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Erik ten Hag slams players for ‘sleeping’ in friendly defeat as Manchester United beaten by Cadiz

 (REUTERS)
(REUTERS)

Erik ten Hag made his disappointment clear after Manchester United fell to a friendly defeat against Cadiz.

The Red Devils continued their preparations for the return of the Premier League on Wednesday with a 4-2 loss in Spain, conceding two early goals to particularly irk manager Ten Hag.

“It is quite clear,” he told MUTV. “We were not awake, still sleeping, [in the] first 15 minutes.

“They are a threat in transition. We have seen, the second goal can’t happen. We [were] not awake in the defence but also in the midfield we got ran off. It’s not possible, it’s not acceptable.

“After that, we came into the game and got a penalty. I think it was a clear one and I think maybe the second half [we] deserved another penalty, but the first one was a clear one. We came into the game, but we couldn’t make the equaliser before half-time.”

Ten Hag added that he will talk to his players about the performance before putting it behind them and “moving on”, with United facing Real Betis in their second and final friendly on the weekend.

“The first 15 minutes cannot happen,” he noted. “That is not our standard and that should not happen.

“We’ve spoken about [the performance and] we’ll do it tomorrow, again, but then we have to strike it, draw a line and then move on. But it can’t happen in the future.”