Erik ten Hag revealed the extent of Man Utd’s abandonment after Bruno Fernande’s ‘wish’ blast

Ten Hag will take over as manager of Manchester United at the end of the season and the challenge he faces was exposed in Saturday’s humiliating defeat by Brighton

Erik ten Hag’s challenge at Manchester United was revealed after the tough loss to Brighton.

Ten Hag will take over as permanent coach of the Red Devils from the end of the season. The Dutchman is tasked with turning the tide of United after a terrible season that saw them fail to qualify for the Champions League.

A litany of unwanted records have been broken, including the lowest-ever top-flight score. Probably the lowest point of their year came on Saturday when they were humiliated by the seagulls. Graham Potter’s men scored four goals without response to take all three points at the Amex. The hammering means United are now officially out of the top four races, while the highest position they can attain is sixth.

It leaves Ten Hag with a lot of work to do if he is to change their destiny next season. But the task ahead is arguably greater than expected as he hears Bruno Fernandes blowing up his team-mates.

The Portuguese midfielder played all 90 minutes of the humiliating defeat. And he took aim at the mentality of his teammates, blasting their lack of desire to keep their slim top-four hopes alive.

“Brighton played a lot better than us. They wanted more than us, they deserve more than us to win this game. They created a lot of chances and could have scored a lot more. Of course we had our chances too, but it was not so.” That’s not enough and we know it,” Fernandes told MUTV.

“They were more aggressive than us from the start of the game. We weren’t strong enough on the second ball in that game. We made some mistakes defensively and offensively, we weren’t able to score goals.”

WILL YOU PARTICIPATE! Do you think Erik ten Hag will be successful at Manchester United? Comment below.

While some expect transfers to fix United’s woes, Fernandes’ comments suggest there is a deep-seated problem in the dressing room. Changing that mentality must be high on Ten Hag’s priority list.

Otherwise, dressing room toxicity could affect the signings he can bring in. Even the signing of series winner Cristiano Ronaldo hasn’t improved attitudes at Old Trafford.

In fact, the Portuguese superstar appeared to be one of the few United players to take the Brighton defeat to heart. The three goals conceded in just 11 minutes of the second half showed the mentality problem that Fernandes has highlighted.

Were it not for an unfortunate ending, Brighton’s victory could have been even more convincing. Ten Hag may have watched through his fingers as United fell apart on the south coast, although the horrific defeat served to demonstrate the true scale of the challenge he faced.