Erik ten Hag could not hide his dissatisfaction at his makeshift Manchester United side’s 4-2 friendly loss against Cadiz on Wednesday.
In their first fixture since last month’s late win at Fulham saw them break off for the World Cup on a winning note, United found themselves two goals down within 14 minutes in southern Spain. Goals from Carlos Garcia-Die Sanchez and Anthony Lozano caught the Red Devils cold in the early stages.
Anthony Martial’s penalty halved the deficit soon after with youngster Kobbie Mainoo levelling the score three minutes after the break, before goals from Ruben Sobrino and Tomas Alarcon gave the home side the victors over a youthful second-half United team.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka has played just four minutes in all competitions for United this campaign despite being the only right-back alternative to Diogo Dalot in Ten Hag’s squad. The former Crystal Palace defender appears to have no long-term future at United and Thursday night did not go to plan.
Wan-Bissaka lost his marker for Cadiz’s opener and tracked back too slowly for the Spanish side’s second goal. He was replaced by teenage prospect Marc Jurado after the break and Wan-Bissaka did little to change hearts and minds during his outing.
Ten Hag lamented United’s start to the game and particularly their defence. While he did not name the right-back or any other player, the comments left no room for uncertainty over where he believed his side’s main weakness was and where they need to strengthen their squad.
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"We were not awake," Ten Hag said. "Still sleeping. First 15 minutes. And we prepared. They are a threat in transition, we see the second goal, it can't happen, you are not awake. Bad defence but especially in the midfield, we got run off. It's not possible, unacceptable.
"It's the first goal as well - the set-play - bad organisation, indisciplined organisation to concede the goal." Ten Hag continued, when discussing the match: "We are unhappy with this game. Of course, you always have some positives when you lose a game, but today there are more negatives.
"It has to be the standard always and, to be fair, the first 15 minutes cannot happen. That is not our standard, it should not happen, so that is what we spoke about. We'll [go] tomorrow again but we have to strike it, draw a line and move on, it cannot happen in the future."
