These are your Manchester United evening headlines for Monday, July 25:
Manchester United have a new identity under Erik ten Hag
United appear to have an identity again
One of the few guarantees in appointing Erik ten Hag was Manchester United would play, or at least attempt to play, progressive and watchable football. Over their four matches in Thailand and Australia, United favoured a proactive possession-based style, perfected during the attack-versus-defence training drills Ten Hag has introduced where the forwards have to beat the buzzer to score.
United have not been not reliant on the counter-attacking tactic that embellished Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's reign and their patient play was evident against Melbourne Victory. United trailed 1-0 as half-time loomed, yet they went into the interval 2-1 up through two admittedly fortuitous goals that were made possible by a weighted attacking approach.
How Ten Hag impressed Manchester United players during tour
For two weeks it had been almost note-perfect for United, but as thoughts started to turn to home and escaping the torrential rain and howling wind of Western Australia, they stumbled.
Across three cities and four games on the other side of the world, United have taken impressive strides under Erik ten Hag. But the final kick of their tour ended up in the back of their own net and a perfect record was dismantled.
Aston Villa celebrated their dramatic equaliser but United's players were fuming. Within three hours it would be wheels up on the way back to Manchester — via a refuelling stop in Bangkok — but dreams of home weren't enough to ease the anger of conceding a soft goal.
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