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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
George Smith

Jaap Stam tells Manchester United what not to expect from Erik ten Hag on matchdays

Former defender Jaap Stam believes incoming Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag will prove to be a calming influence at Old Trafford, warning fans not to expect him to be "busy" on the touchline.

The Dutchman, currently in charge of Ajax, was officially announced as United's next manager last month. He was identified as the club's top target and will be tasked with overseeing the next chapter in the club's rich and colourful history.

Ten Hag, 52, will be set the challenge of trying to put United back on the road to success, starting with this summer's transfer window. Huge changes need to be made at Old Trafford over the coming months, not least to the first-team squad, which is in desperate need of mass changes.

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Ten Hag will arrive at United with a winning mentality. He has put Ajax back on the map since taking charge in December 2017 and has enjoyed a decent amount of success with the Dutch giants.

However, he is not expected to immediately correct United's recent mistakes, with patience needing to be granted. Nevertheless, improvement, certainly as far as style of play is concerned, will be expected.

As for what can be expected from Ten Hag at Old Trafford, certainly as far as his matchday antics are concerned, former United defender Stam believes he will often cut a calm figure. Furthermore, he believes he is often "at ease" when standing at the edge of the pitch.

"From what I know, he's quite calm on the touchline," Stam told United's official website. "He's not very busy – he's not running up and down.

"His style is that he's quite calm and he's quite clear to his players before the games in terms of what he's expecting from them. Sometimes he brings them to the touchline to say 'OK, maybe you need to do a little bit more of this or that'.

"That's what you see from games in Holland, but the majority of the time he's quite at ease when he's on the touchline and on the bench."

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