Though it is early days, the impact of Erik Ten Hag's coaching at Manchester United is plain to see this season.
The performances of United have dramatically improved from last year's disaster under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick, with big wins coming over Liverpool, Arsenal, and Spurs in recent months.
After Saturday's derby win against Manchester City, Ten Hag's men lie just one point behind their local rivals, and nine points behind league leaders Arsenal, with a massive game to come on Sunday afternoon at the Emirates.
Ten Hag has certainly made an instant impact at Old Trafford, and old footage from a Dutch TV show with Johan Cruyff shows that a young Ten Hag was learning from the best in the business.
Archive footage surfaces of young Erik Ten Hag with Johan Cruyff
The Erik Ten Hag revolution has been driven by new signings like Casemiro and Christian Eriksen, but youth has also played a crucial role in the Dutch coach's tenure thus far. Academy talents such as Alejandro Garnacho have starred in United's biggest moments this season, while exciting prospects such as Kobee Mainoo have been given their first tastes of first team action.
With that in mind, the clip of a 13-year-old Ten Hag in conversation with footballing legend Johan Cruyff becomes even more extraordinary.
The footage, shared to Twitter by Manchester United fan account "Numero Bruno," shows the young Ten Hag responding to a question from Cruyff on how to manage young players.
Best thing you’ll see all day…
A 13 year old Erik Ten Hag telling Johan Cruyff how a trainer should communicate with his players.
See thread for translation. pic.twitter.com/s8SVclUwcw— Numero Bruno ™ 🇾🇪 🔰 (@RuudAzz) January 15, 2023
The translation of the clip gives an intriguing insight into Ten Hag's approach to managing young players. Cruyff asks the group of young footballers whether their coaches regularly yell at them in training, to which Ten Hag responds:
I think you should watch that you don't yell at the youth too much, because you can break a player like that.
But, on a higher level such as the first time at Ajax, you should be able to say something about it. Those guys train almost every day in the week. If they keep making the same mistakes, you should be able to confront them.
It's an amazing clip which shows Ten Hag's coaching brains were in operation from a young age.
His passion for keeping discipline at the highest level has been displayed at multiple points this year, and the difference in approach across youth players and senior players can be seen as well.
When 18-year-old Alejandro Garnacho was found in breach of discipline over the summer tour of Asia, the matter was quietly dealt with. Evidently, the player has felt adequately encouraged by his manager's faith, with a last-minute winner against Fulham and a match-winning assist in the derby following in recent months.
By contrast, indiscipline from Cristiano Ronaldo was met with a far sterner response, as was Marcus Rashford's tardiness before a recent game against Wolves.
To see a young Erik Ten Hag conversing on coaching with one of football's greatest ever players and coaches in Johan Cruyff is an amazing find, and gives an insight into how the Manchester United manager has approached his latest assignment.
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