One person he did talk about was former United striker Robin van Persie. United made an 11th-hour move for Malacia to steal him from Lyon and the player admitted that he consulted Van Persie, the assistant manager at Feyenoord, about life at Old Trafford before making his decision.
“I spoke to him about United and his time in the Premier League. He had some great memories, some good stories, so that’s always good and positive to hear,” said Malacia.
Malacia believes there is a huge responsibility on the fullbacks to attack under Ten Hag, as evidenced against Liverpool.
Diogo Dalot appears to be Ten Hag’s preferred right-back over Aaron Wan-Bissaka, with whom United are open to offers, although there is still a need for a new right-back at the club.
“The manager wants to attack with the left back and right back,” he said. “Of course I like to attack, I think that’s one of the reasons he brought me here, so I have to prove to everyone why. I’m happy that I made my debut and that we got the win I already feel like I’m home They made me feel like I’m already home so I’m happy to be here.
“It’s a big difference [playing for United]† I wanted this all my life, I worked hard for it and now I have to work even harder.”
Harry Maguire waved cheerfully to the supporters as he prepared to board the team coach afterwards Tuesday’s match against Liverpool at the Rajamangala Stadium when a man started racing toward the United States captain and yelled, “Harry! Harry!”.
He was eventually stopped before he could reach Maguire by United’s security guards, presumably as he was an overzealous fan, but he was clearly unaware that the person they had just stopped was the lead organizer of the match, Vinij Lertratanachai.
Hopefully Lertratanachai, who had received a ceremonial plate from Ten Hag prior to the match, was able to say goodbye to some of Maguire’s teammates without difficulty.
There was an interesting selection of referees for United’s game against Liverpool, with an Andrea Marriner listed as official on the team sheet. It turned out to be a typo in the end.
With Maguire out of danger with a minor injury, Axel Tuanzebe also unavailable and Phil Jones in Manchester on an individual fitness program, Alex Telles along with Eric Bailly had to be drafted into central defense for the second half against Liverpool with Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof between the substitutions during halftime.
As a result, United have decided to fly 19-year-old Will Fish to Melbourne for the second leg of the tour as cover in position so that Telles doesn’t have to play as a makeshift centre-back again. Tuanzebe returned to Manchester from the tour on Wednesday to sort out a minor personal problem.
United’s first-choice goalkeeper David De Gea faced Liverpool with a second-half injury that Ten Hag hopes is nothing serious.