01 January 2023 , 11:36
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Luke Shaw has admitted that previous regimes at Manchester United have been plagued by ill-discipline - but stressed that is no longer the case under Erik ten Hag.
United were in disarray when Ten Hag arrived in the summer but the Dutchman has rebounded from a nightmare start to steady the ship at Old Trafford. Ten Hag has won already plenty of plaudits for his no-nonsense stance in regards to discipline, particularly in response to the taxing Cristiano Ronaldo saga.
And Ten Hag was applauded once again for adopting a similar stance with Marcus Rashford prior to United's 1-0 win over Wolves on Saturday.
The in-form striker was dropped to the bench just days after putting Nottingham Forest to the sword due to 'disciplinary' issues. The 25-year-old, who stepped off the bench to net the only goal of the game, admitted after the match that he had been punished for oversleeping on the morning of a team meeting.
When he was quizzed on Ten Hag's decision after the match, Shaw made it clear that he agreed with the stance - and appeared to hint that previous United managers would not have followed suit.
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“I think at a top club it has to be like that, people can’t do whatever they want,” Shaw told BT Sport. “Maybe that’s been part of the problem in the past with people getting away with silly little things but the manager takes that into consideration. You see today, if you’re not keeping the standards high then you won’t play.”
United were plagued by reports of dressing room unrest towards the end of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's reign and the Norwegian's replacement, Ralf Rangnick, failed to amend the lack of discipline during his underwhelming stint in charge.
Join the debate! What did you make of Ten Hag's decision to drop Rashford to the bench? Let us know here.
Erik ten Hag started Marcus Rashford on the bench after the England striker was late for a team meeting (Getty Images)And Shaw is not the first player to hint that the discipline and culture at the club was an issue before Ten Hag landed the top job in the summer.
Bruno Fernandes also touched on the impact Ten Hag has had and how the former Ajax chief has already managed to instill some much-needed discipline at Old Trafford.
Speaking back in the summer, Fernandes confirmed that Ten Hag had reintroduced fines for lateness. He said: “We missed that for a while and discipline is important. Discipline is not only the way you play, the position that you have, what you have to do, it’s also off the pitch. Don’t be late for the meetings, don’t be late for the meals. That’s really important because if everyone is on time and someone comes late, he should be punished.
“That’s really good that he’s doing that and amazing, because I like to be on time, so I won’t have problems with that.”