The former Man Utd striking coach Benni McCarthy came out with some very interesting comments a couple of days ago.
Speaking to Portuguese outlet ZeroZero the South African didn't hold back on some of the things he had to say regarding our club.
This could give us a great understanding of why some things are the way they are at the moment and potentially some ideas of what could happen in the future.
Erik ten Hag
On Erik ten Hag, McCarthy did praise the Dutchman saying that he is one of the best tactical managers he's ever met. "Tactically, I think Erik [ten Hag] is at the top."
McCarthy also admitted that as a coach, he would like to get to that level of ten Hag in terms of that tactical mastery. "I want to be at his level in terms of tactical mastery."
But that is about where it ends in terms of that praise.
The former striker talked about how Erik ten Hag can lack that bit of passion and fight. "In modern football, I think footballers want to see a bit more passion in their manager. They need to feel that the manager is with them and is ready to fight alongside them. He lacks a bit of that fire, that passion." He adds that "Erik gives the players all the information and expects them to deliver on the pitch."
I must admit that for me, I also like my manager to have that fire and passion and one that is visible on the touchline. I don't think we see that enough from ten Hag. He too often just stands there with his hands in his pockets and shakes his head whenever things aren't going well.
I'd rather he lay into his players and let them know that what they're doing is not good enough. I think this could cause the players to perhaps wake up as the manager is not just going to accept what's going on.
This is just from watching the games on tv. I don't know what he's like in training but according to McCarthy, ten Hag obviously doesn't show that heart at Carrington either.
When it comes to ten Hag's tactical knowledge, I think he is low key quite brilliant. This is what made his Ajax sides so good in that tactically, they were superb almost to a point where they were unbeatable.
It's also one of the reasons as to why I wanted him to come to United in the first place. Watching how his Ajax team played was a joy and was the type of football we'd been missing at MUFC since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
With McCarthy speaking so highly of ten Hag's tactical ability and even reports about how Casemiro thought he'd seen it all at Real Madrid before seeing what ten Hag can do, it shows that he isn't as useless as the media makes him out to be.
I just feel that there needs to be a blend of this tactical mastery along with the passion, fight and empathy that McCarthy is talking about.
Bruno and Dalot
The South African also highlighted captain Bruno Fernandes and fellow countryman Diogo Dalot as two players who give it their all and how if others showed this same work ethic, then perhaps United wouldn't be in such a difficult situation.
"Bruno [Fernandes] lives for football. Diogo [Dalot] is like that too. If some of the United players had what Bruno and Diogo have, it would have been easier to get good results.
They gave their all. Some didn't. That ended up limiting the team's progress because some players weren't training to their full potential. Even in matches, the data showed us that some were performing at their peak and others a little bit below."
This one kind of takes it all when looking at what he had to say.
While he singled out just two players it doesn't mean that there are others who don't perform in this manner. I'm sure there are.
But I feel that with Bruno and Dalot, this hard work ethic isn't a surprise. Bruno has been crap for a long time but we know that he will give his all every minute of every game regardless of where he plays. This is something we cannot question.
Dalot has also come in for a lot of praise for his ability to keep going and keep going. He's been doing a job at left-back despite being a right-back and is even more versatile as he can play in midfield.
I believe that these are two players the manager highly relies upon when it comes to performances. These two are also always available as they are hardly ever injured.
What happened on Sunday is something I can't explain when it comes to these two especially with Dalot. He's never played such a poor game in his time at the club whereas we have seen Bruno drop quite a few stinkers.
Hopefully Sunday was just a blip.
As for saying that there are some players who don't give their all and weren't performing at their peak during matches, what a disgrace.
Gary Neville used this word to describe the team's performance on Sunday and it's perfect.
How can you not give everything? Regardless of what you do in life, if you don't try your hardest, you will never get anywhere and you shouldn't be surprised when you fail.
That's the same in football.
This sort of laziness shall we call it, is not something we should ever be associating with our club. If anything, players should try even harder now that they play for United.
This could be the reason as to why we're playing terribly and have done so for many years. This is why we can't compete for the big trophies, having performances like Spurs and getting pummeled every now and then.
"Some players weren't training to their full potential."
👆 This man right here is perfect for this because in an interview he did years ago, Roy Keane was told some of the praise Sir Alex Ferguson said about him after his captain's performance in the 3-2 win against Juventus in 1999.
Keane's response to this was "stuff like that kind of almost insults me. What am I supposed to do? Give up? Not cover every blade of grass? Not do my best for my club? It's like praising the postman for delivering your letters. That's his job."
What happened to this mentality? Where are these type of characters in our dressing room?
Not having that type of determination is why we fail. I'm not saying everyone has to be like Roy Keane but to have them think like him on some level would improve us tenfold.
Maybe this is the reason as to why Erik ten Hag picks certain players as he knows whether they're playing well or not, they will give everything. This could explain Bruno's constant selection despite playing like shite for the best part of a year.
The same goes for Dalot, Maguire, Casemiro, Eriksen and even Scott McTominay. The Scotsman was regularly in the team even though he wasn't good enough which is probably the reason as to why he was sold to Napoli.
How can they not try hard for that badge? For the history? For all those who've won the shirt before? For the fans who spend so much time and money to watch that shower of shit?
What about trying hard for yourself? See how far you can push yourself, how much you can take.
We really need to get rid of these types of players who don't work hard. This is the real culture reset we need.
Ronaldo
McCarthy also spoke about Ronaldo and the potential reasons as to why there was a fallout between him and ten Hag.
“He [Ten Hag] wanted a forward capable of pressing right ahead, but Cristiano Ronaldo considered that this work should be done by the team as a whole. With him, in some areas, the best thing to do is to give him the ball and let him do his thing.”
I love Cristiano. I like ten Hag. Why couldn't it just work out between them 😫? The chances we're creating now would've been perfect for someone like CR7.
But we know that ten Hag's ideal style is quite intense with a lot of running required. He wants his team to press from the front and we know that Ronaldo throughout his career wasn't the hardest of working players. He was more the one who had others do the hard work for him and he destroyed oppositions up front. This was also in his prime let alone at 37.
So for ten Hag to be asking him to do this when he can't (or is reluctant to) would've been a problem. I suppose if a player isn't good enough to do what the manager wants then he should be benched or removed, which is what happened to Ronaldo.
But I do agree with the goat in that we should press as a team rather than individual. This is something that we've started to see this season as the high press implemented by United has been superb. The team presses as a collective with the attack squeezing the opposition in and around their box which causes them a lot of issues. We didn't see this during ten Hag's first season.
Maybe we should've had the rest help Cristiano in the press as we know that there's no one who's as clinical in the team as he is should the chances arise.
Whether a player agrees with the manager or not, his orders have to be carried out and if they're not good enough, he'll eventually be found it.
It's a pity it had to end the way it did between Ronaldo and United but we'll always love him.
McCarthy mentioned how Cristiano was early to training, worked extremely hard on his body and you know the rest.
The ex-coach spoke about his relationship with the players and that he had a "fantastic bond" with them but that as he wasn't the manager, "my ideas couldn't be passed on directly to the team."
Whatever you think about McCarthy as a coach and what he's said, it still is very interesting. A lot of us had/have our suspicions about why we well, suck, and to hear first-hand from a former coach about some of the problems gives us an idea that perhaps we're not far off with our thinking.
Maybe some of his words have to be taken with a pinch of salt as he was let go by the club and Erik ten Hag brought in new coaches to replace him 🤷♂️.
Background image: Benni McCarthy, fomer Man Utd attacking coach | Image credit: Getty Images via Goal