Man Utd star reveals Erik ten Hag's brutal dressing room message after friendly defeat
Manchester United started their pre-season tour with an underwhelming 1-0 loss against Norwegian hosts Rosenborg, conceding a goal in the 93rd minute to leave Erik ten Hag fuming
Erik ten Hag brutally told Manchester United's stars young and old to 'demand more' of themselves after losing their first pre-season friendly.
United suffered a 1-0 defeat to Norwegian side Rosenborg in Trondheim on Monday, with a only handful of first-team players featuring. Marcus Rashford, Mason Mount, Casemiro, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Jonny Evans all played the opening 45 minutes, failing to break down their hosts before being replaced by a raft of academy prospects at half-time.
Worryingly, it was 20-year-old goalkeeper Radek Vitek who prevented the Red Devils from going behind much earlier in the game, pulling off a string off impressive saves. But the Czech Republic youth international - the only United man to play the entire game - could do nothing about Noah Holm's 93rd-minute winner, condemning his side to defeat.
Post-match, Ten Hag expressed his anger by reiterating that his teams 'don't play friendlies' and speaking to MUTV, Vitek echoed that message. "We are disappointed as I feel like we should always aim for a win, the manager said we don't play friendlies as it is in our DNA," the former Accrington Stanley loanee revealed.
"We should demand more. We are building up now as it is only our first week of pre-season, so we are still waiting for some more boys [to arrive back] from their internationals. But as I said, in the end, all that matters is winning."
Ten Hag, who was unhappy about some 'bad tackles' from Rosenborg's players, had also told club media: "The result is not secondary. But of course we play in pre-season, but at Man United the standard has to be winning games and definitely not to lose games.
"If you can't win don't lose the games but we did in the end, in the last seconds of the game. Of course the performance is more important but we know the performance was below [the] standard."
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At least the Red Devils boss could be pleased with Vitek's shining display, as the Czech youngster repaid his manager for showing faith in him. "It is really good that the young lads are getting the opportunity as when you step on the field you have to show yourself," Vitek added.
"It is a big opportunity in front of a lot of people that are watching you. You have to demand the best from yourself. It is an amazing feeling as the fans have been amazing. Lots of them at our hotel, even in the stadium the crowd was amazing: a full stadium of red shirts."
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