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Erik ten Hag said Marcus Rashford’s training could be better ahead of Manchester United’s trip to London to face West Ham tomorrow.
Asked how Rashford can make his way back into the United side, he said:
“He was ill last week that’s why he didn’t start against Bayern Munich and that’s why he didn’t start against Liverpool. Because also I must say Garnacho’s doing very good, the last month, so there’s internal competition.
“I’m always I think very supportive to players and I know from players they even need more trust, support from manager, because I have a strong belief in Hojlund and in Rashford they are capable of scoring a lot of goals.
“Rashford last year under me proved he can score many goals. I have the same opinion and belief about Rasmus Hojund.”
Asked if he had seen the right response from Rashford in training, the manager replied:
“He’s training well. It can always be better, but I think he’s such an experienced player, he’s mid-20s but he’s a very experienced player, he knows how top football works, so he knows he has to take the responsibility, so he will do, so he will line up himself.
Ten Hag was then asked about the injury crisis at Old Trafford and whether he had looked into what was going wrong.
“We did research about it, but there are so many factors about that, you can’t point to one factor in this,” he said. “But in this moment, we have to deal with it, we have to get the players back.”
Could his research lead to a reduced number of injuries?
“Sometimes also some bad luck and what hurts also, in some crucial positions we had the problems,” he replied.
“Like now, we are centre backs, many centre backs are injured or ill. Before, left backs, Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia. Then on the right wing we had our problems, the problems around Antony, but at the same time, Diallo was injured.
“Don’t forget Casemiro, he has a huge impact player for us, and now for a long period he’s not available.”
The manager was then asked his views on Andre Onana’s form and whether he would be taking part in the AFCON tournament in the new year.
“I’m quite comfortable,” he said.
“Andre Onana, in the Premier League, he performed very well, as well on Anfield it was a great performance. But when he’s going there, we have a strong group of keepers. With bayindir, with Tom Heaton. So we are comfortable there. Of course, Andre, we are hoping he is available.
When pressed whether he knew if Onana was going or not, he said:
“We are discussing this. I can’t answer this but if they call him up, you know the regulations.”
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