Erik ten Hag admits he doesn’t know why his Man United players aren’t running – Man United News And Transfer News

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Erik ten Hag says it is a concern that his players do not run enough during games.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow’s match against Burnley, the boss was asked whether he felt his players did enough to regain possession.

“It’s always a concern when we didn’t run but I think against Bayern it was not the case – but in certain situations, yes,” he said.

“So it’s also recognise the original situation and then is it about didn’t they recognise it? So they didn’t they scan it? Didn’t they make the right decisions or is it about willingness?”

“Against Spurs, yeah, we didn’t run too much. We had a game last [season] where we did the same, where we didn’t run. But I think against Bayern we did our best from physical outputs but I think we didn’t always run in the right moment.”

Asked if he knows why his players aren’t running, the boss said “No. When you are in a period like we are in, always as a manager, you are asking yourself these questions. My job is to get them to do the job.

“I am pushing the team and demanding from the team but they are human beings, they are not robots.

“Why they are not doing it? I try to find out and I try to get and give the solutions and I also try to motivate the players to do the job”.

“As a manager, you have many tools and I make sure I use them. I will not say all because there are many ways to do it. You have to be creative, you have to be innovative, but you can be sure I use many.

“You do it in groups, you do it in teams, you do it individually, you do it over video, you do it in personal talks. You have many tools to coach, to make sure the team is in the right direction.

“We have shown that we can do it because last year we had the most clean sheets in the PL because of the team because we defended very good as a team, so we have to get back to that standards.”

One example of the team not running, a video of Scott McTominay after losing possession, went viral on social media after the Bayern game.

The manager will certainly be looking for a response when his United side take on Burnley at Turf Moor tomorrow.

A loss would be unthinkable.