Zlatan Ibrahimovic on key mistake Erik ten Hag has already made at Man Utd
Zlatan Ibrahimovic believes Erik ten Hag has made a mistake by trying to handle Manchester United players with the same methods he fostered at Ajax.
Ten Hag, 53, won plenty of plaudits during his first year at Old Trafford but is under pressure this term. The Dutchman has overseen the club's worst start to a league season in 34 years and was booed off the pitch by fans after losing to Crystal Palace at the weekend.
The United hierarchy identified Ten Hag as the man to rebuild the club in the wake of his impressive work at Ajax, where he won three Dutch titles in four years. However, the expectations at United are far greater than Ajax - something that Ibrahimovic was keen to stress while discussing his former club's current woes.
During an interview with TalkTV, Ibrahimovic spoke of the need to adopt a different approach at Manchester United due to the calibre of players at the club. He feels, though, that Ten Hag has treated the high-profile players he is currently managing in the same manner as his old Ajax team.
He said: "Coming from Ajax to United as he did is a big difference — I have been in both clubs. You have a different kind of discipline. Ajax is a talented club. They have the best talents in the club. They don’t have big stars.
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"What is the experience of this coach? Young talents, he comes to United, it is a different mentality. The players there are supposed to be big stars. I don’t think you give the same treatment."
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic has questioned some of Erik ten Hag's methods (RAI)Pressure is beginning to grow on Ten Hag in the wake of United's shambolic start to the season. Their defeat against Crystal Palace on Saturday means the club have lost four of their opening seven league games for the first time in the Premier League era.
Ten Hag defended his players when they were at the weekend before admitting his team needed to be better in the coming weeks. However, he hit back at claims the club have made a lack of progress during his premiership ahead of Tuesday night's meeting with Galatasaray in the Champions League.
He said: "I think I don't agree with that [lack of progress]. The team is moving forward, but we have to make adjustments as well. When you don't have a left-back [fit], we have to change and we did. At the end of the day, it's about results and we didn't get the result we were looking for, which is very disappointing."
United head into Tuesday night's needing a result after losing their opening group game 4-3 against Bayern Munich last month. FC Copenhagen are the other team in Group A.
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