Friendly fire’s no excuse for United to let slip: Ten Hag

MANCHESTER United boss Erik ten Hag admits there is plenty of hard work still to do after his side opened their pre-season preparations with a 1-0 defeat away to Rosenborg.

The majority of the first-team squad were not involved in Trondheim, and Jadon Sancho — who has returned to training after resolving his differences with Ten Hag — was also not part of the travelling group which was mostly made up of youth players.

Marcus Rashford, Mason Mount, Casemiro and Aaron Wan-bissaka, though, were all in the starting line-up at the Lerkendal Stadion, along with Northern Ireland veteran defender Jonny Evans.

With Rosenborg already in League action, the hosts were sharper than United, and Czech keeper Radek Vitek was forced to make a string of saves while winger Marius Broholm twice struck the United woodwork.

Ten Hag made the expected sweeping changes for the second half, replacing all 10 outfield players with Academy products.

However, it was Rosenborg who eventually made the breakthrough when Noah Holm tucked in a late winner.

Ten Hag said: “The result is not secondary. Of course, we play pre-season, but at Man United, the standard is you win games and definitely don’t lose games.

“So, if you can’t win, don’t lose the game, like we did in the last second of the game but, of course, the performance is more important, and the performance was below standards.”

Ten Hag added: “I know we can’t be match-fit in this moment, I know you need these games. The opponent is (playing already) in the League, so they have a much higher fitness level — but we are Man United and should perform better.”