“Wake him up at 3am, he’d tell you his whole match plan by heart” - Ex-Manchester United man hails ‘perfectionist’ Erik ten Hag

Marcel Sabitzer has said Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is a brilliant man-manager. He claims that the Dutchman is 'very straight' with his players and is highly knowledgeable.

Speaking to The Athletic, Sabitzer revealed that Ten Hag shows the players where they went wrong in matches and urges them to do better in the next matches. He added that the former Ajax manager is hard-working and a perfectionist, saying:

"You can wake him up at 3am, he'd tell you his whole match plan by heart. He's very knowledgeable about football and tactics, a very hard worker, a perfectionist. And he's very straight with you."

"When I had a bad game, he showed me some situations and told me how to do it better next time. I liked that."

He added:

"You knew where you stood with him. He never threw you under the bus. Instead, he told players to go out and do better in the next game. I learned a lot about football working under him. He's a very good coach."

Sabitzer played 18 games under Ten Hag at Manchester United last season after joining on loan from Bayern Munich. He scored three goals and assisted once during his spell before heading back to Germany and joining Borussia Dortmund.

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Erik ten Hag wants a different style at Manchester United

Rio Ferdinand was not happy with the style of play from Manchester United in their 1-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday, November 4. He asked Erik ten hag about it and questioned how long it would take for him to implement it.

He spoke about it on TNT Sports and was quoted by Daily Mirror as saying:

"I said this to Ten Hag after the game, 'When are you going to see your style in this team consistently?' If you haven't got a style and structure within the team, all you do constantly is rely on individuals. That'll only take you so far and gives you a ceiling. To get through that ceiling, that structure has to be in place to give that platform to play."

Ten Hag has admitted that he cannot play the same style he did at Ajax. He believes that he needs to mix it up with the DNA of Manchester United and was quoted by GOAL as saying:

"I can't play like Ajax because I have different players. I came here with my philosophy based on possession, but also (I want) to combine it with the DNA of Manchester United and combine it with the competences and the characters of the players."

The Red Devils are eighth in the Premier League table with six wins and five losses. They edged out a 1-0 win over Fulham last weekend with Bruno Fernandes scoring in the final minutes of the game.