Marcel Sabitzer says he feels sorry for Manchester United this season because the team is struggling due to the absences of Casemiro, Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez.
The Austria international joined United on loan for the second half of last season, but the club decided not to make his deal a permanent one.
United have went on to struggle this season, but I don’t think Sabitzer showed enough at Old Trafford to warrant a new deal. The Reds are currently 8th in the Premier League, out of the Carabao Cup and our Champions League campaign could still go either way.
As a result, Erik ten Hag has faced scrutiny over his job but Sabitzer believes performances ‘will exchange quickly’ once the squad is fully fit.
“I feel very positive about my time there and still talk to a couple of people,” Sabitzer told The Athletic.
“You ask yourself, ‘what’s going on?’ There’s a lot of noise, results are not good, they’ve had defeats at home, which almost felt unthinkable last season. And there’s still the unresolved situation of the ownership. You can see what that does to a team.”
Sabitzer was also keen to hail Ten Hag’s man-management skills.
He added: “You can wake him up at 3am, he’d tell you his whole match plan by heart.
“He’s very knowledgeable about football and tactics, a very hard worker, a perfectionist.
“And he’s very straight with you. When I had a bad game, he showed me some situations and told me how to do it better next time. I liked that. You knew where you stood with him. He never threw you under the bus. Instead, he told players to go out and do better in the next game.
“I learned a lot about football working under him. He’s a very good coach.”
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