Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has admitted that "standards were not right" when he arrived at the club last summer.
Ten Hag inherited a squad that had just recorded United’s lowest ever Premier League points tally, fewest league wins since 1991, as well as conceding the most goals in a single campaign since 1979.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had started the 2021/22 season in charge, followed by Michael Carrick as short-lived caretaker and Ralf Rangnick as interim. Ultimately, United finished the Premier League campaign with six defeats in their last 11 games, winning just three of them.
There was a feeling that a new culture was needed, which Ten Hag set about creating.
"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.
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"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.
Rashford had scored in successive wins since the World Cup break, but Ten Hag couldn’t allow standards to slip without exception and left the forward out of the team. Rashford eventually came off the bench during the game at Molineux and scored the only goal.
"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."
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This article was originally published on 90min as Erik ten Hag reveals the biggest thing wrong when he arrived at Man Utd.
