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Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has urged for Manuel Ugarte to be afforded enough time and patience to adapt to his new surroundings.
Ugarte was unveiled to United fans at Old Trafford just before kick-off, following his arrival from Paris Saint-Germain late into the summer transfer window.
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The Uruguay international came up during Ten Hag’s press conference after United suffered a 3-0 loss at the hands of Liverpool.
A first-half brace by Luis Diaz and a Mohamed Salah strike was all Liverpool needed to hand United a second consecutive Premier League loss.
Two of Liverpool’s goals came about as a result of huge mistakes from Casemiro, who was unsurprisingly hooked at half-time. When asked about his plans to integrate Ugarte into the team following Casemiro’s shambolic performance vs. Arne Slot’s men, Ten Hag insisted that the former PSG man could take months to fully gel into his new life in England.
Ten Hag said, “So this is another one: we have to build him into the team. It will take time, so it’s not like I’m Harry Potter. That is what you have to acknowledge.”
“And if you see Manuel Ugarte, he didn’t play so far in the season. Not one match minute. So he needs to build his fitness rate and then we have to build him in the team and I am sure he will contribute to our level and he will be an important player but that will take a couple of weeks, maybe even months.”
“And it counts for more players. Joshua Zirkzee, he made big steps the last three or four weeks, I am very pleased with his performance today but I didn’t expect this four weeks ago”
There were suggestions that Casemiro left Old Trafford at half-time, following his substitution.
However, according to Ten Hag, the Brazilian did not leave until after full-time.
“I met him after the game in the dressing room, so he didn’t leave the stadium at half-time. Why I subbed him was because we are 2-0 down against an opponent as Liverpool, with their qualities, they are very good. We had to take risks because we want to bounce back, then you need players in midfield to cover ground, therefore we put Toby Collyer on the pitch.”
“I think that in football everyone has to take responsibility. I’m sure he is a great character and he won everything in his career what you can imagine. I am sure he will keep contributing to our team and Casemiro is always winning so he will be there.”
Ten Hag refused to admit that there are parallels between how the season has started and the disastrous manner in which last term unfolded.
“We will see. Just third game in the season, we have to build a new team. I have to explain this so many times, also on Friday at the press conference, we will build this new team, we have young players, we have players to build into the season, we had three players first start of the season, they didn’t play 90 minutes.”
“We will be fine, but it is clear we have to improve and in the end of the season I quite am confident we will have a big chance to lift another trophy.”
Up next for United is an away trip to face Southampton after the international break.
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