United flops have an early chance to impress Erik!
THE Erik ten Hag era will get off to a low-key start at Carrington this week, but for some United players it is an opportunity to press the reset button and forget about what has come before.
Ten Hag will welcome only around 14 or 15 players to the training ground for the start of pre-season today, with those involved in June internationals not due back until next Monday at the earliest.
But the 52-year-old Dutchman is ready to get to work at United and he’ll have enough players available this week to begin the process of getting them up to speed and ready to go when the new season begins in just under seven weeks.
The two-week pre-season tour in Thailand and Australia will be the crucial period for Ten Hag this summer, a spell when he will have a full squad available and, hopefully, some new signings as well.
The concentrated block of training will be vital to getting ideas across ahead of the new campaign.
Those players returning today will have a head start, however and they have to take that opportunity to get ahead of rivals for their places.
Some – such as David de Gea, Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw – have a good idea of their roles.
Others – including Eric Bailly, Axel Tuanzebe, Phil Jones and Anthony Martial – might expect to leave before the summer is out.
Then there’s another group – headed by Donny van de Beek, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho – who will be involved next season but all have points to prove and must make the most of a long pre-season to show their worth to Ten Hag.
Sancho didn’t have an enjoyable first season at Old Trafford after his £73m move from Borussia Dortmund, but it would be a major shock if he wasn’t on the teamsheet for the first game of the season against Brighton.
The 22-year-old has lost his place in the England squad, however and he needs to improve on last term.
He thrived in a structured system at Dortmund and Ten Hag’s methods should offer him a similar approach.
Sancho struggled with the freewheeling nature of United’s attack last season but he should benefit from a new approach.
There are reasons to believe that will be the case for Van de Beek and Rashford as well, but their status in the squad is yet to be decided and pre-season will be crucial to that. As things stand, they are probably squad players.
Van de Beek’s loan spell at
Everton in the second half of last season was fairly unfulfilling, but the advantage he has is that he’s the only midfielder back on the first day of pre-season.
The 25-year-old already has an upper hand having worked with Ten Hag at Ajax and if he can hit the ground running this week he can breathe new life into his Old Trafford career.
Ten Hag has made Frenkie de Jong his top target this summer and wants to sign Christian Eriksen on a free transfer, so there will be competition in midfield for Van de Beek, who simply must make an impression in the early weeks of pre-season.
It is a similar story for Rashford, who by the end of last season looked like he’d lost all confidence in his game. He’s been in a rut for a couple of years now and something has to change. It briefly looked like that might be his club, but the change of manager has buoyed the forward and he’s been working hard during the summer to report to Carrington fit and firing.
There will be plenty of competition for a place on the left in United’s attack, although Rashford could get games through the middle as well. What he needs to show is some improved form, however.
If the change of manager doesn’t lead to a change in fortunes for Rashford then his United career might well be over. He has suffered for the lack of elite coaching at Carrington in the last few years and Ten Hag should change that.
Rashford needs to grasp the opportunity to fine-tune his game, starting today.