GARY NEVILLE hailed Erik ten Hag for revolutionising Manchester United inside just six months.
And he identified FOUR key areas the new manager has upgraded to turn the club’s fortunes around.
United lifted the Carabao Cup on Sunday, their first piece of silverware for six years.
And Neville was quick to heap praise on the Dutchman – insisting he has got all the big calls right.
Ten Hag has had his fair share of challenges from dealing with Cristiano Ronaldo’s exit to overseeing the transfer window as well as managing Harry Maguire and Jadon Sancho amid their own struggles.
But the former right-back told The Overlap: “I think we need to retain our calmness because of what’s happened before, but to deal with Harry Maguire, Sancho, Ronaldo, the poor transfer window chasing Frenkie de Jong.
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“We walked into his office in the midst of a massive crisis where fans at that point were angry.
“Angry on the pitch, angry off the pitch, nothing was going right.
“I can’t believe what he’s done in six months, I cannot believe what he’s done.”
Neville compared the tactical prowess Ten Hag has displayed to that of legendary boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
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And that includes the way he has used substitutions wisely in an era where he feels lots of strange changes are made by managers.
Neville continued: “What we saw in that final on Sunday was, for me, what Manchester United was like under Sir Alex Ferguson.
“We’d win games in different ways, it could be electric, it could be counter-attacking. It could be resilient, defensive, deep, compact. It could be nasty.
“I never want him to change the way we’ve played over the last couple of weeks.
“There are times when Jose [Mourinho] was at Chelsea and he made substitutions and Sir Alex would do the same thing and you think, ‘What’s he doing?’ And then they would work.
“Ten Hag’s done that now five or six times in the last few months.
“He’s made substitutions and even on Sunday I didn’t think [Marcel] Sabitzer and [Scott] McTominay would come on.
“I thought he’d bring a wide player on, [Alejandro] Garnacho or Sancho, and a midfielder.
“That surprised me but it got Manchester United back in control. Every time he makes a change it has a massive impact.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
