The Dutchman made examples to the squad of the price that ill-discipline carries under his charge.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag pulled Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcus Rashford, and Jadon Sancho apart for ill-discipline, according to Bruno Fernandes.
The former Ajax boss quickly instilled his own rules in the entire squad during the preseason. His hard-stance approach led to Ronaldo’s suspension in October after the striker refused to come on as a substitute against Tottenham. CR7 left Old Trafford under a cloud the following month after an explosive interview with Piers Morgan.
In December, Ten Hag left Sancho out of team training in Spain for not being fit enough. He also dropped Rashford to the bench for a game against Wolves for arriving late to a team meeting.
Ten Hag dropped Rashford in December for arriving late to a team meeting, while he left Sancho out of the team training
“He [Ten Hag] demands from people. He demands and you either do it, or you’re out,” Fernandes said in an interview with Rio Ferdinand for BT Sport.
“In the beginning, everyone was like: ‘Will he do that if a big player doesn’t do what he wants? Will he pull him apart or not?’
“And then he did it many times, he did it with Cristiano, he did it with Jadon and with Marcus also.”
Manchester United will be in action on Thursday evening for the second leg of their Europa League knockout playoff round against Barcelona. The aggregate scoreline is 2-2 following last week’s draw at Camp Nou.
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