The 45-year-old former striker joined United last July and has quickly become an important member of Ten Hag’s coaching staff.
McCarthy has been tasked with working closely with United’s attacking players, not only on specialist shooting training but also on team unity. The results have been evident, with Marcus Rashford in particular being hugely successful in front of goal since his arrival.
In a recent Q&A with fans, United manager Ten Hag discussed McCarthy’s time at the club so far.
“In our coaching staff, we had a lot of defenders and midfield players,” Ten Hag said.
“I wanted also to find a good balance. He is offensive [minded] as he is a former striker and that is also a really specific job task in the team. I never played there, so I’m [always] lucky to have someone in my staff who played there”.
“Football is about scoring and you have a goalkeeping specialist, but you also have offensive specialists and in particular we have a specific scoring trainer. He has to add that, in details, working and for the rest of us he has a relationship to all the players in our squad. He also has to work on the togetherness and he is doing a great job on that.”
Manchester United travel to Crystal Palace in their next league match and then Arsenal over the weekend, as they remain the only team to defeat the league leaders in the Premier League this season.
