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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Tyrone Marshall

Steve McClaren's real role at Manchester United and three more things spotted in open training

Manchester United are onto the final leg of their pre-season tour in Perth and the surroundings would have felt familiar when they trained in front of 5,000 fans at the historic WACA ground on Thursday morning.

Erik ten Hag put his players through their paces in an open training session in the western Australian city and while temperatures have nudged up a notch from Melbourne, the heavens were not on United's side.

They've experienced a variety of conditions on tour, from the sweltering heat of Bangkok to the cooler climes of Melbourne, and now heavy rain showers here.

Read more: Fernandes breaks silence on Eriksen transfer

Soon after training began the rain started to pour. There were several very heavy showers during the nearly two-hour long session, but the locals were undeterred and they were rewarded when several players stayed to sign autographs and pose for pictures at the end, as did Ten Hag.

United end their tour with a friendly against Aston Villa at the Optus Stadium on Saturday night and they will be looking to make it four wins from four in what has been a very productive trip.

Here are a few things spotted from their latest training session.

Bailly's brilliant defending

It's been a good tour so far for Eric Bailly, although it may not be enough to change his status at United. Following the signing of Lisandro Martinez it's hard to see how the Ivorian isn't fifth-choice this season and we know he won't be satisfied by that.

Bailly has defended well so far, however, and he put in one excellent tackle during the session at the WACA. In a small-sided game Marcus Rashford had raced clear on goal but Bailly came from nowhere to get a foot in and poke the ball away from the forward.

Rashford hobbled away from the challenge, but was ok to continue. He was probably wondering where Bailly had come from and he wasn't alone in that.

McClaren's coaching input

Seeing training up close during this tour it's clear Steve McClaren is offering more than just an experienced old head to help Ten Hag and Mitchell van der Gaag navigate United.

Those three have been the most hands-on during training and their voices are continually offering insight and instruction to the players. During one game that involved three teams on the same pitch, McClaren was demanding a new ball was fed into the session every time one went dead. He wanted the tempo kept high.

In that game the senior players were dominating, so Ten Hag and McClaren called in the other two teams and offered some more precision instructions. That team almost scored straight away and McClaren was jumping up and down on the touchline delighted at the shift in the game.

Perth backs Maguire

The strange booing of Harry Maguire is still a talking point in Australia and it was apparently discussed on local radio here on Wednesday.

Maguire did receive plenty of support in the MCG as Tuesday night's game progressed but in Perth it was noticeable just how much the United fans were backing him.

He received a few shouts of encouragement when he came out to training and at one point a lot of the fans in the WACA broke out into a chant of 'Let's go Harry, let's go'.

In a small-sided game he poked one backpass so close to David de Gea that the Spaniard had to scramble to keep it out, but that didn't affect the love he was receiving from United fans.

McTominay misses out

There was only one absentee from training and that was Scott McTominay, who was back at the team hotel undertaking a recovery gym session.

McTominay was the only player to be withdrawn at half-time of Tuesday's friendly against Crystal Palace and his absence from training here would suggest he picked up a minor knock during that game.

This was the first time we've glimpsed James Garner on this tour. The 21-year-old was back in training behind closed doors on Monday but wasn't fit enough to play the following night.

He looked sharp at the WACA and will hope to end the tour by featuring against Aston Villa in a stadium he scored in three years ago.

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