Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has shown great resilience to keep the team afloat during this injury-hit campaign.
While other managers would have been fired at the midway point of the campaign, we have seen it before, Erik ten Hag has been able to rally his team and fight back into Champions League contention.
Now, he has Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-finals, after a stirring 4-3 win at home to Liverpool.
Part of the key to this is the way Ten Hag has managed to get his players behind him. The team spirit was very evident in that win and the jubilant post-match scenes.
Sebastien Haller talks up Erik ten Hag
Erik ten Hag’s ability to get performances and fight is testament to his managerial skills. It has not always been perfect, but the desire of the squad is not in question.
One player who thrived at him is Ivory Coast striker Sebastien Haller, who starred under him at FC Utrecht.
Speaking this week to The Athletic, Haller explained that his desire to work with Ten Hag again was what tempted him to leave West Ham for Ajax.
Haller scored 87 goals under Ten Hag, and has spoken highly of the Manchester United manager.
He praised his work rate, and has urged patience, criticising the often hysterical UK and international mdia which surrounds the club.
Haller explained: “Ten Hag really invests his time and energy into getting the best out of his team.
“This is England and Manchester United, people don’t even want to know what is going on behind the scenes — they just want results.
“When I was in Utrecht, he was my neighbour. This guy never stops working. This is the only thing he does and he wants to do it well.
“You need to adapt to your environment and I’m sure he will do some good things — he already has. I wish him all the best. Thanks to him, I could succeed.”
It is clear that Haller attributes a lot of his success to Ten Hag. We even wondered if he might have been a temporary fix for striker-needy United as a deadline day loanee, but this was not to be.
Ten Hag’s man-management is a strength
Yes, Erik ten Hag has lost a couple of high-profile stars along the way at Manchester United, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho not seeing eye to eye with him.
There were a couple of themes there, neither player were willing to do what Ten Hag demanded of them.
This has not festered, both players have been moved on, Sancho temporarily. This has not affected the team spirit at Carrington.
We saw this bear out in a very spectacular way at the weekend, with many of the team’s substitutes coming on to play crucial roles.
These included Christian Eriksen, who has expressed unhappiness with a lack of playing time, yet still came up trumps to deliver an excellent cameo performance.