On Erik ten Hag’s start at Manchester United, Paul Scholes has provided some clarification. The club icon, who is now 47 years old, believes Louis van Gaal’s strategy eight years ago was different.
Scholes reflects on the conclusion of his playing career in a talk with his former teammate Gary Neville in the YouTube programme The Overlap.
According to his perceptions, where did go awry? To be honest, when new managers took over, they just acquired terrible players. A football term I detest was coined by Louis van Gaal: a philosophy. The overuse of the word irritates me. I am aware that every manager has their own philosophy, but I believe United ought to have its own, which a manager ought to respect.
Van Gaal arrived with his brand of possession football, but Manchester United are not a possession club, he argues. The field game was never as essential as winning. Overwhelming football was not as vital as scoring and creating opportunities. That is not the philosophy of Manchester United. That is the philosophy of Barcelona, Ajax, or nowadays Manchester City, says Scholes. “I think even the new manager stumbled upon that,” he says of Erik ten Hag’s start.
This change in United’s playing approach has been welcomed by the former midfielder. Pep Guardiola hadn’t changed, but I believe this manager has realised that he doesn’t have the players to do that at all. After that Brentford game, something changed: he realised he couldn’t do it because it doesn’t suit Manchester United. I’m not sure if this manager changed it on purpose or if he was just lucky, but after the game against Brentford he started playing more directly. Some managers are very stubborn. Pep Guardiola hadn’t adapted.
