Ten Hag lifts lid on Man Utd data, Mainoo's rise and the Sevilla night that shaped his reign
Two years after the end of his tumultuous spell in charge of Manchester United, Erik ten Hag is in relaxed mood. Now the technical director of FC Twente in the Netherlands, the Dutchman picked up a reporter at Enschede station in a silver Range Rover, finished with a day's work at De Grolsch Veste, and drove through the picturesque Dutch countryside to the hotel he co-owns with his brothers.
"They got married two weeks ago as a surprise," Ten Hag said, grinning, of the hotel's managers. As Belinda Carlisle's Heaven is a Place on Earth played from a 1980s stereo playlist, the 56-year-old reflected on a career that took him from a playing career at FC Twente – where he was affected by the 2000 fireworks-depot explosion that killed 23 people and injured 950 – to the hottest seat in English football.
Speaking his mind – and a turning point against Sevilla
Speaking his mind is a theme that recurs throughout the interview. At FC Twente, Ten Hag publicly criticised executives for forcing the squad to play the day after the 2000 disaster. "The leadership of the club were mad at me, but they had made the decision to play," he explained. "Everyone is agreeing now: you can't play football when your city is burning."
At United, he points to the Europa League quarter-final against Sevilla in April 2023 as the moment his reign changed. United led 2-0 in the first leg but were knocked out 5-2 on aggregate. "The team couldn't play without two players," Ten Hag said, naming Lisandro Martinez and Bruno Fernandes. "Licha was so important for us to play from the back, but also the winning mentality, winning duels. And Bruno. In that game (first leg), at 2-0 up, I decided to sub Bruno, 30 minutes from time, and then Lisandro broke his foot."
United finished that season with 27 home wins, equalling a club record across a campaign – but Ten Hag noted they would have broken it had they held on against Sevilla at Old Trafford.
The 7-0 at Anfield and an inconsistent team
The inconsistency of his side is something Ten Hag confronts directly. After winning the Carabao Cup, United were thumped 7-0 at Anfield in the very next Premier League game. "The team was not consistent," he said. "On our good day we could match the best teams in the league, in the world, I would even say. On the worst day, we sat below the bottom. And then in Liverpool, obviously, we went below the bottom, also mentality-wise. It was the next Premier League game after we won the League Cup. We were on the high; we went up there, maybe we were too confident, and we got punished. Every attack was a goal."
The gruelling 2023 pre-season that 'killed' players
Ten Hag reveals that the 2023-24 pre-season tour of the United States, which took the squad to New Jersey, San Diego, Houston and Las Vegas – some 13,650 miles of travel – left his players wrecked. "The tour was so much expectation on the players," he said. "We got exhausted from all the kilometres. We started in New York, we played in Houston, we played in Vegas, went back, we gave them a couple of days off, and then we didn't train proper tactical and physical work for 10 days because they were totally killed… We were never fit."
Kobbie Mainoo, then 18, suffered an ankle injury against Real Madrid in Texas. When he finally made his first Premier League start, at Everton, he was named man of the match in a 3-0 win.
Building 'special' Kobbie Mainoo
Ten Hag first spotted Mainoo in July 2022, playing for United's second team. "The first time I saw him, playing for the second team, I thought, 'OK, he's an amazing talent'. But he was too easy. I saw that we needed him to get in a higher intensity. We started to bring him in drills where we challenged him on dynamics."
Mainoo, who recently told Clarence Seedorf on Amazon Prime that Ten Hag's sessions were "tough" but among "the best" of his career, drew a rare laugh from his former boss – who said the praise had not been passed on to him among the usual critical quotes. "Kobbie is, for me, special," Ten Hag said. "A lot of people were building him, supporting him. But in the end, he's doing it by himself."
Captain Fernandes and replacing Ronaldo
Ten Hag backed Bruno Fernandes with the captaincy and gave him tactical freedom. "I think it was good for the team, the best solution, and for him it was good as well. Obviously he has some pros and cons, but he has great game understanding, he's a top professional, and he always gives his best; lifestyle good. Every day, he goes to the limit; he's driving it," he said, adding with a laugh: "Sometimes he's getting emotional, but he's a winner."
On his decision to hand Fernandes latitude, Ten Hag said: "I gave him some freedom in the game plan. I think I'm always quite self-critical and reflective. I have to say I can't see a game where the players didn't want to transfer the game plan onto the pitch. They were always trying because I think they believed in what we did."
When Cristiano Ronaldo left in November 2022, Ten Hag used his Dutch network to loan Wout Weghorst from Burnley in January 2023. He believes the striker's work off the ball helped Marcus Rashford reach 30 goals that season. "Wout did well for us; what he took out of his career is amazing," Ten Hag said. "Like Marcel Sabitzer. We got success, winning the League Cup, third position; we were a team because they worked hard. Wout was one of the reasons Rashford was so important."
Weghorst, standing at 6ft 6in, even appeared as a No 10 in the Camp Nou, where Rashford moved up top and scored in a 2-2 draw against Barcelona, before United won the home leg 2-1 in the Europa League last-32 tie.
Wider themes of the interview
The conversation also ranges across United's use of data and Ten Hag's offer to INEOS, the rationale for picking Noussair Mazraoui at No 10 in Istanbul, how players were affected by United legends who are now pundits, and his "strange" three-game spell in charge of Bayer Leverkusen.
In the first part of the interview, published on October 20, 2026, Ten Hag accused United's hierarchy of breaking promises made after the 2024 FA Cup final win – notably over the sale of Scott McTominay – and detailed a failed push to sign Harry Kane and Declan Rice, as well as clashes with Cristiano Ronaldo.