After Manchester United’s rocky League Cup victory over Aston Villa, Erik ten Hag was quick to praise his players for following his ‘rules’ or ‘principles’ to win the match in his post-match conference.
A match that at one point seemed to be on a knife edge ended in a lopsided victory for the Red Devils by a two-goal margin, after some brilliant substitutions by Ten Hag.
The United manager, while quick to praise players like Alejandro Garnacho for their influence on the game, was also quick to stress that the reason for winning was that the players stuck to their principles of winning.
“On defense, the rules aren’t ‘but’ or ‘if,’ I just asked them to do it. In offensive positions they are ‘principles’, so there is more freedom”. Said the Dutchman after the match.
He even made reference to these rules in his preamble in the match program: “Whoever is selected, he will have to stick to the rules of winning and the plan that we established beforehand.”
This is not the first time that Ten Hag has referred to these ‘rules’. This he said after the disappointing defeat against Villa in the league: “We don’t follow the rules defending, the players on the pitch have to win the game and if they do their job 100 percent, with passion and desire, following the rules and football principles, then we won this game.”
Speaking after the brilliant victory over rivals Liverpool Ten Hag, he said: “I saw a team on the pitch, good organisation, fighting each other, following the rules.”
“There’s always a journey that you have with your team and we start from day one in preseason to get there…so every time a new player comes in, you brief them on the rules and then they play together.”
It is clear that the coach requires his players to be well trained in these principles, and it is clear that this hard work is paying off with every passing game.
Often when a team makes up to seven changes to the starting eleven, the game can become disjointed and lack fluidity. But despite a rather lukewarm first half, United seemed to be on the same page, with some crisp passing and the team looking organised.
By comparison, Villa, who also made seven substitutions, looked disjointed, especially when trying to get the ball from behind. On one occasion, goalkeeper Olsen gave the ball away following a miscommunication, directly leading to a United goal.
The aim this season is to return to Europe’s elite competition through the top four, however the League Cup now presents itself as a realistic opportunity to win silver, which would really show the benefits of following the rules. to win.
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