Broken Manchester United! I was hired to sort out club’s bad culture, says Erik ten Hag in bombshell pre-Brighton press conference
- Ten Hag was asked directly about Sancho 20 times but diverted from the topic
- Sancho has been training alone after appearing to criticise the manager publicly
- Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast It’s All Kicking Off!
Erik ten Hag has revealed he was brought in to fix a ‘no-good culture’ at Manchester United after Jadon Sancho became the latest player to be ruled by the Dutchman’s iron fist.
Sancho trained on his own at the club’s academy on Friday while Ten Hag prepared the rest of his players to face Brighton after exiling the England winger from his first-team squad.
Antony is on paid leave while he fights allegations of assault against three women that he strongly denies, weeks after Mason Greenwood was forced to leave the club over domestic abuse allegations that were later dropped.
Ten Hag wasn’t afraid to get rid of Cristiano Ronaldo last season and insisted on Friday one of the reasons he was given the United job was to improve the culture and discipline.
‘Strict lines is the point,’ said Ten Hag. ‘It’s what the club asked me because there was no-good culture before last season, so to set some good standards, that is what I did. That is my job, to control the standards.’
Erik ten Hag has admitted that he was brought into Manchester United to fix the ‘no-good culture’ at the club
Antony (right) is on paid leave while he fights allegations of assault against three women that he strongly denies
Cristiano Ronaldo (front) was pushed out of the club after speaking out against it while Mason Greenwood (not pictured) was forced to leave the club over domestic abuse allegations that were later dropped
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Hinting that Sancho’s discipline was a problem on more than one occasion, he added: ‘It has never been when someone makes one mistake. It is a whole process before you come to a certain outcome about strict lines.
‘You have to be strong. But this is not about me, or to be strict. No, this is in favour of the team.’
The United boss faced a barrage of questions about Sancho and was asked if he would consider picking him for the club again.
‘I don’t know,’ replied Ten Hag, who didn’t mention Sancho by name once. ‘What is important is I have to prepare my team, so that’s what I do. I put all my effort into the players who are available. He is not available, so in this moment he is not important. So I block it.’
Jadon Sancho, meanwhile, has been training on his own after a social media post that appeared to criticise Ten Hag
Ten Hag insisted the rest of his players are treating the absence of three wingers — Sancho, Greenwood and Antony — as an opportunity to shine.
‘With fans it’s the talk, with you it’s the talk, but with the players it’s not the talk,’ he said. ‘They want to perform. For players who didn’t have so many opportunities, they get their opportunity, so they are happy. We have many options there (on the right wing), so I don’t worry about that.’
Ten Hag defended his decision to reveal at Arsenal a fortnight ago that Sancho had been left out because he had not trained well.
‘When I am asked the question, I will be honest,’ he said. ‘I explained something about the team, nothing else.’
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