Manchester United tore Crystal Palace apart on Tuesday in a 3-1 victory. Central to the Reds' dominance was their pressing out of possession.
One of the aspects that United fans were excited to see when Erik ten Hag was announced as manager was his implementation of a high press at Old Trafford.
Whilst this takes time to implement properly, United have shown very positive signs early on that they can adjust to his demands.
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Ten Hag himself recently commented on how well his new players have adjusted to his demands, and after the victory over Palace, Bruno Fernandes went into further detail about the boss’ pressing tactics.
The Portuguese midfielder also mentioned the squad's happiness at their third victory in a row, and the performances so far, but also stresses that further improvement is needed.
“We are feeling good, obviously the results help with that," he told MUTV. "We’re still playing, I think, playing good football a lot,
“A lot of things to improve yet, but we have time for that and we will be ready for the first game of the season.”
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When prompted to detail the pressing tactics implemented under Ten Hag so far, Bruno explained:
"I think we’ve been much more aggressive now. Even the three guys up front, they’ve been much more aggressive when they press.
“They press really strong, so that makes the last line squeeze, make the midfielders come a little bit higher, and makes when we recover the ball being closer to the goal too.
“So we are much fresher to do that, we have much freedom also when we recover the ball because we get the teams and when we recover they are really wide so there is so loads of spaces in the middle.”
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United's new no.8 is also ready to support the attacking talent, after Ten Hag mentioned that these are the players that mainly dictate the way the team play.
Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial all found the scoresheet against the Premier League opposition, and Bruno says that the team needs to help them continue to find the back of the net.
“We all know that everyone wants to score goals, but the main ones have to be the strikers. We know that they are there to give us goals.
“They are doing really well and we know we have to keep the support on them, trying to make them be happy because we know they live for the goals so we need to give that to them.”
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Following United's final game in Melbourne, Bruno showed his gratitude for the supporters who have followed the club during the pre-season tour so far.
“It’s been amazing. The support that they give to us has been top from this the first tour that I do and I’m really happy with that.” He expressed.
“We all appreciate the love that they give to us and we’re always trying to give something back, trying to sign some shirts. Obviously we never sign all of that but it’s trying to give all the love back to them.”
United kick off the new season at Old Trafford against Brighton in less than three weeks now, and the team’s approach for the rest of the pre-season tour will certainly be geared towards this game.
Featured Image Credit: Manchester UnitedTopics: Manchester United, Erik Ten Hag, Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Football, Crystal Palace, Premier League