Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag didn’t see it fit to use all of half-time to address his players as they were losing to Bayern Munich, sending them out early instead

Erik ten Hag cut his half-time team talk short (Image: Manchester United via Getty Images)

Erik ten Hag sent Manchester United’s players out five minutes early for the second half of their Champions League clash with Bayern Munich.

The Red Devils were losing 2-0 at the break in Germany as a result of Andre Onana’s major blunder for Leroy Sane’s shot and Serge Gnabry’s first-time finish after a mazy run and cut back from Jamal Musiala.

But Ten Hag didn’t make use of all the time he had with them at the midway point, instead letting them back out onto the pitch way before Bayern. According to TNT Sports, captain Bruno Fernandes held a huddle as they waited for their opponents with other players speaking too.

One fan joked: “Ten Hag gave them the silent treatment.” A second reckoned: “Ten Hag just laughed at half-time.” A third bemoaned: “Lmao, joke of a club.” And a fourth questioned: “So we’re having problems publicly now?”

A fifth quipped: “Did they applaud Ten Hag again?” While a sixth fumed: “Punctuality without results is dead!” Before a seventh sighed: “All that to concede within 10 mins of the second half.”

Captain Bruno Fernandes held a huddle on the pitch as they waited for five minutes (Image: AP)

Ten Hag’s tactic might well have had an impact as Rasmus Hojlund pulled one back for United less than four minutes after the restart. But Harry Kane converted a penalty given for handball against Christian Eriksen shortly after to restore Bayern’s two-goal lead.

To make matters worse for United’s boss, he had few options to turn to on the bench – which featured three goalkeepers and two youth midfielders due to their stacked injury list.

United were losing 2-0 at the break but they were out early for the second half (Image: DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

Facundo Pellistri was given just his second start by Ten Hag, while the suspended Jadon Sancho was spotted playing the new EAFC 24 video game with Roma’s Tammy Abraham back at home.

Casemiro pulled one back with two minutes of normal time left, but Mathys Tel once again pulled Bayern ahead with a stoppage-time strike. There was still time for Casemiro to nod home his second and United’s third, but they lost 4-3.