Erik ten Hag has finally responds to claims he’s training Man Utd stars too hard amid injury crisis

Erik ten Hag, the manager of Manchester United, has refuted the argument that, despite his team suffering more than 50 injuries this season, he trains his Red Devils team too hard.

Erik ten Hag has denied that he overtrains his Manchester United players, saying instead that they must be resilient enough to endure the demands of the Premier League.

Throughout the season, over 50 different injuries have been suffered by United’s players, which has hindered their efforts to qualify for the Champions League.

One explanation for United’s long list of injuries—which presently includes Luke Shaw, Lisando Martinez, Victor Lindelof, Tyrell Malacia, Anthony Martial, and Altay Bayindir—is the team’s intense training regimen, according to those who disagree with Ten Hag, who maintains that his players must be extremely fit.

Ten Hag responded, “No, we don’t train too hard.” “We must be in shape.”You can’t match the standards expected of you in a game if you’re not fit enough to meet the standards in this league. We don’t train excessively.

We have excellent departments and knowledgeable staff members in our midst. We base our decisions on information. Strong players are required. When you have a lot of injuries going into Christmas and then you have to bring them back, that is the requirement.

However, they are not match-fit even when they are injury-free. They take a few games to get back into the rhythm and don’t immediately return to the previous form.

Bruno Fernandes, the captain of United, has persevered through pain to play every game this season and has never missed one.

Ten Hag praised his captain as a role model for the players, but he also mentioned other members of his team who are equally resilient, both mentally and physically. Ten Hag remarked, “I think we have more players who are very robust like Bruno is.” “Yes, that’s the kind of player you need,”

Erik ten Hag has hailed Man United skipper Bruno Fernandes for always making himself available for selection ( Image: ADAM VAUGHAN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Although United has played 13 games in 2024 compared to 22 at this point last season, Ten Hag suggested that fixture overload was the cause of some injuries this season.

“I am aware that the significant number of matches we have played in the past 18 months still has an impact,” the United manager stated. “That still affects our team, the players’ accumulation of it.

“The players become so overwhelmed that they are unable to perform as well. We have already passed the stage where we expect our best players to perform to our standards. As you saw the previous weekend, John Stones and Kyle Walker were absent from Manchester City’s lineup. They were missing, and the levels were falling.

“The team we faced was not the same as this one. If you continue in this process of overloading in the international competition, the teams’ levels will continue to decline. Five times a year, we have international breaks for our national teams. You give the players away and get no benefit.

We manage the programs and have excellent relationships with some national teams, but some teams just do what they want. You have no control over what they are doing there.