Erik ten Hag is the best coach I have played under – these are the reasons why

Erik ten Hag changes your club, your team, yourself. Your vision on football, on cooperation, on the importance ofnew methods, of professionalism.

You even get a new idea of ​​your own qualities. I was an attacking midfielder for a long time but under him I became a centre-back. I was already 28. I became captain and gained so much more insight into the game – a whole new world opened up.

His first sessions at Utrecht took some getting used to. He immediately demanded an extra training pitch, which the youth department was not thrilled with. All kinds of extra lines were applied on the pitch. In fact, the entire pitch was divided into sections. Everyone thought: “What are we going to do now?” But this way Erik could make clear exactly where you should be in which situation.

He constantly stopped the game, which was annoying at the beginning. You were enjoying the game and then the whistle was blown again and Erik would say you were positioned wrong. But he also explained why you had to stand elsewhere. And then you thought: “Damn, he’s right.”

Erik has certain basic ideas about football but also looks at the players at his disposal. He played differently with us than with Ajax, where there is more attacking class. He is not the romantic that we like in the Netherlands; he wants to win. The season before he arrived we finished 11th but Utrecht want to be in the top five – and that is where we ended his first campaign. His great class is that he knows exactly how he wants it, and how to make it work. He discusses his vision extensively in meetings and then makes it trainable on the field.

I’ve had many good coaches, including Steve McClaren and Co Adriaanse, but Ten Hag’s simply the best. I’m not alone in this: everyone at