Erik ten Hag lived up to his reputation for upholding the highest of standards by criticising David de Gea in the closing stages of the pre-season friendly between Manchester United and Crystal Palace.
The Red Devils won their third friendly in a row by defeating the Eagles 3-1 on Tuesday, maintaining their 100 per cent record under their new manager. Goals from Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho set United on course for victory before Joel Ward scored a consolation for Palace.
Having recovered from the minor knock which kept him out of the 4-1 win over Melbourne Victory last Friday, De Gea played the entire 90 minutes against Patrick Vieira's side. The Spaniard, 31, will have been disappointed with how he conceded, as he allowed Ward's timid header from Luka Milivojevic's corner to creep in at the near post.
De Gea came in for further criticism with just over two minutes remaining in the match, when he opted to hoof the ball upfield while Palace's attackers closed in on him and the United defence. Like most modern tacticians, Ten Hag advocates playing out from the back even in the face of a high press.
The reason for this high-risk, high-reward strategy was abundantly clear as De Gea's punt upfield only succeeded in gifting possession back to the opposition on the halfway line. Ten Hag was less than impressed by his goalkeeper's decision-making and could be heard bellowing: "David, what the f*** are you doing?"
The incident summed up what has been a promising pre-season for United, but one which has also shown they still have plenty of work to do to convince fans they can fight for a Champions League spot next season. Ten Hag admitted as much in his post-match interview, saying: "I think it's pre-season and we are happy with the improvement we see but also you see a lot of work to do.
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"We scored some wonderful goals and that is also true. I agree [that United are winning the ball higher up in the field in dangerous positions] and that is also the demand on the team. We press all day and, if we can, do that high up the pitch.
"But if we can't, we get to do that in a lower block but we also have to press and do it together as a team." United travel across Australia for their final pre-season friendly in the southern hemisphere - against Aston Villa in Perth on Saturday - before taking on Atletico Madrid in Norway and Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford.
