Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is reaping the benefits of making his players run further on their day off back in August as they now look a different side.
Erik ten Hag is known for his disciplinarian approach, but the United manager’s decision to make his players come in on their day off after a humiliating defeat appears to be working.
Few could forget United’s 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Brentford back in August when they were outrun by the west London club by an astonishing 13.8km.
In response, Ten Hag made his players come into their Carrington training base and run the extra 8.5 miles they were outrun by the day before.
On that day in Brentford, United’s collective running distance was 95.6km. What followed was an incredible turnaround in form, with Ten Hag overseeing an impressive four-game winning run after the defeat by the Bees.
The Red Devils toppled clubs like Liverpool and Arsenal in the same streak before it was brought to an end by local rivals Manchester City, who battered them 6-3 at the Etihad. Their home form since the loss against Brighton has been impressive.
United have beaten fellow big-six rivals Arsenal, Liverpool and most recently Tottenham at Old Trafford, with the 2-0 win over Spurs producing a notable improvement in their running statistics.
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Data shows that the Red Devils covered an impressive 114.5km against Antonio Conte’s side – an 18.9km increase on the Brentford debacle.
To put their recent improvement in results only down to the amount of running the United players are doing would be wrong, but it has helped as they look to dominate their opponents.
Ten Hag’s side barely took their foot off the neck of Tottenham on Wednesday, managing to muster up 28 shots on goal – 19 of which came during the first-half alone.
The United boss could not contain his delight after the game, telling reporters: “I think you see today we developed and you can see in the last weeks we are growing in the season and becoming more proactive in and out of possession.
“First you get the organisation in and out of possession, then you dictate the intensity and that is what we did today.
“To be fair, I did not expect it before because Spurs have been solid this season, it was a magnificent performance and I hope we set a new base for the season. There were so many things that were good, but in possession, the switch of play and how we dictated the play and created chances.”
United’s ability to dictate the tempo of the play stemmed from both their prowess in possession and tireless running from the very first whistle until the last.
