The Red Devils players will be back in action as the Premier League gets underway on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. They will resume business when they host Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford on the night of December 27.
The turnaround time since the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar has been spectacularly low, given that the Premier League has been restarting in less than 10 days since the final on December 18. Manchester United players Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez were both involved in the final clash at the Lusail Stadium, where Argentina beat France on penalties after a thrilling 3-3 draw over 120 minutes to become champions for the third time in their history.
Ten Hag has recognised the draining and taxing toll that the winter World Cup has had on the players, not to mention the obvious physical exhaustion. Players have been involved in gruelling competition over the last month, and it won’t be surprising to see many of them having depleted mental faculties and energy levels.
As such, Ten Hag decided to bring in a life coach in order to try and combat any mental fatigue building around the squad and restore the players to their optimum mental levels so that they can perform peacefully on the pitch, according to a report in the Telegraph.
Rainer Koers, who has been hand-picked by Ten Hag to do this job, has also been pictured in recent training sessions involving the Red Devils. Koers works as a senior performance coach for Dutch company Talent Academy Group.
He had attended the mid-season tour of Manchester United in Spain when the seniors were away for the World Cup. The main aspect of his job will be to assist in the emotional recovery of the players in a bid to get them going as soon as possible amid a frantic and hectic football schedule.
