ordered his flops to sit in silence in the home dressing room following Sunday’s derby humiliation.
The Red Devils have officially made their worst start to a top flight season since the 1986/87 campaign following a thoroughly convincing 3-0 defeat against the reigning champions.
A gulf in class and quality between the two teams was hardly reflected by the final scoreline as City enjoyed near total domination against a United side that were reduced to play ‘underdog football’ according to pundit and former Liverpool defender .
Once they had left the confines of the pitch, Ten Hag instructed his players not to say a word and instead listen to noise coming from the away dressing room as City’s stars cavorted and sang songs to celebrate a victory that took them back to within two points of Premier League leaders Tottenham.
Ten Hag was also keen for his underperforming players to listen to the chants coming from the City supporters who were still taunting their rivals long after the final whistle had blown.
The under-fire Dutchman had been willing to give his players the day off on Monday but those plans were cancelled ahead of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Newastle.
According to , Ten Hag has also issued his players with additional ‘homework’ detailing in video form where his players went wrong in their attempts to execute his tactical plan against City.
Despite a sixth defeat of an increasingly tortuous campaign, United’s hierarchy are said to remain confident that the man they hired from Ajax little more than 18 months ago is the man to turn the tide and he retains their full backing.
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, however, feels it will be a long road, full of further setbacks, for United to travel before they are capable of challenging the elite clubs in England for top honours again.
‘I would say the gulf between the two teams became bigger and bigger as the game went on,’ Wenger told beIN Sports.
‘In the end, for such a big club you felt sorry for Man United because there’s no hope there in the team.
‘I don’t see where they can improve, basically. This team has lost confidence, quality and even spirit today. I would say it was not a great fighting spirit from Man United, on top of that.
‘I believe where Man United suffers a lot, first of all is about the quality, the individual quality of the players.
‘And I felt today they were very poor to build the game up from the back. They gave the ball so many times to the goalkeeper when they had possibilities to play forward. I would stay it started there.’
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