Diogo Dalot: Man Utd must prepare for ‘discipline’ under Erik ten Hag

Diogo Dalot has revealed that the Manchester United squad must be prepared for ‘discipline’ under Erik ten Hag this season.

Ten Hag has a reputation as a tough task master, with footage already emerging of the Dutchman calling a piece of play in training ‘f*****g rubbish’.

And his players would have likely been given a dressing down after they let a two-goal lead slip in their most recent pre-season friendly against Aston Villa.

Speaking after that game, Dalot – who started at right-back – admitted that the United squad had to be ready to take on criticism from their new manager.

“It is discipline,” Dalot said. “We need to be ready for that, to be ready to hear things that maybe we don’t want to hear, but I think everything is for the greater good of the team and that’s the most important thing.

“We should have come into the second-half a little bit more lively, obviously we were winning 2-0 but we need to keep the tempo, keep the ball, we don’t want to concede so many counter-attacks that we conceded.

“But it is something to learn for the future. We are gonna analyse the game for sure and take the lessons from today.”

Dalot appears to have positioned himself as the club’s first choice right-back during pre-season, starting over Aaron Wan-Bissaka in each friendly so far.

The Portugal international went on to admit that he was looking forward to turning over a new page in his stuttering United career under Ten Hag.

“I feel that we start from scratch,” Dalot added. “New manager, new stuff, new energy, new players coming in and we’re looking forward to play with them as well. We need to build a team, a staff, a club, everyone together and go forward.

“We need to be proactive, not just the full-back – everyone. Read the game, be always on our toes. Mentally, we have to be connected all the time and hopefully we can improve a little bit more as well and go to the season.

“It is demanding but at this club you wanna play attacking football, you wanna have fun, you wanna enjoy playing in attacking positions. Obviously, it will take demands physically but I think we are gonna be ready for the season and hopefully we can start well.

“I feel like I’m a Man United player, but obviously work every single day to play. I wanna be ready for the manager, for the club, and every time he needs me I’m gonna be there.

“I need to show my qualities as well. This is why I came here, to show to this club I’m capable to play many games for this club. This is what I want. I think the things are going well, but we still have a lot of room for improvement.”