Erik ten Hag's Manchester United tactics explained ahead of manager appointment

Erik ten Hag's tactics for Manchester United have been explained by one of his former players.

Ten Hag is expected to arrive at Old Trafford next season having been interviewed last month and singled out as the preferred candidate by the United hierarchy. Ajax are expecting their manager to leave for England by the end of this season according to sources in the Netherlands.

Attention is beginning to turn to how a Ten Hag United side could play if and when he takes over the club. Speaking to the i Robbin Ruiter, who was coached by the current Ajax boss at Utrecht, explained the thinking behind his approach to football.

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"You could tell he was at a very high level tactically from the start," Ruiter explained. "Especially in the beginning it was every 20 seconds during training games it was: ‘Stop.’

"You would have to stop and he’d explain what he wanted. But a few weeks later, everyone knew and the impact on the team was so positive so no-one needed to stop.

"Every single detail was covered – not just the opponents but our own team. You could tell Erik was special, something very different.

"His level of obsession with football is something else, it is 24/7 for him. He was a great coach and a great person."

When asked about the training sessions, Ruiter added: "The sessions were long and intense. It wasn’t physically tough, it was mentally tough and totally different to anything we’d experienced before.

"In the beginning a lot of players had doubts about the way we trained. It wasn’t normal.

"We’d come from a coach who gave us a lot of freedom and a lot of fun – laughing and joking around – and we went to a coach like Erik who was