Tuesday, 27th May, 2014
Former Manchester United number one Edwin van der Sar believes that the club’s new goalkeeping coach Frans Hoek will challenge the goalkeepers in the squad with innovative drills during training sessions.
Van der Sar made 266 appearances for Manchester United in his six-season stay with the Red Devils and won four Premier League titles and a Champions League with the club.
The former Dutch goalkeeper was under the tutelage of Hoek at Ajax and credits the 57-year-old for much of his early development as a shot-stopper.
"He groomed me and helped me learn all the things I needed to know to be a successful footballer over a lot of years," Van der Sar told the club’s official site.
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The 43-year-old believes that Hoek, like the new Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal, puts a lot of emphasis on training and devotes a lot of thought into his drills that will not only involve goalkeepers but also the outfield players.
"Like Louis van Gaal, he’s really exact with his exercises – they both put a lot of thought into them. He was one of the first guys I know who connected the goalkeepers with defenders and midfielders in terms of exercises.”
"It wasn’t only about practising goalkicks as a keeper – he would think about the different situations you might yourself be in during a game and try to find exercises and drills for us that he would combine with the outfield players."
Van Gaal and Hoek are currently busy with the preparations of the Dutch national team for the World Cup this summer and will join Manchester United after the event in Brazil.
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