Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Inside Training: United turn up the heat in Perth

Tuesday 09 July 2019 08:27

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has overseen Manchester United’s first training session in Perth, Australia, and the work was noticeably sharp as the intensity of Tour 2019 cranked up a notch.

The manager was able to work with all 28 players who were named in the travelling squad and that included new signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who looked impressively fit and enthusiastic as he was pictured training with his new team-mates for the first time following the full-back's transfer from Crystal Palace in late June.
Daniel James, the club’s other new signing so far this summer, also took part in Tuesday morning’s workout and the 21-year-old Welshman appears to be settling into his new surroundings nicely.

Training was held at local cricket ground The WACA and, as the famous old venue is located just a short drive from the team hotel, it is going to provide an ideal base throughout the stay in Perth.
The field, which is accustomed to a much more gentle sport, had been been transformed into a lush football pitch in advance of United’s arrival, with fresh white lines painted upon the playing surface and six different goals placed around the ground – two fixed, and four transportable to aid variation in the training exercises. 

By the time the players had arrived for the session, shortly after 10:00 local time, coaches including Michael Carrick, Kieran McKenna and Mark Dempsey had laid out the entire session’s drills with immaculate precision and it’s fair to describe the conditions in Perth as absolutely perfect for the Reds.

The first 15 minutes of training were open to invited members of the media and that included a large contingent of Australian press who were all excited to document United’s time in the country. 

The front page of the local newspaper, The West Australian, even heralded the squad’s arrival with an image of Eric Bailly striding off the flight on Monday afternoon, carrying the headline: “Welcome to your new United Kingdom – Soccer giants settle into Perth after rock star reception.”
Welcome to The WACA in Perth Video

Welcome to The WACA in Perth

Here's an extract of episode one from 'Inside the Tour' on MUTV, which you can watch on the club channel at 19:00 BST...

Club ambassador Denis Irwin watched the entire session at The WACA and, although the Irishman’s cricket knowledge is admittedly limited, he was really impressed by the facilities and conditions in Perth.

“I'm not a cricket fan so it [The WACA] means very little to me, but I remember when we toured in 1999 after we won the Treble and trained at the MCG - that was huge,” he told us. “This seems a lot smaller and more intense. It is a great place to train.

“The weather is perfect. We have been in Los Angeles for the last couple of years and while it is very nice there, it's hot. This is perfect. This is exactly like the summer back home and these are great conditions to train in. You can do more running in these conditions than you can do in LA.
 
“The squad had a really good week down at the Aon Training Complex so they have a little bit [of fitness] in their pocket already. I have no doubt that we will see more hard work as the tour goes on.”

You can see more of United's training session by watching Inside The Tour on MUTV at 19:00 BST today.

All of United's six pre-season games - against Perth Glory, Leeds United, Inter Milan, Spurs, Kristiansund and AC Milan - will be shown live on MUTV.

Recommended: