Erik ten Hag admitted he was involved concerning the eye-watering variety of accidents Manchester United are choosing up forward of their Champions League opener at Bayern Munich.
This has been a difficult begin to the season for the Old Trafford giants, with off-field points compounded by a run of three defeats of their final 4 Premier League matches.
United’s 3-1 meek residence loss to Brighton is hardly the very best preparation to face Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich on Wednesday, nor are the damage issues that proceed to pile up.
The Red Devils have misplaced Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire for the reason that weekend, becoming a member of the likes of Raphael Varane, Mason Mount, Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia on the sidelines.
“Yes, of course it’s a concern,” Ten Hag stated of the spate of accidents that leaves him with a 21-man squad in Germany that includes 4 goalkeepers.
“But we knew that before and that’s why we constructed the squad with depth, so we can deal with it, the squad can deal with it.”
Asked whether or not he can communicate to the medical employees concerning the damage scenario, the United boss stated: “I don’t know if we have to go to the doctors or physios because they are dealing with the problems.
“First of all, injuries always come in top football because we’re living on the edge.
“Of course we analyse why things happen, but we also have to deal with the facts and it’s always about the players available.
“That’s a strong side we can line up and we have to get the best out of it and we’re focusing on that.
“To bring up tomorrow again, a good team, make the next step, integrate Rasmus Hojlund, (Sergio) Reguilon), two new players and we are here to get a result.”
Sofyan Amrabat, Kobbie Mainoo and Amad Diallo are others out of the Group A opener by way of damage, whereas Donny van de Beek is unavailable having been disregarded of United’s Champions League squad.
Beyond that, Jadon Sancho stays absent “pending resolution of a squad discipline issue” and Antony has been given a depart of absence following assault allegations towards him.
“One thing is true, I think from the start last season I think I almost never started with the best starting XI – there was always something like injury,” Ten Hag stated.
“But you have to deal with it and I think we always got the results in apart from the period where we are in now.
“That is football and I have the experience in the past, I managed it in the past. It’s not always going up and you have to deal with it.
“I like these situations because now we have to handle it and we have to manage this. You have to know what to do and that is focusing on the process.”
Ten Hag’s perception about their path is why he’s not getting thrown off kilter by the negativity heading into United’s first Champions League match in 18 months.
“No, we don’t feel that we need a reset,” the previous Bayern Munich reserve boss stated. “Absolutely not. “We are in a process and what you see is that in parts of games we play very good but then also in parts of games we played below our levels.
“What we have to demand is be consistent, so we have to step up in certain levels all the time for 90-plus minutes. That is the demand on us.”
Wednesday definitely seems a tricky ask for United, who will face England captain Harry Kane after he joined Bayern following a summer time of hypothesis.
United had been strongly linked with the 30-year-old however plumped for promise moderately than a confirmed goalscorer by signing Hojlund, 10 years his junior, from Atalanta.
“I think we discussed (Kane and Hojlund during pre-season), so I don’t think we have to repeat this debate,” Ten Hag stated.
“We are happy with Rasmus. Obviously first games he was injured, he played now Arsenal, he’s now started.
“Now of course we have to integrate him in a team but you can see he’s a big talent and he will contribute to our game. We are quite confident of that.”
Asked if he had regrets about not signing Kane, Ten Hag merely responded: “No.”
