Ten Hag demands attitude change from Man Utd
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag lambasted
the attitude of his players in an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Brentford last
weekend as he demanded a response in Monday's clash with Liverpool.
The Dutchman is off to the worst start of any new
United manager in over 100 years after losing both his opening games to leave
the Red Devils rooted to the bottom of the Premier League for the first time in
30 years.
Brentford players covered 13.8 kilometres more in
a famous win for the Bees and Ten Hag reportedly responded by cancelling a
planned day off to make his squad run that distance the day after defeat last
Saturday.
"I was definitely not happy," Ten Hag
said at his pre-match press conference on Friday. "The basic stuff has to
be good and that has to start with the right attitude.
"You need fighting spirit on the pitch and I
didn't see it from minute one.
"The players didn't play good, a lot went
wrong. You don't have to talk about anything (tactical) when the attitude is
not right."
United's disastrous start to the season on the
field has followed a frustrating summer in the transfer market as a drawn out
pursuit of Barcelona's Frenkie de Jong looks set to end in failure.
However, the English giants do seem set to land
another midfielder from La Liga with Real Madrid's Casemiro on the brink of a
move that could rise to 70 million euros (£51 million, $61 million).
Ten Hag refused to comment on the arrival of the
Brazilian international, but did offer support for the club's embattled owners,
the Glazer family.
A mass protest is planned outside Old Trafford
ahead of the Liverpool match with supporters pointing the finger at the
Americans for a decade of decline since legendary former manager Alex Ferguson
retired.
"I can only say the owners want to win,"
added Ten Hag. "The fans, we want them behind the club.
"I can understand sometimes but I am not that
long in the club that I can see all the backgrounds, but we have to fight
together so we have to be unified and fight together."
Even if Casemiro is signed before Monday, he will
not be registered in time to make his debut.
Anthony Martial is fit to return, leaving Ten Hag
with another big call to make on whether to start Cristiano Ronaldo.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner has featured in
United's opening two games of the season but still appears to be trying to
orchestrate a move away from Old Trafford before the transfer window closes.
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