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Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has hinted that his side may endure a slow start to the new season amidst the challenge of reintegrating players returning from international duty.
United are set to take Manchester City in the Community Shield on Saturday before opening their Premier League campaign with a home fixture against Fulham on Friday, 16 August.
The Red Devils will meet City having completed their tour across the United States, which saw them play friendlies against Arsenal, Real Betis and Liverpool.
A number of players who participated in Euro 2024 and Copa America did not travel to the US and only returned to Carrington last week.
The likes of Joshua Zirkzee, Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho, Lisandro Martinez, Diogo Dalot and Luke Shaw did not travel with the rest of the group for the pre-season tour.
Ahead of the clash at Wembley vs. City, Ten Hag spoke to reporters and insisted that United must work on their “game model” and patterns but admitted that rival teams with fewer international stars might hold an advantage in the early stages of the campaign.
Ten Hag said, “Yeah, I can see it like this way because we didn’t have time together and we have to work on our game model and to find the patterns. There was a break and they all played Euros, Copa America, so they were in different teams, with different game models and with different patterns.”
“Now we have to bring this together and it’s complicated. I’m not the only one and United is not the only one who has to deal with this problem. There are also teams with less international players; they can make a proper pre-season. So they are probably ahead of us. We have to deal with it in the coming weeks, while avoiding dropping points.”
The Dutchman said about the injury woes currently affecting his side, “No, I can’t tell you. With some of them I also wouldn’t call it an injury, but it’s part of building up into the season and a precaution because they had issues in the pre-season and in the spring. So it’s a continual process with them to build them up into a new season.”
“But I heard the question: how do you address this game tomorrow? But also even when it’s coming into a league game, we are not in a position where we can risk players and then lose them for a long period.”
When asked about the latest on Zirkzee and whether the Netherlands international is ready to hit the ground running at his new club, Ten Hag replied, “Yeah, we had actually only just one or two team training [sessions], where everyone was there. So yeah, it was a very short period. Last week for four days he did an individual [programme] then he did for three days, group sessions and now we are 100 per cent with our team. So it’s a very short period to assess this.”
“I think it’s [the same] for every player who is coming into a new league, into a new club and it takes time. I think also for every player to go into the Premier League, we all know the intensity is higher in comparison with the leagues where they are coming from, but he is already experienced.”
“He was a player in Germany, he was a player in Belgium, he was a player in Italy. He has already collected a lot of good experience and that will help him. But still he has to make a step and we have to help him and then you see it’s not like, say early days, that you have a proper pre-season with the team and it’s not you went to the Euros so you had to train on his own individual [plan] here. He and we need time to fit him in and that will take some weeks.”
On his players’ match sharpness, Ten Hag stated, “You run a risk when you have this approach because top football is going to the edge, going over the edge and then players get injured. That is not avoidable and it’s a problem for us, but for every Premier League club we have seen, I have seen the list. We are not number one in the injuries.”
The United boss insisted that United will once again challenge for the Carabao Cup and FA Cup as the team is competitive.
Ten Hag pointed out that over the last two seasons, the Reds have demonstrated that they can beat any opponent but going forward, the challenge is to be as consistent as possible.
He explained that United want to beat City in the Community Shield but the club is not in a position to take risks with players who are not fully fit and firing as this could mean losing them for a prolonged period.
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