'We need new players!' - Ten Hag slams Man Utd after Brentford thrashing
FT Desk
- 14 Aug 2022 08:21 BST
- 3 min read
Erik ten Hag has been in the Manchester United job for all of two competitive games, but he has already thrown his existing players under the bus.
United had a positive pre-season, beating Liverpool, Melbourne Victory and Crystal Palace on their tour of Thailand and Australia, but the wheels already look to be coming off two games into the Premier League season.
The 2-1 loss at home to Brighton last Sunday was actually a scoreline that flattered the Red Devils, with Saturday's 4-0 thumping by Brentford perhaps a more accurate reflection of where United are right now.
Cristiano Ronaldo got the full 90 minutes this time, but he snubbed his manager on leaving the field at full-time.
No words needed. pic.twitter.com/Eb63DPofI4
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) August 14, 2022
New signings Lisandro Martinez and Christian Eriksen had started at the Gtech Community Stadium, but the former was hooked at half-time after a first-half flurry which saw United already trailing 4-0 at the break.
"It's rubbish, and it's poor," Ten Hag told BeIN Sports after the game. "We need higher standards than that, that's clear. We have to deliver and we didn't. We have to change, that's quite clear.
Ten Hag: 'I feel sorry for the fans'
"35 minutes you concede four goals. It is not possible. The team has to take the responsibility. I feel really sorry for the fans. We let them down.
"You have to take responsibility on the pitch. As a team and as individuals, that's what we didn't do.
"What I asked them to do is play with belief and play with responsibility for their performance. That is what we didn't do."
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Ten Hag then spoke about belief in the dressing room before conceding his own role in recent results, but having signed Martinez, Eriksen and Tyrell Malacia, he is clear that United's summer spending can't stop yet.
"It is about individual mistakes - it is clear," he said. "It cannot happen, but it did and we have to take it out. We need new players, quality players. We are working on that and we will do our best to convince them to come."
United have most recently been linked with a move for wantaway PSG forward Mauro Icardi, while Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot appears to be inbound after football director John Murtough was pictured in Turin on the way to meet the player's mother and agent, Veronique.
