Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has admitted his side are being “held back” by the ongoing injuries that continue to plague the squad.
Before beating Brentford in one improved performance last weekendUnited had taken just eight points from a possible 21 in their opening seven Premier League games to make it the club’s worst start to a league campaign since 1989/90.
to have drew a third straight Europa League game on Thursday nightTen Hag will welcome back Bruno Fernandes following suspension for the weekend trip to West Ham United. Rasmus Hojlund, whose playing time has been carefully managed, should also return to the lineup.
Hojlund and Fernandes combined well with Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford against Brentford as United scored in a Premier League game for the first time in over a month. But the team is still not injury-free, with seven players sidelined against the Hammers.
“That holds us back in our levels and also our position in the league, because when you don’t have players available, you can’t line up the best team and that’s what’s holding us back at the moment.” Ten Hag he lamented while speaking to reporters.
“We need more players often available, and then we all have to work together on that point. That’s the players, the coaching staff, all the other staff.
“We have to do better and have more players available because we know when we have them, we’re a very tough team to play against, and when we have them, we can be very, very successful. And that’s what we’ve shown over the last two months”.
Due to travel commitments surrounding this current series of events, united He remained in Turkey on Thursday night and trained locally on Friday morning. Instead of returning to Manchester, the plan was made to go straight to London ahead of Sunday’s game at the London Stadium.
Jonny Evans, after suffering a knock against Brentford and missing the trip to Istanbul, is the only player who may be ready to rejoin the capital’s squad.
Leny Yoro and Luke Shaw have been training individually, while Tyrell Malacia has resumed group training but is still not ready to play after more than a year out. Mason Mount has not played since a head injury against Tottenham last month, with Kobbie Mainoo and Harry Maguire possibly out until November and Antony is the latest to suffer an injury when he was withdrawn this week.
