Erik ten Hag blames Manchester United’s injuries on three reasons, it “will” happen again

Erik ten Hag has blamed Manchester United’s recent injury crisis on three reasons, explaining that injuries will happen again this coming campaign.

Manchester United‘s 2023/24 season finished with the team lifting their second trophy in two seasons under Erik ten Hag, defeating Manchester City in the FA Cup final.

However, the season will be largely remembered for the number of injury issues the side faced across the campaign, with over 60 separate cases of absences recorded throughout the campaign.

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There have been a number of theories as to why United and so many other teams suffered an incredible number of injuries. Some put it down to the 2022 World Cup taking place in the middle of the 2022/23 campaign, while others pointed more generally to the number of fixtures that players are made to play.

However, Ten Hag himself believes there are three key reasons why his team suffered so many setbacks last season.

“The amount of games the fixture list had, the load on the players, the pressure on the players is so high,” he told the press on Friday evening. “And we are not the only team with so many injuries. And there were across the Premier League, there were many teams with a lot of injuries. We were not even the worst.

“What we had there was our bad luck. We had them all in the end of the season in the back four. And, of course, that cost us a lot of points, but the load on and the pressure on players is so immense. And this season it’s getting even worse because of the new model, the new format in Europe.

“It will happen again. I just mentioned it is the survival of the fittest. So one of the things so important in your structures is that you cover that, that fitness part with the medical staff, with performance and that you have to do things right.

“But also the players, they have to work in the right way because when the standards are so high, then you have to fulfil them. It’s only possible when you fulfil the highest standards. It’s not only on game day. On every day.”

Harry Maguire also commented on the injury situation, telling the media that he feels it may have been related to the World Cup taking place in November 2022.

“For me, I have not had muscle injuries all my career, and then last season I picked up two or three. A lot of teams last year struggled. It might have been with the World Cup in the middle of the season.

“From the start of the season there was all that added time that was making games 100 minutes long. It might have all added up, but it is hard to put your finger on it.”

Thankfully, United had an almost perfectly fit squad to take to the USA on their pre-season tour. They will face Arsenal in the early hours of Sunday morning.

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