Ruud van Nistelrooy lifts lid on 'very important' individual chats with Man United players

New Manchester United assistant manager Ruud van Nistelrooy believes it is 'very important' to have individual conversations with players about what is expected of them.

Van Nistelrooy, who spent five years at Old Trafford as a player, returned to the club last month as part of a shake-up of the club's first-team coaching staff. He has taken up the role of assistant boss alongside Rene Hake.

The former striker went on the club's pre-season tour of the United States and his presence on the training pitch was instantly noticeable. Club sources have said he has oozed authority and the youngsters have taken a shine to him because of his status at the club as a player.

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One of the more noticeable aspects of Van Nistelrooy's training ground methods is the time he spends chatting to players. He believes that is a crucial part of the job to help them understand what is expected of the team.

Asked if it is important to have one-on-one conversations, Van Nistelrooy, speaking to MUTV, said: "Very important. On a collective level, it's important to get the different game phases into the team, what is expected in the pressing or in the build-up or in the mid-block or in all the phases of the game,” he explained when asked about this approach.

"Like clear: what do we want? How do we want the execution to be and how do we translate it into the training pitch? We both [himself and Hake] are aligned with that with the manager, of course, so from there on you look to make an influence on individuals or units.

"In the end, when we are on one page, we are definitely the strongest - and that is