Manchester United ban journalists from press conference

Manchester United have banned journalists from a number of media outlets from Tuesday's press conference with boss Erik ten Hag ahead of Wednesday's Premier League clash against Chelsea.

Journalists from ESPN, Sky, Manchester Evening News and the Mirror were refused entry to the media briefing at Carrington at the behest of the club, with reports circulating of player unrest under Ten Hag.

A statement from the Red Devils read: "We are taking action against a number of news organisations.

"Not for publishing stories we don't like, but for doing so without contacting us first to give us the opportunity to comment, challenge or contextualise.

"We believe this is an important principle to defend and we hope it can lead to a re-set in the way we work together."

For his part, Ten Hag is convinced he retains the backing of his players. The Dutchman’s challenging second campaign in charge continued on Saturday night, when a lifeless display saw United fall to a meek 1-0 defeat at Newcastle.

A 10th defeat of the season led to some reports that Ten Hag had lost the confidence of up to half of his players, with concerns over his style, tactics and signings mentioned.

Asked if he believed he still had the requisite buy-in from his players to be successful, Ten Hag said: "Oh yes, I’m sure.

"But you can see, for instance, the comeback against Brentford, the Burnley game, the Fulham game, so every time the team is there, showed great character.

"Great determination, resilient, so yeah, we are together.

"And you can see you can’t play such great football what we did lately if there is no unity."

Ten Hag downplayed Newcastle as "one bad performance" after the 3-0 league win at Everton and the 3-3 Champions League draw at Galatasaray, and addressed