It was in the early hours of Thursday, July 14, UK time, that Erik ten Hag, flanked by Marcus Rashford, faced the media ahead of just his second game in charge of Manchester United.
United had just touched down in Australia for the second leg of their pre-season tour, less than 48 hours after beating Liverpool 4-0 in Thailand, and Ten Hag was put up in front of the cameras to look ahead to the first of three friendlies in Australia, the first being against Melbourne Victory at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground the following day. The press conference was littered with an array of questions for the Dutchman, featuring ones on the win over Liverpool and the upcoming clash with Victory.
One member of the assembled media also asked Ten Hag about the role Donny van de Beek would have to play in his plans in his maiden season at Old Trafford. Van de Beek had worked with Ten Hag at Ajax prior to leaving the Amsterdam giants in September 2020 to join United.
