Man Utd's Erik ten Hag 'left physically shattered' as part of brutal training punishment

Erik ten Hag finally bagged his first win as Manchester United manager against Liverpool on Monday night.

Shouldering immense pressure on the back of humiliating defeats to Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford, Ten Hag must have breathed a huge sigh of relief when the final whistle confirmed a 2-1 victory this week.

It might not have been a performance that encapsulated the philosophy ‘Ten Hag Ball’, but it was nevertheless enough to best one of the league’s finest sides courtesy of goals from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford.

If nothing else, it made for a marked improvement compared to the catastrophic 4-0 Brentford loss, suggesting that Ten Hag did a lot right between then and the triumph over the FA Cup and Carabao Cup holders

Obviously, part of that was the inspired tactical decision to bring in Raphael Varane and Tyrell Malacia for Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw, but Ten Hag was up to more than just starting XI tweaks.

That’s because, as you might already know, Ten Hag had a truly extraordinary reaction to the Brentford defeat behind closed doors and it came in the form of a gruelling 13.8-kilometre (8.5 miles) run.

For those unaware, that was because United players had run 13.8km less than Brentford during the defeat, leading to them having to make it up just 24 hours after the loss with Ten Hag cancelled their day off.

When the information initially broke last week, it was met with a mixed reception as some applauded Ten Hag for taking no prisoners and others questioned whether it could actually work against the players, particularly as they had to run in 33-degree temperatures.

However, the whole situation has been given a new twist thanks to a remarkable detail that has emerged after the Liverpool win: the fact