Former Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag has aimed a dig at his former players in his first interview since being sacked by the Old Trafford hierarchy.
The Red Devils have been terrible this season with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS choosing to sack Ten Hag in October and replace him with Ruben Amorim.
Man Utd have got even worse under the Portuguese head coach with Amorim winning just four of their 15 Premier League matches this season.
Raphael Varane revealed earlier this week that he fell out with Ten Hag during his time at Old Trafford with the Dutchman leaving the centre-back out for two months.
It’s a growing opinion from managers that modern players don’t respond as well to a direct approach to criticism as players from an older generation.
And Ten Hag, who won the League Cup and FA Cup during his tenure, was frustrated by his time at Man Utd with the Dutchman finding it hard to work with modern players.
Speaking to SEG Stories, Ten Hag said: “This generation usually find it difficult to deal with criticism. Criticism really gets to them.
“The generation that I grew up in had much thicker skin. You could be much more direct.
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“I was approached much more directly. If I would do that with my current group of players I would demotivate them.
“If you do that to the current generation they find it offensive.”
Ten Hag continued the Man Utd tradition of bringing through younger players with Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho coming through during his time there.
The former Man Utd boss added: “With this generation you choose different words and a different approach.
“(Sir Alex) Ferguson also belonged to the previous generation. With that generation you could be much more direct in your communication and approach.
“A player of this generation will feel ridiculed if you approach them like that.”
The ex-Ajax boss insisted that the main thing he missed about working at Man Utd was playing at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag continued: “I had already decided for myself, ‘Okay, I’m not doing anything until July 1.’
“If there’s one thing I miss it’s Old Trafford. You’re always working towards a dot on the horizon, but you never get to the horizon.
“We’ve had many highs, there is always room for improvement and good is not enough. You can do better.”
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