Ten Hag's dig at Man Utd medical staff speaks volumes after 'frustrating' advice

09 March 2024 , 10:38

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Ten Hag's dig at Man Utd medical staff speaks volumes after 'frustrating' advice

Erik ten Hag has hinted that he's "frustrated" with the Manchester United medical staff, who told him he'd have Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia back by January - only to be still without the pair.

United's backline has been decimated by injuries and the club have struggled to call upon a recognised left-back in recent months. Despite initially being told that Shaw and Malacia would be sidelined for a short period of time, those predictions appear to be way off.

Malacia is poised to miss the remainder of the season whilst Shaw made a brief return in the FA Cup at Newport County, but is sidelined once again as his own injury problems continue to strike. Their absences have angered Ten Hag, who continues to struggle with player availability.

He said: “In December, I had the talks internally with the medical and performance [staff]. They assured me they (Shaw and Malacia) will both be fit in January and so you will have two left full-backs. We talk about one of my biggest frustrations, there.

"You can accept in a position that a player is not available but when two players are not available over the course of the season that is very frustrating. Because that is also very difficult to catch up as a team but we dealt with it in the best way."

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He added: "I think it's going to be difficult for him (Malacia) this season to be available. He will fight, he's back on the pitch, but not in the team and the process had some setbacks for him and he's still going forwards really slowly and the season is coming to an end."

Much has been made of the amount of different backlines selected by Ten Hag this term. Among his full-back issues the Dutchman has also rotated between Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane, Harry Maguire, Jonny Evans and Victor Lindelof with several of them also enduring time out through injury.

Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia have both been unavailable for prolonged periods

It has led Ten Hag, who is fighting to prove he is the man to lead United into the Sir Jim Ratcliffe era, to suggest that without injuries his team would be looked upon very differently. The Red Devils currently sit sixth - more than ten points off the top four.

"Imagine if we had many more players available and no setbacks and injuries," he said. "We could easy have 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.

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Samuel Meade