Ten Hag's tenure begins on training pitch

Monday 27 June 2022 20:30

Erik ten Hag's reign at Manchester United is officially up and running, after the new permanent manager worked with his new players at the training ground for the first time.

The Dutchman was unveiled at a media conference last month, when he toured Old Trafford and met staff in a variety of different departments. But Erik's work really got under way today when he arrived at Carrington at 8am, ahead of the first players returning after the summer break.

Some of his squad will be away for a while longer, having been involved in the international fixtures during early June. Yet there were still more than enough members of the group for Erik to get acquainted with and to coach when the first training session was held in the afternoon.

The players started their maiden shift under the new manager with medical tests, as per the usual routine for the first day back, and continued it by working in the gym before moving out to the grass pitches.

Ten Hag held meetings with the players and staff throughout the day, and addressed his training group - which comprised players from both the first-team and Under-21 squads - for several minutes at the start of the main session.
Erik was joined by his assistants, Mitchell van der Gaag and Steve McClaren. The latter knows Carrington well of course, as his previous spell at the club under Sir Alex Ferguson encompassed the season when the facility first opened, in January 2000.

Ten Hag's first training session on grass lasted for more than two hours, with ball work taking up most of the time while running drills were interspersed.
As you can see from our gallery of exclusive photos, the senior professionals on the pitch included David De Gea, Tom Heaton, Phil Jones, Victor Lindelof, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Luke Shaw, Axel Tuanzebe and Donny van de Beek.

Also working on the first day were younger players such as Alvaro Fernandez, Alejandro Garnacho, Zidane Iqbal, Charlie Savage, Shola Shoretire and Charlie Wellens.

You can watch every pre-season game under Ten Hag live on MUTV, starting with Liverpool on 12 July.

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