Erik ten Hag has accused his Manchester United players of lacking the right attitude in the wake of their 4-0 humiliation at Brentford.
United host arch rivals Liverpool on Monday, with ten Hag demanding a change in mindset and attitude after defeats in their opening two Premier League games this season. “I think I made myself clear, I was definitely not happy,” said ten Hag.
“In football you can talk about football, you can talk about the plan, the philosophy, but it starts with the basic stuff, the right attitude, a fighting attitude, and I didn't see that from minute one. Bring it in every game on the pitch, especially Monday night.
“It starts with yourself, act as a team, follow the rules and principles and work hard, as hard as you can maximise and if you do that you can get confidence.”
Reflecting on his week since the debacle, ten Hag said: “It's a week as normal as a manager, that you see a game, you have a plan, a way of play and then you check how the game went. Then you clearly analyse and see what's wrong and what's good. Obviously, a lot went wrong, but we don't have to talk about anything when the attitude is not right.
“First, I look myself and make a clear analysis, I take some notice of some criticism, some are really good, good advisors but also some are not that good.
“We work from game to game, and Liverpool, obviously we know what's going on when we play Liverpool - you have to be ready and to fight yourself into the season but it's from game to game.”
United fans are planning protests agains the Glazers ahead of the Liverpool game, with ten Hag claiming the team need their supporters to get behind them.
“I can only say the owners want to win and the fans, we want them behind the club, and I can understand sometimes,” said Ten Hag. But I am not that long in the club to see all the background, we have to fight together and be unified.”
