Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag admits injuries, players being away during pre-season, and new signings needing to get up to speed means his group is “not ready” to begin the Premier League campaign.
United take on Fulham in the opening game of their Premier League campaign on Friday but will be without several key players including new signing Lenny Yoro, Luke Shaw and Rasmus Hojlund because of injury.
The likes of Lisandro Martinez, Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo and others also missed part of United’s pre-season following their involvement at international tournaments for their respective countries.
And add to that the need to get new signings such as Mathjis de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui integrated, ten Hag admits the start of the season has not come at an ideal time for United but backed the players who are ready to do the job.
He said: “The issues are there but it’s not about the players who are not available, it’s about the players who are available.
“We have a good group, we can make a strong selection, we can put out a strong team so we will do that.
“We had players at the Euros, at the Copa America, and now new signings. We have to make a team from it. The team is not ready but the league starts and there are more managers with this problem.
“Still we have some rules and principles and we have to make the start. We can’t hide ourselves, we can’t run away from it, we have to deal with it.”
The United boss also revealed that new signings de Ligt and Mazraoui will be involved in the squad to face Fulham and believes full-back Mazraoui can help his team solve some of the issues they had last season.
He said: “We can solve problems on the left side. With, for instance, Lisandro Martinez, Diogo Dalot is capable to play there. In Mazraoui we have an additional one who can fill in the position as long as Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia are not available.
“I think he is a player that is quite difficult to put under pressure. Especially in English football, that can be very beneficial.
“In English football, there is always pressure on the ball and he is a player that one of his key attributes is it’s very difficult to put him under pressure because he often finds solutions.”
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