Ten Hag: I want the young players to prove they can do it

Manchester United are now in Thailand ahead of Tuesday’s pre-season game against Liverpool in Bangkok. Erik ten Hag has elected to take several youngsters with the first team squad, including Alejandro Garnacho, Facundo Pellistri and Charlie Savage.

Talking to the club’s official site, the manager spoken about what he wants to see from the academy lads on this tour.

What I want to see is that they learn but also they show themselves because they have to deserve a position in top football. You have to deserve your position. It means you have to deliver every day, that demands a certain style, a certain way of life that they have to adapt to, that they probably don’t know yet. But I am really looking forward to seeing if they can do it. I hope one or two, they can prove themselves and they come into the squad but, if they want to enter the dressing room, they have to deserve it.

Ten Hag has spoken about the importance of getting time to train his players as well as face some tough opponents in pre-season.

You know the season, often at this level, you don’t have so much time to train. It’s the only part of the season it’s possible is in pre-season, the first two weeks of the season. After that, it’s becoming something of a rhythm, every three days is a game.

It’s important, they are good tests, a playing level you have to face in every game so, immediately, you know we want to transfer our way of playing and we can test that. What I say is it’s really good to do that immediately against opponents who will then be your opponents.