Sir Alex Ferguson’s former defender Gary Pallister believes current Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is showing similarities to his old boss.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag’s approach to dealing with stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford has been compared to how Sir Alex Ferguson chose to keep order in his squad.
Ten Hag flexed his authority back in November following Ronaldo’s controversial interview with Piers Morgan. During the TalkTV conversation, the 38-year-old slammed his manager, the Glazers, the club and former teammates Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney for their attitude towards him.
Shortly after the interview was aired, Ronaldo and United parted ways in what was a huge statement of intent from Ten Hag. Just over a month later, the Dutchman made the bold decision to drop Rashford to the bench against Wolverhampton Wanderers, despite his blistering form, after he overslept and partially missed a meeting.
While Pallister admits that it is too early to make too many comparisons between Ten Hag and United’s legendary boss, he told MEN Sport via aceodds.com that the former Ajax man has set his stall out similar to his former manager. He explained: “Well, he’s only been in the job, what, seven months? So I think it’s really hard to answer that question at the moment.
“Obviously, the one that’s left is very high profile in Cristiano. I think he handled that situation really well. I think that’s something that Sir Alex did himself.
“It’s hard as a player to know when to leave, and Sir Alex talked about how difficult it was to let players go who had been so important to his sides and who he had a fondness for as well and respected everything they did for the club. But there came a time when it was time to go and he made them difficult decisions.
“It’s funny, I was watching a documentary last night. I just put it on when I was flicking through the channels, and he was on about saying how difficult it was, and if he had a difficult decision to make he wouldn’t go to bed worrying about it and he’d make that decision before he went to bed so it didn’t keep him up all night.
“So it sounds quite harsh, but I think that’s the nature of it. He seemed to get the timing right whenever he let big names go, whether it was Bryan Robson, Mark Hughes, Steve Bruce, Jaap Stam, which I think famously he said he maybe got wrong, Ruud van Nistelrooy, all these kind of players.
“If he feels as though that’s going to hinder the team progressing, then he’s not afraid to make them big calls. As for Ten Hag, I think he handled the leaving of Cristiano Ronaldo really well.
“I just think he’s got a similar mentality to the gaffer in the way that the players have to know who’s the boss. Can anybody sort of challenge that fact in the dressing room? That was something that he firmly believed in and was steadfast in that when it came to dealing with players or egos that were maybe getting out of line in the dressing room.
“So he’s drawn a line in the sand, Ten Hag, as we saw with the Rashford situation. Whether that was actually the first time that Marcus was late or the second or third, who knows, maybe seemed a little bit harsh if it was only the first time.
“But that’s where he’s drawn a line in the sand, and the players know where to stand if they want to play in the team. We’ve got to obey his rules.”
Source: manchestereveningnews.co.uk
