Erik ten Hag says Luke Shaw may not now be fit until after the October international break.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow night’s Europa League match against FC Twente, Ten hag confirmed:
“I think it is probably [that he’ll be back before the break] but can’t say 100 per cent sure. The plan is to be back before. But it can be a short while after.”
Ten Hag also spoke of his love for United’s opponents.
“I would have preferred to play against somebody else. It’s not nice to hurt something you love,” he said.
“Of all the teams, Twente is the team I follow the most. I watch them as a fan, as a supporter, not as an analyst. It’s a different way of watching their games.
“Twente brought me a lot, I was put through their academy, so for me great deal of history there.”
The manager also took time to complain about the number of games in the new Swiss format of the European competitions.
“There are too many games, it’s clear, too many competitions. The top players are overloaded and that is not good for football. It might be good for commercial but there is a limit. Players getting injured is unavoidable.
“As a club alone we can’t change this. It’s about clubs and players and coaches. We have to work on this to improve the game and find the right balance. We are professional and revenues have to come, but we have to balance it out.”
“There are too many games, it’s clear” 😤
Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag has hit out at the number of fixtures his team has to play 🗯️ pic.twitter.com/U8fonQtC7S
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 24, 2024
On achieving Champions League qualification by winning the Europa, Ten Hag replied:
“It’s an opportunity – so there are more roads to achieve the target you want. It’s the most difficult probably. That is in the end a knock-out stage, but we don’t look too far ahead. We have to go game-by-game. It’s a target and it’s a road we want to go.
“We want to win all the competitions we are taking part in, but we have to go game by game.”
In the post-match press conference after the Crystal Palace game, Ten Hag took issue with comments by pundit Jamie Redknapp suggesting he had dropped Marcus Rashford for disciplinary reasons. This was brought up again today.
“I didn’t understand the criticism,” he explained. “People are not entitled to bring speculation. If I give an explanation they have to trust my words. That is not right.”
The boss was then asked to discuss the team’s inability to take chances after drawing a blank against Crystal Palace.
“We create a lot of chances – last week we scored seven against Barnsley so we are capable of scoring many goals, but it’s a part of the game we have to be better at.
“The most important thing is that you create chances, and that is what we are doing at the moment. We have to keep this process going, but the finishing we must improve.”
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