Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag highlighted a major stumbling block to his success at the club.
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has blamed injury problems for contributing to the club's underwhelming on-field performance, stating that they are being held back.
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Manchester United injury problems
Despite winning the FA Cup last season, beating defending champions and crosstown rivals Manchester City, the Red Devils had a disastrous season, finishing 8th, their worst in Premier League history. Ten Hag managed to keep his job.
One of the mitigating factors was Manchester United's injury crisis. The Red Devils were ravaged by injuries last campaign, suffering 45 instances, the most in the division throughout the competition.
To remedy the situation, the club poached Gary O’Driscoll from Arsenal to become their new head of medical. Twelve months later, however, the appointment has yet to yield the desired results, and their injury problems rage on.
What Ten Hag said
Ten Hag was without 10 first-team players in last night's Europa League draw against Fenerbahce. Speaking after the match, the Dutch tactician admitted to being held back by resistant injury problems.
"Yes, it holds us back in our levels and also in our position in the league," said Ten Hag, per the BBC. "When you don’t have the players available, you can't line up the best team."
"We need more players available often," he said. "We all have to work together on this point—the players, the coaching staff, and all the other staff.
"We have to do better at that because we know when we have them we are a really tough team to play and we can be really successful."
The 21-time Premier League champions travel to London to play West Ham and will have to do it without a handful of key players.