Ten Hag risks wrath of unhappy Man Utd stars by refusing training ground pleas

08 December 2023 , 00:34

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Ten Hag risks wrath of unhappy Man Utd stars by refusing training ground pleas

Erik ten Hag has refused to give his struggling Manchester United stars more days off and make their training sessions easier, it's been claimed.

After Mirror Football exclusively reported last week that Ten Hag was facing a dressing-room mutiny, the United boss is said to have faced a number of complaints from members of his squad's leadership group regarding their workload. Some players are reportedly unhappy with the intensity of training sessions, their lack of rest days between matches and their inability to smoothly plan time off.

The Red Devils' leadership group includes players such as captain Bruno Fernandes, England duo Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford, Raphael Varane, Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez and experienced goalkeeper Tom Heaton. The Daily Mail notes that not all of those players have complained, with some understood to be fully supportive of Ten Hag and his methods.

Their backing comes at a crucial time, too, as United are continuing to produce unconvincing performances and questions still loom over Ten Hag's position as manager. Despite getting back to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Chelsea in the Premier League on Wednesday, the Red Devils were fortunate not concede more goals after a series of defensive lapses.

Following last Saturday's dismal 1-0 defeat to Newcastle, a series of reports emerged claiming that Ten Hag has already lost members of the dressing room, but the Dutchman has been steadfast in his response. "It's not a crisis for us," Ten Hag affirmed after beating Chelsea.

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"We are in a journey and we keep calm. We look into the process, where we know where we have to build, we know where we have to build on. So yeah, as I said, we are going in the right direction. We don't get distracted from criticism around us, but we are ourselves.

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Erik ten Hag is under pressure at Manchester United (PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

"We are very critical on ourselves. We know we are not quick [to be] satisfied and happy and we always want to do better. And if we do things not good, we want to put things right and we want to keep going in this process, and we want to keep going in this progress, because we know the season is long. We have to improve a lot if you want to be successful. But this team is capable to be successful."

Nathan Ridley