BT Sport pundit Paul Scholes believes Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag’s tactical flexibility has been on full display in recent games.

The Red Devils started the season with two poor defeats, but they have since recovered with four straight wins, mostly by playing counter-attacking football. Scholes claims the likes of Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp would not be able to abandon their main tactical approaches so easily:

“These players now are probably not suited to the way he wants to play, but he’s found a way to win games with this group of players. We talk about philosophies all the time, don’t we? These managers are stubborn. Arteta will be stubborn, Guardiola will be stubborn, Jurgen Klopp will be stubborn. But this man – you have to give him credit because he’s gone away, really, from what he wants to do. Now, why would you change and go back to something that didn’t really work at the start of the season? He’s found a way of playing football on the counter-attack with this group of players – why change that?”

It is surprising to see that ten Hag isn’t as wedded to his philosophy as some had assumed. At Ajax, he rarely moved away from possession-based football but he has been far more adaptable since taking up the post at United.

As Scholes points out, it may be the case that he has realised he doesn’t have the players to play the type of football he originally wanted. Whether this pragmatism will continue throughout his time at the club, we shall have to wait and see.