Manchester United coach Erik ten Hag has hailed the positive impact that Benni McCarthy has had on the team since arriving at the club last year.

Ten Hag roped in McCarthy to work closely with United’s attacking players, not only with regard to specialist shooting training, but also on their unity as a group of players.

The set up has proved successful as United are currently on an impressive run of seven wins in a row in all competitions.

The EPL side in fourth place on the league table, a point behind Manchester City and nine behind league-leaders Arsenal.

In a recent Q&A with fans, the head coach spoke positively about the influence of the South African coach on the team’s strikers.

“In our coaching staff, we had a lot of defenders and midfield players,“ said Ten Hag. ”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 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.”