{"id":830089,"date":"2025-02-27T02:12:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T08:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/27\/ten-hag-modern-players-offended-by-criticism\/"},"modified":"2025-02-27T02:12:23","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T08:12:23","slug":"ten-hag-modern-players-offended-by-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/27\/ten-hag-modern-players-offended-by-criticism\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Hag: Modern players offended by criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Football <\/p>\n<section id=\"article-feed\" data-behavior=\"author_overlay article_header_news_feed_item_meta article_legal_footer\">\n<article data-id=\"44021440\" data-behavior=\"story_scroll story_progress\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/story\/_\/id\/44021440\/man-united-news-modern-players-handle-criticism-erik-ten-hag\">\n<div>\n<header>\n<h2>Football Man United news: Modern players can&#8217;t handle criticism &#8211; Erik ten Hag<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n<figure data-video=\"watch,640,360,44010713\" data-cerebro-id=\"67bdf59515786f1e3ece7d72\" data-title=\"Amorim: Lack of success a factor of Man United's redundancies\" data-source=\"espn\">\n<div><picture><source  media=\"(min-width: 376px)\"><source  media=\"(max-width: 375px)\"><\/picture>\n<p><span data-id=\"44010713\">play<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p><span>Amorim: Lack of success a factor of Man United&#8217;s redundancies (0:59)<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Ruben Amorim speaks about the latest round of cuts to staff at Manchester United. (0:59)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>ESPN<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>Feb 26, 2025, 05:38 AM ET<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Former <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"6ebc2fd0-35d3-733b-5666-b75035a3bce9\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/team?id=360\">Manchester United<\/a> head coach Erik ten Hag has said this generation of professional footballers find criticism offensive and demotivating in direct contrast to players of his era.<\/p>\n<p>Ten Hag had a number of high-profile clashes with first-team players during his stint at Old Trafford, including <a data-player-guid=\"19e162c0-6bf5-d817-e9f9-81bf96001ee2\" href=\"http:\/\/espn.com\/soccer\/player\/_\/id\/22774\/cristiano-ronaldo\">Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a>, <a data-player-guid=\"e83b9621-ce95-52e6-57b2-c2debce072c6\" href=\"http:\/\/espn.com\/soccer\/player\/_\/id\/259836\/jadon-sancho\">Jadon Sancho<\/a> and <a data-player-guid=\"73bfa01e-2ac7-2124-a245-7af746308a53\" href=\"http:\/\/espn.com\/soccer\/player\/_\/id\/230945\/marcus-rashford\">Marcus Rashford<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/football\/story\/_\/id\/41528230\/manchester-united-sack-erik-ten-hag-amid-poor-run-form\" target=\"_blank\">Dutch coach was sacked in October<\/a> after two-and-a-half years in charge.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This generation usually find it difficult to deal with criticism,&#8221; Ten Hag told SEG Stories, the media arm of his management agency. &#8220;Criticism really gets to them.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The generation that I grew up in had much thicker skin. You could be much more direct.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was approached much more directly. If I would do that with my current group of players I would demotivate them.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you do that to the current generation they find it offensive.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ten Hag&#8217;s entire playing career took place in the Netherlands between 1989 and 2002.<\/p>\n<p>Ten Hag&#8217;s first season at the helm saw United finish third and qualify for the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/league\/_\/name\/UEFA.CHAMPIONS\">UEFA Champions League<\/a>, as well as winning the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/league\/_\/name\/ENG.LEAGUE_CUP\">Carabao Cup<\/a>. However, he notably fell out with Ronaldo midway through that season, with the <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"12433baf-649d-7f4f-7233-6db63a5f62f4\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/team?id=482\">Portugal<\/a> star telling Piers Morgan&#8217;s TalkTV show that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/football\/story\/_\/id\/39414656\/man-united-ten-hag-deal-rashford-night-out\" target=\"_blank\">he had no respect for the coach<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The second full season in charge was considerably less successful as United finished eighth &#8212; their lowest ever placing in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/league\/_\/name\/ENG.1\">Premier League<\/a> &#8212; with a record number of defeats (14). The coach had a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/football\/story\/_\/id\/38491255\/man-united-sancho-urged-apologise-ten-hag\" target=\"_blank\">public spat with Sancho<\/a> at the start of the season after criticising his work-rate in training ahead of a trip to <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"feb44e87-58fa-9597-2691-b3c32768ebe4\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/team?id=359\">Arsenal<\/a> &#8212; a game they lost 3-1 &#8212; with the <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"217dee4e-6974-a197-49a2-afda6e1788c9\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/team?id=448\">England<\/a> international responding on social media.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/football\/story\/_\/id\/39414656\/man-united-ten-hag-deal-rashford-night-out\" target=\"_blank\">Rashford was dropped by Ten Hag<\/a> after reporting himself ill amid confusion over the timings of a night out in Belfast in January 2024.<\/p>\n<p>United did beat <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"94fd5d7e-35b1-9d52-c9f2-4a37259bea36\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/team?id=382\">Manchester City<\/a> in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/league\/_\/name\/ENG.FA\">FA Cup<\/a> final in May, leading to a two-year contract extension for Ten Hag, though he was sacked in October after winning just four of the team&#8217;s opening 13 league games.<\/p>\n<p>Ten Hag told SEG that he has had offers to return to management since his dismissal, though he would not consider taking a job until July 1.<\/p>\n<p>United have continued to struggle under Ruben Amorim, Ten Hag&#8217;s replacement. They are 15th in the standings on 30 points having lost 12 of their 26 games in the league.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/story\/_\/id\/44021440\/man-united-news-modern-players-handle-criticism-erik-ten-hag\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a> ESPN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Man United news: Modern players can&#8217;t handle criticism &#8211; Erik ten Hag play Amorim: Lack of success a factor of Man United&#8217;s redundancies (0:59) Ruben Amorim speaks about the latest round of cuts to staff at Manchester United. (0:59) ESPN Feb 26, 2025, 05:38 AM ET Former Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":830090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4173,3790,3555],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-830089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-modern","8":"category-football","9":"category-players"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}