Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has said to have cancelled the squad’s day-off today.
Yesterday’s embarrassing 4-0 at the hands of Brentford drew plenty of criticism from fans and the media.
Ten Hag is the first United manager in 20 years to lose his opening two league games.
The performance was clearly not what the Dutchman expected as claimed in his post-match interview:
“Difficult for me and a surprise. The team has to take the responsibility and I feel sorry for the fans, we let them down.”
“I asked them [the players] to play with belief and take responsibility, that is what they didn’t do.”
The squad was set to have today’s day off as they don’t play Liverpool until next Monday, but the loss prompted Ten Hag to cancel it.
According to Paul Hirst (The Times), the 52 year old was furious with his players after the disgraceful performance yesterday and tore into them.
Sky Sports reported Kaveh Solhekol also claims that the team were made to run 13.8 kilometres in today’s training as that was the exact distance by which Brentford outran United yesterday.
Erik ten Hag wanted to make Manchester United players run 13.8 kilometres (8.5 miles) during their exercises in their extra training session today. Brentford players ran 13.8 kilometres more than them yesterday. Distance covered yesterday: Brentford 109.4km United 95.6km.
— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) August 14, 2022
Ten Hag is clearly unhappy with the way things are going, especially in the transfer market.
Before the start of the window, he made it very clear that Frenkie de Jong is his number one target and the deal has yet not been completed.
The Dutchman will require a miracle to get this squad anywhere near Champions League qualification.
The last few weeks of the transfer window will be key to deciding United’s fortunes for the remainder of the season.
