Manchester United will take to the field for the third time in pre-season on Tuesday.
It's been a promising start to life as United boss for Erik ten Hag, who has seen his new side quickly pick up his methods and register back-to-back victories to kick off their tour of Thailand and Australia. Liverpool were defeated 4-0 in Bangkok to kick things off and a 4-1 win over Melbourne Victory followed.
It's back to Premier League opposition this week, with United facing off against Crystal Palace in Melbourne. The Eagles defeated Ralf Rangnick's side in the final game of last season so it could be a good barometer of how far United have come in a short amount of time.
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There's been a lot of hard work on the training field in pre-season and that continued on Monday as the players prepared for the game. PA captured a brief snippet of the sessions, in which simultaneous rondos were taking place, and here are three things we spotted from the footage.
McTominay continues to fight for a place
With Christian Eriksen signed and another midfielder, hoped to be Frenkie de Jong, being targeted, there is about to be plenty of competition for places in Ten Hag's midfield. As a result, Scott McTominay has a real battle on his hands to maintain regular football as he hasn't quite got the technical skills the Dutchman wants in the middle.
Or has he? McTominay has been working incredibly hard both in training and in matches to prove a point to the new manager and he looked to be doing so again in the latest session. In the rondos, he made a series of smart, short passes and looked to keep the ball moving — exactly what Ten Hag wants.
A new midfield partnership brewing?
With so many senior options it will be a tough task for any youngsters to break into the midfield this season but two players trying their hardest to do so are Zidane Iqbal and Charlie Savage. The teenage duo have acquitted themselves really well when on the pitch in pre-season, with Iqbal especially looking like he could be the breakout star of the tour.
The pair have formed a good partnership in the middle of the park and continued to work on it when they were in the same team for the rondo. We're likely to see plenty more of them together in the Under-23s this coming season.
Intensity remains high
On the eve of another match, no one would moan if the players were allowed to take it easy in training but that's not happening under Ten Hag this summer. From the brief footage of the rondos, it's clear that the players were putting in top effort and weren't being allowed to slack off.
Ten Hag has stated his aim to improve his squad's fitness in pre-season and he's keeping to that promise.
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