Manchester United closed the door of the press conference in front of famous publications: come first to our story – Soccernet.ee

Manchester United, seventh in the Premier League after losing to Newcastle at the weekend, are preparing for tomorrow’s home match against Chelsea, but the manager’s usual pre-match press conference was missed by several media outlets , including Sky Sports and ESPN.

In addition to them, journalists from the Manchester Evening News and the Mirror remained at the door. The club explained that the reason for the ban is the critical articles published in these publications, where United were not asked to comment on the published statements. In the articles cited, the club’s players had anonymously criticized coach Erik ten Hag.

“We have taken this decision to dispute a number of publications. It is not that stories are published that we do not like, it is that we have not been contacted before they are published to comment on, dispute or add context to the claims,” ​​the club officially announced. “We believe this is about protecting an important principle and hopefully this will help make cooperation between us and journalists different.”

At the press conference, Ten Hag repeated the same idea. “You should talk to us first and not publish stories behind our backs – it’s not right. If players have disagreements with me, I’m always happy to listen to them. But no one came to my speech with this concern. Maybe it’s one or two guys , while others want to play the way we want them to play: proactively, dynamically and boldly,” reasoned the Dutchman.

United have won eight and lost six in 14 rounds at home. Only 16 goals were scored, of which only six teams recorded fewer goals.

🚨 Sky Sports chief reporter Kaveh Solhekhol, Manchester Evening News chief Manchester United correspondent Samuel Luckhurst, The Mirror’s David McDonnell and ESPN’s Rob Dawson were barred from attending Erik ten Hag’s press conference this afternoon. [@MailSport]
— SQ 🔰 (@SQUnited10) December 5, 2023

“If the players have a different opinion obviously I listen to them, but they didn’t tell me or maybe one or two” 👂

Erik ten Hag says he is open to tactical suggestions from his players and that under him the team is going in the “right direction” 🔴 pic.twitter.com/M2vsjl9CHL
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) December 5, 2023

Manchester United’s problems were also discussed in the latest episode of the Soccernet.ee podcast “Udune Albion”: