Ten Hag Reveals His ‘Biggest Frustrations’ at Man Utd

Erik ten Hag listed one of his “biggest frustrations” as Manchester United’s inability to have a consistent left-back for the remainder of the season.

After Ten Hag said that his medical team had given him assurances that left-backs Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia would both be healthy and available in January, the Red Devils ended Sergio Reguilon’s Tottenham loan period. Though the former made a comeback, the England international sustained a muscular injury five games into his comeback and will now miss the remainder of the campaign. Ten Hag made a suggestion that, had he realised he would not have had enough defenders, United would have kept Reguilon, given that Malacia was also injured.

READ ALSO: Man United Project Is Going In Right Direction – Ten Hag

He told reporters: “In December I had talks, internally, with the medical and performance [staff]. They assured me they will both be fit in January and so you will have two left full-backs. Then you have a third one, so I would have to always disappoint one full-back [Reguilon]. We’re talking about one of the biggest frustrations. You can accept in one position that a player is not available, but when two players are not available over the course of the season, that’s very frustrating. It’s very difficult to catch up as a team, but we’ve dealt with it in the best way, but of course it’s a disadvantage.”

United have had a lengthy injury list this season but they have still been out of sorts throughout much of the campaign. However, Ten Hag, who has won 60 matches as United boss, feels they would have won a lot more games with a fully fit squad and the team’s future is bright.

“Imagine if we had many more players available and not setbacks and injuries. It could easily have been 75 wins and that tells the bright future of this team. When you compare it with other managers, other teams, or previous managers in this big club, you can see there is a bright future. No team can deal with so many injuries. We missed so many key players over the part of the season. We’ve had big setbacks, but we keep going and have a strong mentality. We keep fighting and keep pushing the team in the right direction,” he added.

In Saturday’s early kickoff at Old Trafford, Ten Hag’s United—sitting sixth in the Premier League—will take on relegation-threatened Everton. United suffered early exits from the Carabao Cup and the Champions League.