Former Manchester United manager David Moyes and ex-Premier League midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker have spoken to the BBC’s Football Daily podcast about United’s two performances under interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy since the exit of Erik ten Hag.
Reo-Coker: “Even though it’s only been two games, I see a vast improvement from what we saw from the players’ performances under Ten Hag. They are running more, they’re showing a greater desire to win.
“Even just the body language, the way Ruud embraces the players after the game and the players with him, that tells you a bigger, deeper story than just a feelgood factor right now.”
Moyes: “I come from another side of it – I think it would be wrong of the players if they just suddenly put in a couple of good performances for the new manager. It would tell you more about the players than the manager they’ve just lost.
“United have had some of the best managers in the world recently, like Van Gaal and Mourinho, Ten Hag had a great record as well. I think United were very loyal to Erik and gave him every opportunity to get it right. But I’d hate the thought that the players are suddenly starting to perform better because somebody else has taken over.
“At United, the scrutiny is incredible and the manager takes the brunt of it, which they do at all football clubs, but at a club like United the players are an important part of it. I hope that the players have just stepped it up in the past week or two but it was nothing to do with the manager.”
Reo-Coker: “Ruud hasn’t really changed anything tremendously, which is why you’d say it probably is on the players. He’s still started in the same formation Ten Hag was playing, but it’s just a different appetite that the players are showing.
“It’s unfortunate because United were very loyal to Ten Hag, but since the change has happened, you can see a different kind of energy in the players. Nothing has changed much in terms of formation and tactics.”
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