Jan Aage Fjortoft is trying to find out where the best player in the world will be next season. It was :52. The last act of Manchester United's summer tour of Thailand and Australia did not reflect how positive the trip had been. Eric Bailly sent a plastic chair hurtling across the turf as he walked off the pitch at a sodden Optus Stadium, while David De Gea walked through the mixed zone with a face like thunder. It wasn't just the players who were annoyed as the final score was 2-2 and it wasn't just the players who were annoyed. The team's second-half performance was "unacceptable" and Ten Hag accused his players of a lack of focus after the match. The United manager was in a more conciliatory mood by the time the squad was taken from the stadium to the private terminal at Perth Airport. He thanked staff for their hard work, acknowledging their work and that most had been away from friends and family for a few weeks. The winners and thelosers of the preseason tour.
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Ten Hag has been in position for only a month. His attention to detail has included meeting club bosses with a large binder organised into sections and colour-coded so he can best present issues he thinks need attention while also watching his coaches lay out cones and goals for training exercises.
He was unhappy with the positioning of some of the cameras and had them fixed immediately.
The control freak version of Ten Hag is one he's comfortable with, but being the center of attention is proving more alien. Some players went over to watch fans sign autographs. There were many calls for Ten Hag to join them, but it wasn't until Steve McClaren beckoned him that he finally agreed.
The scale of Man United still takes some getting used to for a man who has been in charge of one of the biggest clubs in the world.
The summer tour was only about making money and not preparing players for the season, but Ten Hag has taken it in his stride.
He said it's part of football. As a team, you have to take the best out of it, that's what we did.
It's great for team spirit to be so long together, you can really improve that, and you have a lot of time to work on your team because you are so close together. I think that is wonderful.
Being in great cities is wonderful. It's clear that there are disadvantages, but you have to deal with things that aren't yours to decide. Our focus is on the game, when you have influence.
It's not just the players who will be involved in making the club successful again, according to Ten Hag, who has made it clear that it isn't just the players who will be involved in making the club successful again. The aura of Sir Alex Ferguson has been said to have been created by the way he has made everyone feel part of the team. The players were told that they could go to the zoo if they wanted to.
Ten Hag and his staff still feel that the tour is very fragile despite the positive vibes that have come from it. Three new players have arrived, but his top target, Frenkie de Jong, is still at Barcelona and talks are at an impasse.
While on tour, Ten Hag was able to bat away questions about the future of the player, but the issue will come to a head this week. The pair are going to meet face-to-face for the first time in Manchester ahead of the next friendly against potentialRonaldo suitors
On August 7th, Ten Hag's first game in charge of Manchester United will be against BRIGHTON AND HOBBLE. The importance of getting off to a good start has not been forgotten by the new manager.
He said that he expects the season to start on a high note. The first game is the most crucial. First win the first game is what we want to achieve.
An Australian fan behind the barricades asked Ten Hag how it was going at United after leaving the team hotel in Perth. He replied with a smile.
While he couldn't have asked for a better introduction to life in his new job, he will know the real work is still to come.
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