Gary Neville insists he “can’t believe” what Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag has done with the club “in six months” after the Red Devils won the Carabao Cup final.
The Red Devils have bounced back from a poor 2021/22 season with Ten Hag breathing fresh life into Marcus Rashford and a number of players who underperformed last term.
On top of that their recruitment was solid in the summer with Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez and Christian Eriksen having a big impact on their performances.
Man Utd are currently third in the Premier League with an outside chance of catching leaders Arsenal before the end of the season, while they are still competing in both the FA Cup and Europa League after winning the Carabao Cup on Sunday.
Ten Hag has faced a number of issues since arriving at Old Trafford with fans “angry” at the state of the club and Neville has been extremely impressed in how the Dutchman has managed to overcome any problems.
Neville said on The Overlap: “I think we need to retain our calmness because of what’s happened before, but to deal with Harry Maguire, [Jadon] Sancho, [Cristiano] Ronaldo, the poor transfer window chasing Frenkie de Jong.
“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.”
And Neville is now fully convinced that Man Utd are at the start of a bright new dawn under Ten Hag with the Red Devils demonstrating traits of some of Sir Alex Ferguson’s sides.
The Man Utd legend added: “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.”
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