Manchester United showed a lot of promise under Erik Ten Hag last season, finishing third in the Premier League and winning the Carabao Cup. However, they haven’t been able to build on that success this season as they’ve struggled for consistency in their opening 11 games of the season.
Erik Ten Hag’s men have lost four of the eight Premier League games they’ve played so far, leaving them languishing in 10th position. Rene Meulensteen, Ferguson’s former assistant, has weighed in on why United have struggled for consistency, singling out two ex-Real Madrid players.
Who is Rene Meulensteen?
Rene Meulensteen played for Dutch clubs all his senior career but became more popular in his post-playing career. The Dutchman started his coaching career at NEC Nijmegen when he took over their youth team in 1990. He also had brief spells in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, but his big break came when he was appointed as the academy coach for Manchester United’s youth team in 2001, a role he assumed until 2006.
Rene Meulensteen was moved to the club’s reserves in 2005, and after gaining more experience, he had a one-year spell with Danish club Brondby. He would only spend six months in Denmark before being recalled as Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant after Carlos Queiroz left the club to become Portugal’s national team’s manager.
His role as the assistant to the legendary Scot gave him the chance to work with some of the biggest names in the game, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Carlos Tevez, and many more. He was Ferguson’s assistant at Manchester United until the Scottish manager retired in 2013, but during his time at United, he helped Ferguson win the Premier League three times, the UEFA Champions League and Club World Cup in 2008, three Community Shields, and two League Cups.
Rene Meulensteen took up jobs in Russia with Anzhi Makhachkala, Fulham, Maccabi Haifa, and Kerala Blasters before settling with another assistant role with the Australian national team in 2018.
Ex-Man Utd assistant questions Varane and Casemiro’s speed in EPL
Due to his past association with Manchester United, Rene Meulensteen continues to keep up with the club ten years after he departed with Sir Alex Ferguson. With United’s constant struggles this season, the former United first-team coach has weighed in on where the blame should lie, urging the fans not to blame the Glazers for the club’s woes.
“Ten Hag has brought in all the players and cannot say he has not been supported,” he told ESPN via a post on The Scottish Sun. “He has indicated that he is happy with this. I understand he gets a lot of credit from the fans, but these are not players who were brought in by the Glazers and are now on the field.”
Meulensteen went on, “Ten Hag wants to put a lot of pressure on, with a lot of intensity, just like at Ajax. But he doesn’t have the players for that. The players don’t have the mentality to put pressure on constantly. Varane cannot handle the pace. The Premier League is dynamic. Everything goes at 100 kilometres per hour.”
“Casemiro, for example, can’t handle it all. Ten Hag has a certain conviction about how he wants to play, but he has to find a way to get there. That is the big problem in midfield. They have no energy, and that is how the defence gets into trouble,” Rene Meulensteen concluded.
Manchester United struggled to find a win in their last match against Brentford, thanks to Scott McTominay’s second-half heroics. They will now hope to keep the momentum going when they travel to Sheffield United after the international break.
Can Manchester United make the top four this season?
