Barely a day after a stinging 4-0 humiliation at the Community Stadium away to Brentford, Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag cancelled a planned day off and made his players run a distance of 13.8km each on the training ground. According to the official matchday statistics, Brentford players ran exactly 13.8km more than the Red Devils during their Premier League Matchday 2 encounter with the United manager revealing that his players lacked the belief to execute what they had planned for the match.
Dutchman Erik Ten Hag had intended to give his squad Sunday off for some rest with no fixtures until the visit of Liverpool to Old Trafford on the 22nd of August but the manner of the loss to the Bees forced the hands of the Red Devils boss to switch things up.
Reports in England say he was at Carrington early on Sunday to mull over the nature of a defeat that has drawn plenty of criticism from both fans and pundits alike although most concede that arresting the malaise at Old Trafford is not going to be a quick fix.
Recall that the former Ajax gaffer had called for more quality signings after the loss with many pundits reiterating that the need to improve many of the players at his disposal even if more new signings would come in through the doors. It is also interesting to note that some of Erik Ten Hag’s transfer targets are reportedly very open to the idea of joining the Dutchman at Old Trafford this summer.
It has been two weeks of sighs and heartache for the Manchester United faithful since the Premier League season started and there is a general acceptance that this would be a long season with Erik Ten Hag only just starting to lay his first building blocks in creating a superbly functional team.