The bar was set very low when Erik ten Hag was announced as Manchester United manager in April 2022.
The Dutchman wasn’t expected to win, or even challenge for the Premier League title.
He just needed to improve upon a 2021/22 campaign which produced just 16 league wins, 58 points (both record lows in the Premier League era) and a mediocre sixth-place finish.
Fast-forward a year and Ten Hag has succeeded in his brief: Be better than last season.
If you scratch beneath the surface of that statement, you’ll see the impact Ten Hag has had.
Firstly, the former Ajax boss has guided Manchester United to fourth place in the league with just six games remaining, having already amassed 19 victories and 63 points.
According to Opta data from May 1, the Red Devils have a 95.7% chance of finishing in the Champions League places, so it would take a mathematical anomaly for them to miss out on Europe’s premier club competition next season.
Ten Hag also ended Manchester United’s near six-year trophy drought as they beat fellow Champions League hopefuls Newcastle United 2-0 in the EFL Cup final in February.
With the FA Cup final against Manchester City to come, Ten Hag could become the first Manchester United manager in six years to win at least two trophies in a season, which would further elevate this campaign’s achievements.
To bring that winning mentality back to Old Trafford is no mean feat and one that will certainly bring a feel-good factor back to the fans.
However, it is not just the improved league standing or silverware count that has been a success of Ten Hag’s first year in charge.
It’s the authority he’s brought to the role and the respect he’s gained from making some tough decisions.
Most notably, dropping Cristiano Ronaldo after he refused to come on as a substitute for the final few minutes against Tottenham in October.
The Portuguese forward didn’t feature in the next fixture at Chelsea, and ultimately pressed the self-destruct button on his Manchester United career by giving a controversial interview with Piers Morgan in which he said he didn’t respect Ten Hag.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner subsequently left the club by mutual consent just before the start of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The way Ten Hag dealt with the Ronaldo situation showed the rest of the squad he wouldn’t stand for such behaviour, and nobody was bigger than the club.
It was no surprise then, when Marcus Rashford, who’d been dropped from the starting line-up against Wolves on New Year’s Eve for being late to a team meeting, came off the bench and scored the winner.
The 25-year-old has been a totally different player under Ten Hag compared to the figure he cut, devoid of any sort of form and confidence, under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick last term.
Ten Hag’s culture is certainly paying dividends.
Main picture by Кирилл Венедиктов is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
