Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea admits last season was “embarrassing” for Man Utd with some matches “a mess, a disaster”.
There was pre-season optimism that the Red Devils could get closer to challenging Man City at the top of the Premier League after adding Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo to their squad.
However, things did not work out how they had hoped with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sacked in the first half of the campaign and replaced by interim boss Ralf Rangnick.
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There is an argument that performances were even worse under the German with Man Utd ending the season in sixth place, 13 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham and 35 points adrift of champions Man City.
And De Gea admits it was “painful” to see Man Utd lose by four or five goals last season in an “embarrassing” campaign.
De Gea told The Athletic: “For me and everyone it was a very tough season, embarrassing sometimes. Some games were a mess, a disaster.
“So we should learn from last season that that cannot happen again because it was tough, it was painful to be there.
“We were not capable to win games and losing games 4-0 or 5-0, it was unacceptable. But sometimes you have to feel pain to get up and keep going.”
De Gea is excited for the new season under Erik ten Hag, he added: “With a new manager, we are in a good way. For sure, he is very focused on football and what we need, and the players feel the same, so I have good feelings.
“I think many things have to change. I think we were really poor last season. We played really bad, to be honest. But we are really improving. Under the new manager, things are going really well. We are working really hard as a team, that’s the most important thing. Let’s see, go day-by-day, try to work as hard as possible and try to improve.”
On Ten Hag’s approach, De Gea continued: “He’s very intense. Everything he says is fully focused, 100 per cent. In training he brings new things, new thoughts, so we need to adapt to him. But we show already in those three (pre-season) games we are pressing high, we won the ball, we want to keep the ball, dictate, we want to lead the game. So I think we are doing well, we are working really hard.”
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