Dimitar Berbatov: Winning Premier League title must be Ten Hag’s goal

Ten Hag must win the Premier League

The long awaited saga of finding a manager is over now. Erik Ten Hag is the guy who has been chosen to rebuild Manchester United for next season. I imagine there will be a lot of people coming and going in the next few weeks and months.

I don’t want to be too optimistic yet because we have had this in the past, with all the great managers that have been at United.

Given the current situation it’s fair to say that none of them have done a good job. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves and celebrate, let’s be realistic and see what happens.

He’s got a massive job on his hands and we’re looking at a rebuild, and probably the biggest rebuild in European football. I’ve seen lots of talk about people coming and going, and unfortunately something needs to happen because it was obvious the other night against Liverpool, there is a massive gap there.

Liverpool are targetting a quadruple, United aiming to scrape into Europe.

I hope that the club will give Ten Hag the time he needs, we can not judge him on next season, that will be too harsh and we cannot expect a miracle when the team has been in a poor position for so long now.

It will be a miracle if things happen straight away next season. For me, United have to win the Premier League again, that is what will be considered a success for Ten Hag. That is the standard that United have to chase.

Recruitment key to United’s long term success

I wish him all the luck in the world, and I hope he makes smart choices when he rebuilds the team. He has to bring the right players in to suit his philosophy. I hope that they can find the right players and system to bring the Premier League title back to Old Trafford.

He has to find the right players to suit his system. If he can get that right then everything will be easier. Most of the players at United should be worried about a potential rebuild, this season hasn’t gone well and everybody will be asking questions about their future.

It all depends on the new manager and he will be starting to work on who he wants to keep at the club as soon as possible. It’s a difficult process, and he has to make the smart choices, we have already witnessed in the past that when you buy a player for the sake of buying a player it doesn’t work out. You have to be smart in the transfer window.

When you play, and a new manager comes in there is a lot of emotions going through you. There’s excitement, expectation, uncertainty, you may have an idea of a new manager but you never really know how things will go.

Players who haven’t had a chance may get time to play, or maybe they will be sold. New players will come in and if that is to be the case then Ten Hag needs to know exactly which players he needs to bring in to play his way.

Van de Beek could be free to play under Ten Hag

Things haven’t worked out so far at United for Donny Van de Beek, he’s currently on loan at Everton and he will be back at Old Trafford in the summer. He will get a chance to show what he can do and he has worked with Ten Hag before ar Ajax, which is always a good thing, having that connection is great when you’re a player. Let’s hope he can resurrect his career at Old Trafford.

For a player, the relationship with the manager is probably the most important thing. Van de Beek used to work with Ten Hag and he will know that he trusts him on the pitch, he will be free to explore, take chances, make mistakes and not worry about being substituted if he makes a bad pass. When you have that trust you have that freedom on the pitch and it is a great feeling, trust me.

Pogba looks set to leave

It looks as though Paul Pogba could be one of the players leaving Manchester United in the summer. For different reasons he hasn’t been able to show his full potential consistently. It’s not been his best season and when the team hasn’t been playing well it’s made things worse.

If he is to leave then I’m sure he’s already looking at the next chapter, he’ll want to start as soon as possible. Maybe Ten Hag will have different plans for him and he will want him to stay, that’s a possibility.

I want to see the world class Pogba that played for Juventus. He was unbelievable in Italy and I want to see those types of performances from him. For whatever reason that hasn’t happed at United. We know that he is a massive talent and he can win games with his passing and goals.

If he can produce the form that he showed at Juventus then it would be great for Man United. If not then it is time for a new challenge and a new chapter for Pogba.

It hurts but you have to respect Liverpool

It was hard to watch United’s 4-0 defeat against Liverpool, there was a massive difference on the pitch between the two sides, you could see it with the second goal, which was unbelievable.

I don’t like supporting City, but, I just don’t want to see Liverpool winning four trophies for f**k sake. For sure, this will be on the player’s minds, they have a chance to make history. Seeing how they have progressed and how United have regressed makes my head bleed.

Everyone connected to United is watching Liverpool in envy right now, but at the same time when you watch them play you have to respect them for the way they play, they are playing good football and they show it on the pitch. There is a big difference now between Liverpool and United. They have a chance to make history, it’s going to be difficult but not impossible to do it.

Haaland will make Guardiola’s life even easier

If the reports are true and Erling Haaland is to be a Man City player then it is massive news for them. They don’t have a proper centre-forward at the moment, like Aguero. They don’t have that typical number nine, and Haaland can bring that to them with his speed, agility and ability to score goals.

He is so hot at the moment with the way he plays football and he will be a great signing for City. When you buy the right players it’s much easier for the manager to produce results and win trophies.

He oozes confidence, you can see how easy he finds things on the pitch and off it in interviews. You can see by his body language how much he believes in what he can do. He backs that swagger up with his performances. The Premier League likes these kind of players with a bit of attitude and style.

When you have a manager like Guardiola and you are surrounded by unbelievable talent in the team it will be easy to fit in straight away. He is young, he is ambitious and he has the football world at his feet at the moment. He can reach great, great heights in the game.