Manchester United have only lost one of their last 18 matches and are on an eight-game winning streak in all competitions under Erik ten Hag, but Rio Ferdinand has seen previous managers have good spells

Rio Ferdinand says the jury is still out on Erik ten Hag – despite Manchester United’s revival under him this season.

United go into Saturday’s derby against Manchester City on the back of eight successive wins in all competitions and with just one defeat in 18 games. Former United defender Ferdinand praised Ten Hag for the way he has turned the team around, after suffering humiliating defeats in his first two games.

But Ferdinand said there have been too many false dawns at United, since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down a decade ago, to declare Ten Hag the man to take them back to the top.

“I think it’s too early to say,” said Ferdinand, who will analyse the game for BT Sport. “We’ve been here with previous managers when it looks like we are onto something.

“We’ve got to be patient and give the man time. I think all the signs are very positive at the moment. He’s come in and seen what is happening, assessed how things are, looked at individuals and looked at the shape of the team.

“These were a bunch of players that were quite low. They were shot to pieces and he’s had to build, not only footballers, but men back up again. He’s had to build a lot of human beings back up and that takes time.

“The fact he’s now talking about qualifying for the Champions League so positively, he can sense a confidence coming back into this team. There’s a consistency of performance from the team that wasn’t there before and the signals and signs are all very promising.

“But they’re still not where they want to be. City are way ahead of where United are. The distance is a bit closer, but it’s still not anywhere near where we want it to be. There’s still work to be done.”

Source: mirror.co.uk