Man Utd boss: Club asked me to be strict as culture wasn’t good

“Strict lines is what the club asked me [to bring], because there was no good culture before last season. I had to set good standards,” said Ten Hag.

Man Utd boss: Club asked me to be strict as culture wasn’t good

Erik ten Hag

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag (below) said he inherited a bad culture at Old Trafford as he refused to offer more details on Jadon Sancho’s future at the club on Friday. Sancho has been ordered to train away from his teammates after taking to social media to complain he has been made “a scapegoat” under Ten Hag, who dropped the winger for a 1-3 defeat at Arsenal earlier this month due to poor performances in training. United are also without another wide forward in Antony for Saturday’s visit of Brighton after he was given a leave of absence to fight allegations of domestic abuse.

Ten Hag has earned the reputation of a strict disciplinarian during his time at United after also leaving out Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford last season for breaches of team discipline. But the Dutch boss said he had been brought to the club to change the culture at the Red Devils. “Strict lines is what the club asked me [to bring], because there was no good culture before last season. I had to set good standards,” said Ten Hag.

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“It has never been about someone making one mistake, it is a whole process before you come to a certain outcome about strict lines. There is a structure to cross lines, staff or players, so you have to be strong,” he added. Injuries have compounded those absences for Ten Hag with Raphael Varane, Luke Shaw and Mason Mount still sidelined. But centre-backs Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof are fit despite being forced off through injury and illness respectively against Arsenal. Sofyan Amrabat could also make his United debut against Brighton.

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