Former Manchester United midfielder and current Reading manager Paul Ince says United boss Erik Ten Hag has “raised the standards” at the club since taking over.
Ince’s side take on Man Utd in the fourth round of the FA Cup at Old Trafford on Saturday.
And the 55-year-old, who twice won the competition with United as a player, believes Ten Hag has got the club moving in the right direction.
Embed from Getty Images“It looks to me as though he’s raised the standards at the club,” Ince said.
“I think he’s doing it his way, which is so important. It helps obviously when you’re winning games and of course when you’ve got a lot of money to spend also.
“He’s brought in the right players. For so many years we’ve talked about Manchester United’s recruitment and the type of players brought into the club. I feel like he’s getting there with the players that he’s brought in and they’ll all start to gel.
“When you’re winning games it breeds confidence. It’s good and it’s so important because when you go back to Sir Alex (Ferguson) and the years that he was at Man United and the success that he had, it’s so important to have that stability.
“You can’t keep chopping and changing managers, and they’ve done that too often in the last four or five years. Hopefully he’s there for a long time.”
Reading currently sit 14th in the Championship and face a United side who are coming off the back of a comfortable 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-final.
Embed from Getty ImagesInce admits he is unsure as to the type of team Ten Hag will name but is hoping in-form Marcus Rashford is not one of those included.
“Hopefully he’s not going to play,” Ince joked.
“I was a bit disappointed they won 3-0 because I was thinking that he might play against us now! That tie looks like it’s more or less over.
“Marcus Rashford, like any player, it’s all about confidence. It’s about the right manager coming in, noticing how to build confidence.
“It’s never easy, because in the last two years we’ve seen he’s lost a bit of confidence.
“To see him doing what he does best is great for Man United, it’s great for Man United fans. He’s unplayable at the moment, he’s unstoppable. The goal he scored against Forest shows what type of form he’s in.
“But we can’t be thinking about stopping Rashford. They’ve got so many top players like Eriksen, Fernandes, Weghorst has got his first goal.
“It’s not about us stopping players, it’s about us just going there and putting in a performance.”
