Erik ten Hag has claimed Manchester United could have “easily won” a further 14 games during his time as manager had it not been for injuries.
United, who suffered back-to-back defeats to Fulham and Manchester City in the Premier League, host Everton on Saturday without 10 first-team players. Everton are winless in 10 league games and a shock at Old Trafford would be a boon for Ten Hag, who is looking to impress new minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, with or without players. It will be another blow.
Ten Hag helped United to 61 wins and completed 100 games. “This record tells us we’re moving in the right direction,” he said of the record. “So, barring any setbacks or injuries, if we had more guys available, we could easily win 75 games and imagine that speaks to a bright future for this team.
“If you compare it with other managers at this big club, other teams or previous managers, you can see that we have a bright future. We have a good age balance in this team: young players, middle-aged players. If you imagine when he was available, he could have easily won 100 games and 75 games. That’s a big difference.”
Ten Hag claims United could not have done better this season due to constant fitness problems. “No team can handle this many injuries,” he said. “I think we played at the maximum level given the ability of the players. We lost so many key players for part of the season. Players in January and February The performance we saw when he was available was very good.”
United are in sixth place, 19 points behind the leaders and 11 points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, and with 11 games left it will be difficult to qualify for next season’s Champions League. They won the Carabao Cup last season, finished runners-up in the FA Cup and qualified in third place before being eliminated from the Champions League in the group stage.
“Once we have the players, the project will move in the right direction,” Ten Hag said. “Top football is about winning matches. We are working and continue to strive for better performances… In important positions we have players who have a huge impact on the way we want to play. You will miss out.”
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Marcus Rashford and Jonny Evans have recovered from last weekend’s defeat to City, but Omari Forson remains unavailable, making him the 48th injury or illness to hit United this season. Key players Lisandro Martinez, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Rasmus Hjølund were absent.
