Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has acknowledged that “standards were not right” when he arrived at the club last summer.
Ten Hag took over a team that had recently finished with the fewest Premier League points ever, the fewest league wins since 1991, and the most goals conceded in a single season since 1979.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer led the team into the 2021/22 season, followed by Michael Carrick as a caretaker and Ralf Rangnick as an interim. United concluded the Premier League season with six defeats in their final 11 games, winning only three of them.
There was a sense that a new culture was needed, therefore Ten Hag set about building one.
“You will not reach the levels when you don’t do the things right. In general when I came in at Man United, the standards were not right,” the Dutchman told The Guardian, looking back.
“I demand the highest standards in sleep, recovery and nutrition because that makes the difference if you can perform every third or fourth day. That is the demand for every top player, so at Man United we are demanding the highest standards.”
Marcus Rashford learned that the hard way when he was late for a team meeting in December and found himself dropped for a game against Wolves on New Year’s Eve.
Since the World Cup break, Rashford had scored in each of the team’s victories, but Ten Hag couldn’t let the bar drop consistently and left the forward off the roster. In the end, Rashford scored the game-winning goal at Molineux after coming off the bench.
“It’s the team rules, and it’s a mistake that can happen,” Rashford admitted immediately after the final whistle. “I’m disappointed not to play but I understand the decision and I’m happy we managed to win the game anyway. Hopefully we can draw a line under it and move on.”