All the very latest from Melbourne as Erik ten Hag wastes no time putting his side through their paces
Following their 4-0 victory over Liverpool in Bangkok, Manchester United have landed in Melbourne and once again returned to the training pitch to put the hard yards in.
The victory was Erik ten Hag’s first as United manager and although it was only pre-season, it was the dream start for the Dutchman. Goals from Jadon Sancho, Fred, Anthony Martial and Facundo Pellistri ensured that Liverpool were put to the sword in an impressive start to United’s pre-season tour.
The new manager certainly isn’t resting on his laurels and no sooner had his team landed in Melbourne, they were back out on the pitch at the AAMI Park, a stone’s throw from the world-famous Melbourne Cricket Ground. This is where United’s next game in their pre-season tour takes place against A-League side Melbourne Victory. Here are a few things we spotted during the session…
No sign of David de Gea in training
As Bruno Fernandes came off at half-time, the captain’s armband was given to De Gea in the absence of Harry Maguire, who Ten Hag has confirmed will remain as club captain. He said: “I have to get to know all the players, but he’s an established captain and he has achieved a lot of success.”
However, talk of the captaincy faded away in the 68th minute when the United keeper appeared to injure himself in a foot race with Liverpool’s new signing Darwin Nunez, forcing De Gea to be substituted off for Tom Heaton. With no sign of the Spaniard in training, it will be a nervous wait for Ten Hag to see how bad the injury is.
Bruno prefers Manchester’s weather
Jetting off on a pre-season tour and landing in Australia should be a chance for player’s to test themselves in hotter conditions while also relaxing and enjoying the warmer climate. However, as the players took the field at the AAMI Park, they were greeted with a rather all too familiar climate — rain.
As Fernandes took to the field, the United cameras picked up on him trudging on to the pitch as the rain poured down and the Portuguese midfielder wasted no time in letting people know what he really thought about the Australian climate.
It’s all smiles under Ten Hag
Off the back of beating their rivals 4-0, the United side were in a buoyant mood as they took part in training. Scott McTominay, Luke Shaw and Antony Martial all appeared to be enjoying their new manager’s approach to training sessions.
Even Ten Hag’s assistant manager Mitchell van der Gaag seemed to be enjoying the training session and was seen to be laughing as he trained with youngster Zidane Iqbal ahead of the side’s next pre-season match.
Harry Maguire re-joined the main squad
As speculation continue around Maguire’s role as United captain, he was seen back in training with the rest of the squad. The current United skipper was a noticeable absentee as he missed out on the 4-0 Liverpool win at the Rajamangala Stadium due to a knock.
Ten Hag has reiterated his position that Maguire is still the captain at United and although there is growing debate surrounding this decision, the Dutchman will be glad to have him back in training ahead of their next match against Melbourne Victory on Friday.
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