Man Utd boss Ten Hag ‘got hold’ of pair in rant that worked to perfection vs Southampton

Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag fumed at two Red Devils players before the match against Southampton turned on its head, according to Joe Cole.

The Red Devils came into the match against the Saints needing a win to ease pressure on Ten Hag after losing back-to-back matches against Brighton and Liverpool.

And they obliged following an early scare against Russell Martin’s men with Andre Onana saving a Cameron Archer penalty after Diogo Dalot wiped out Southampton debutant Tyler Dibling.

A Matthijs De Ligt header put Man Utd ahead before Marcus Rashford boosted his confidence with a goal before half-time to put the Red Devils 2-0 up at St Mary’s at the break.

Man Utd had been the weaker of the two teams for much of the first half before their quality shone through and won them the game 3-0, thanks to a late third from Alejandro Garnacho.

Some had questioned the decision to start Christian Eriksen over Casemiro alongside Kobbie Mainoo with Man Utd losing 4-0 to Crystal Palace the last time that midfield pairing started.

And, speaking on TNT Sports, former Chelsea midfielder Cole insisted that Ten Hag was fuming at Eriksen and Mainoo mid-way through the first half as one particular passage of play carved Man Utd open.

Cole said: “He’s bounced straight up and he’s got hold of [Christian] Eriksen and [Kobbie] Mainoo.

“It looked like he was he was saying ‘get a bit tighter together’, you know, because I think there’s still a bit of space in between them that Southampton are capitalising in midfield.”

MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Man Utd star thinks legends are ‘bullying’ him amid Man City transfer ‘betrayal’ rumours
👉 Ten acts of footballing fury include Barclaysmen teammates fighting and Antony anger
👉 Man Utd: Romano reveals reason Garnacho was dropped amid Ronaldo claims; ETH says Rashford will ‘fly’

In an interview with TNT Sports ahead of the match against Southampton, Ten Hag told Rio Ferdinand that Man Utd are still in a “transition period”.

Speaking to Ruud van Nistelrooy first about his decision to join the Red Devils as assistant manager, the former striker said: “It was 100% the right decision because I felt a strong, strong feeling that I wanted to help build United little by little back to where we feel and know the club should be. I had a phone call (Rio than asks who called him and he says “Erik called me.”).

Ten Hag added: “There is a very good vibe the whole season already. It’s a transition period and now we have to get better as soon as possible and we don’t have time, we don’t have patience because there’s football, there’s tough football.”

Ferdinand insists that he enjoyed the team trying to press as a unit in first games, to which Ten Hag responds: “You observe it? We say the same. We worked very hard on this and it has to become a routine.”

Van Nistelrooy added: “With the Liverpool game you see the confidence drops and the game goes away and it becomes a very disappointing afternoon for everybody but then it’s about getting up to spark a fire and I have to say the players are brilliant.

On the style of play, Man Utd defender Dalot continued: “We want to be dominant with and without the ball. It feels like a new team to be completely honest compared to last year. I think we are at least starting to see the direction we want to go.”