenge to avoid this, to be more consistent, but this team is capable to play really on a high level. Now we need the culture, we need the mentality, and to do that on a consistent basis. And so week by week, every day, actually.

A lot of the players have said that they want that FA Cup final performance to be the norm.

This is only possible when the player has this attitude, when this should be the norm, when this is the standard. And I think they were on that day, they grow above that level, but now we know we can be on that level as individuals and as a team. Now we have to achieve this more, [be] more consistent. There you have to work for it, but it starts with the right mentality on a daily basis.