Erik ten Hag has admitted that Manchester United’s start to the 2023/2024 campaign has been far from ideal.
The Dutchman is overseeing just his second year in charge of the Red Devils, and with every season comes the expectation of silverware, a Premier League title charge and going as far as possible in Europe.
United have, however, overseen their worst start to a term in 34 years, having already sustained four losses in the league and one in the Champions League.
Injuries have been a mitigating factor in this; the ever-growing list of unavailable players at Old Trafford has become pretty remarkable, really. Samuel Luckhurst confirmed that 16 members of the squad have missed games thus far, with Victor Lindelof the only Red that has been available throughout.
Since the start of pre-season, 16 players in the current #mufc squad have been injured or unwell. All bar Lindelof (who came off unwell at Arsenal) have missed a game.
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) September 29, 2023
Still, you would hope that the club are able to see out results even with key players ruled out – and that’s likely why Ten Hag won’t use the injury crisis as an excuse for his side’s form.
Ten Hag reviews start to season
He said in tonight’s match programme (via Luckhurst): “Our start to the current season has not been good enough and, although there are reasons for this, we will not attempt to hide behind excuses.
“It is up to us to now turn our fortunes around because we are the ones who control how we perform.”
