Manchester United ban journalists from Erik Ten Hag press conference over reporting

Manchester United have banned journalists from attending Erik Ten Hag’s press conference after reports that the manager had lost control of the dressingroom.

Reports on Sky Sports said Ten Hag has lost elements of the dressing room at the club, with players questioning his playing style and treatment of Jadon Sancho.

Reports from other outlets such as the Manchester Evening News and ESPN also reported issues in the dressingroom, with players being unhappy with the style of play, training too hard and too much running in training.

A spokesperson for Manchester United said: “We’re taking action against a number of news organisations today, not for publishing stories we don’t like, but for doing so without contacting us first to give us the opportunity to comment, challenge or contextualise.

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“We believe this is an important principle to defend and we hope it can lead to a reset in the way we work together.”

Former player Nemanja Matic said on a Serbian podcast that players used to be angered at the attitude of certain players to training.

“At Chelsea, players acted professionally, they were punctual and were never late for training but at United it happened almost every day,” he said.

“Among the players who would always be late were Paul Pogba and Jadon Sancho and couple of other players.”

Ten Hag said to media about arriving at the club: “The club asked me because there was no good culture before last season. I had to set some standards and it is my job to control standards.”

Manchester United have lost 10 out of 21 games in all competitions this season, including three in the Champions League as they struggle to stay in the competition. They are seventh in the Premier League as they welcome Chelsea to Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

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