Man Utd team spirit under Erik ten Hag speaks volumes after hitting rock bottom

Manchester United players showed plenty of team spirit after their 1-0 win against West Ham at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.

Red Devils stars Lisandro Martinez, Diego Dalot, Casemiro, Marcus Rashford, Harry Maguire, Scott McTominay and Luke Shaw were all seen hugging goalkeeper David de Gea after he produced a heroic performance against the Hammers to keep a clean sheet.

United players and Erik ten Hag have highlighted the team’s spirit in recent weeks – and it’s fair to say that was missing during Ralf Rangnick’s time in charge. The German admitted the squad’s confidence was low after their disappointing 2021/22 season.

Rangnick’s team finished sixth in the Premier League and failed to win a trophy for the fifth consecutive year. The interim boss left Old Trafford in May to make way for former Ajax manager Ten Hag, who has won seven of his 12 Premier League games in charge.

“Since the Atletico game [ Champions League exit] we didn’t find our shape or our form again,” admitted Rangnick in May. “This has to to do with confidence, also mentality and team spirit. For me the biggest disappointment is we didn’t develop a certain team spirit.

“This is the biggest issue. Since Atletico, we have lost confidence energy in the team. Until then we were more stable defensively. This development didn’t happened in a stable way.”

Yet that team spirit is evidentially back. United are playing their best football in years and have a great chance of finishing in the top four of the Premier League this season. They’re currently fifth in the table, one point behind Newcastle in fourth with a game in hand.

Ten Hag referenced United’s team spirit after the West Ham win. “The spirit in the team is so high and reward to keep the process going,” he told reporters. “It’s good to feel that fight we have together and we have to keep that going.”

Ten Hag added: “Second half, I have to be critical, I also said the players, we have to manage things better. But the spirit we have is fabulous, also we have the qualities to score goals and we have attacking football and the fact is we have to improve that, but if we keep going, I think we are in the right direction.”

Rashford also highlighted the team’s spirit ahead of Sunday afternoon’s game. He told reporters: “Everyone’s up for it, everyone’s up for the challenge, up for the fight.

“For me, the epitome of that was the Chelsea game [a 1-1 Premier League draw earlier this month]. We conceded late on and we still had the courage and the determination to score again late on. We were disappointed with the draw, but when you look at the wider scheme of things it’s great character.

“We’ve had some new signings come in the summer and we’ve just managed to make it work and build that team spirit as quickly as we did. I feel like the players have integrated well and we’re learning about each other more and more. But the team spirit is very high and we want to keep that going.”