Manchester United Manager Eric ten Hag said he is in charge of the club’s reserve side to see more cooperation at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag believes United’s reserve side, the U21 squad, was “isolated” before joining last summer.
And the Dutchman has spoken to United’s director of football, John Murtaugh, about coaching the reserve team as part of the negotiations that brought him to Manchester.
ten hag says: Just like Ajax, when I came to Manchester United the reserves were isolated.
“It was no longer part of the academy, but it was also not part of the first team.
“At Ajax, the reserve team was put under the manager’s responsibility.
“Of course, I give the coaches the freedom to do their job, but I give them instructions like, ‘I want that player to start making time in that position.
“Therefore, I am ultimately responsible for the performance of the second team and the flow of players from the reserve team to the first team.”
At Ajax, Ten Hag’s former club, reserve side John Ajax is competing in the second tier of Dutch football. But in England, United’s U21s play in the Premier League 2. They are also participating in the Papa John’s Trophy.
United’s U21s have won just one of their 12 league games this season and are 11th out of 14 teams in Premier League 2 Division 1.
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Several players from that side have been involved in the first-team setup this season, most notably the 18-year-old. Alejandro Garnacho He has made 11 senior appearances so far this season.
“Before I came to Manchester, I had a detailed discussion with John Murtaugh about this and he made it possible for me to work here as well,” added Ten Hag.
“In Holland I took a step towards getting more managerial positions at Ajax. .
“But if you have talented people, you need to bring them into the vision so you can delegate tasks. An example is the training process with senior teams. I know I have a good relationship with Mitchell van der Garg.
“He attends training sessions, so he often has an overview, and as a manager, he knows more than if he were doing the training exercises himself.”
United’s first team is flying high Premier League after a 1-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers We saw them move up to 4th place on Saturday.Profile of Ten Hag Bournemouth for their next game on Tuesday.
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(Photo: Getty Images)
