Erik ten Hag has already become a figure of interest. The Dutchman has an intriguing aura of professionalism and mystery with his laconic press conferences and his stern pitchside attitude.
A former player who worked with Ten Hag on two separate occasions has revealed information about what it’s like to live under his tutelage.
Sjoerd Overgoor was released as a teenager by FC Twente when Ten Hag was manager, but was later reunited when the now Manchester United manager took the helm at Go Ahead Eagles.
Overgoor spoke to The Manchester Evening News about the successful season he enjoyed with Ten Hag, which came as a surprise given the initial contentious atmosphere between the pair.
Having been given shirt number 12 and experiencing Ten Hag’s brief conversations, Overgoor was pleasantly rewarded with a starting position in midfield.
The defensive midfielder detailed the meticulous nature of Ten Hag’s style towards discipline and organization.
“He wanted the yellow bibs together, the orange ones together and the blue ones together. His discipline was high with everything,” Overgoor said.
“Another example is that we did some light runs in the woods in the second practice session and he gave us groups to split up.
“He told us that the first group had to finish in one minute and 50 seconds, while the other group was expected to finish in two minutes.
“I was part of the second group, but we completed the race in one minute and 50 seconds, which was early.
“Ten Hag said ‘no, if I say two minutes, it’s two minutes, not one minute and 50 seconds. At first, we were really thinking what the heck is this? He is crazy, but he already knew him.
United players have already witnessed Ten Hag’s thoroughness in executing and matching specific commands.
Following the embarrassing 4-0 loss to Brentford at the start of the season, Ten Hag instructed each of his players to run 13.8km the next day – the exact difference in the amount ran between the two teams during the season. defeat.
Ten Hag also joined this fatigued exercise as a marker of appreciation and solidarity for the horrific display.
Overgoor noted more details about Ten Hag’s additions to the club,
“He put a window in his office and we thought it was because he wanted to see what we were doing in the hallway and in the dressing room, basically just to take control, but then he explained why, which was actually brilliant. ” Overgoor said.
“It was something I didn’t think about.
“He said if you have a closed door in the office, players might think he’s having a conversation with important people, or they won’t know if he’s there or not, making it hard to knock on the door.”
This addition of a window to the manager’s office is reminiscent of Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous window at Carrington. A journalist for The Irish Times, Michael Walker, noted that Ferguson’s “office had a window that reached the ceiling, with a view of the training ground”.
Overgoor continued: “Because of the window, you could look into the office and see it. The step to enter his office was much easier later, I never thought so. That’s how he is, it’s about perfection, he thinks like that in training and with everything around him.”
Asked what made the Go Ahead Eagles become a force in the Eerste Divisie after finishing mid-table the season before Ten Hag arrived, Overgoor said it was due to too many repetitions in training. .
“He trained a lot with 11 against zero and he only wanted diagonal balls, not straight balls, and every time we did that he would yell ‘STOP!’
“We went back to the goalkeeper to start over and he gave us guidelines. If we play left back, the left midfielder comes for the ball, then the left back goes deep, or something like that, and the play would have to be executed well.
“After that, he would give us a new pattern. Every time we did something wrong, he would yell ‘STOP’.
Overgoor remembers that he was very tedious to be with, but the team began to appreciate that the movements were recognized during matches, it had become second nature.
“From that moment on, we enjoyed it more, we could see the difference it made,” he said.
Ten Hag has already mentioned the modern training tool ‘automatism’ on a couple of occasions as United manager. His use of this training technique highlights the mechanical strength of the footballing intelligence he wants his United team to be.
You can read more about automatism, which Overgoor describes, here.
Though Overgoor assumed his relationship with the former boss was rather chilly, in hindsight he has come to realize the excellent management of the man who pushed an underdog Eagles side to promotion.
“I said after five weeks, I think he hates me, but no, he always pushed me,” Overgoor explained.
“A lot of coaches who didn’t push me in my career, maybe I was 20 percent under and the whole team gets 20 percent over and over when everyone is really pushed. You see the confidence grow after a couple of months.
“Because he wanted everything to be perfect, he changed our mentality, we also wanted to be perfect and we believed in his style. We knew how we had to play, so the team’s confidence became very good and that’s the reason we got promoted.”
Embracing Ten Hag’s obsession with perfectionism appears to be key if United’s current crop of players are to succeed under the Dutchman.
Overgoor outlined how the team must respond to their new boss’s coaching and management style, saying it was especially important for them to be patient.
“When you look at all the teams he’s coached, the first four or five months, every month we played better, but the results weren’t as good as if we were ninth or 10th in the Go Ahead Eagles.
“After the winter, we improved and it was the same with Utrecht and the same with Ajax. He needs time. Look at Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, the first year was not so good but he needed time because he had a completely different approach to the club.
“Discipline is very important, I have already seen interviews with Bruno Fernandes when he talks about it. you can’t change it [results] right after last year, you can’t go from nothing to perfect in just a couple of months, it takes time.”
Discipline. Desire. Determination. Three buzzwords that Overgoor seems to imply are intrinsic to the character of Erik ten Hag. 
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