Erik ten Hag has claimed Manchester United “could easily” have won another 14 matches during his time as manager but for injuries.
United host Everton on Saturday without 10 first-team players, after consecutive Premier League defeats by Fulham and Manchester City. Everton are without a victory in 10 league games and if they pull off a shock at Old Trafford it would be another blow to Ten Hag as he attempts to impress the new minority owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, regardless of player availability.
Ten Hag has completed 100 games in charge of United winning 61. “It tells us that we are going in the right direction,” he said of that record. “So imagine we had many more players available and not setbacks and injuries, could easily 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. It is a good balance in ages in this squad. Young players, middle-aged players; imagine when they are available, could easily have won from 100 games 75. It is a big difference.”
Ten Hag insists United could not have performed any better this season because of constant fitness problems. “No team can deal with so many injuries,” he said. “I think we played to maximum levels if you take into respect the availability of the players. We missed so many key players over the part of the season. The performances we have seen when the players are available in January and February the performances are very good.”
United are sixth, 19 points off the top and 11 points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, leaving them a difficult challenge to qualify for next season’s Champions League with 11 matches remaining. They went out of the Champions League in the group stage after qualifying by finishing third last season, when they won the Carabao Cup and were runners-up in the FA Cup.
“The project is going in the right direction when we have the players available,” Ten Hag said. “Top football is about winning games. We’re working, keep working on better performances … In key positions you miss players who have a very high impact on the way we want to play.”
Marcus Rashford and Jonny Evans have recovered after coming off in last weekend’s defeat by City but Omari Forson will be absent, becoming the 48th instance of injury or illness to hit United this season. The key players Lisandro Martínez, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Rasmus Højlund are out.
