Things are getting complicated for Manchester United due to one result: defeat at the hands of Real Sociedad in their first Europa League game.
Erik ten Hag knew how challenging it would be for his team in the months leading up to the World Cup with 13 matches in just over a month.
The Red Devils stumbled against Manchester City before regaining their footing against Everton. But ahead of their clash with Newcastle United, Ten Hag must be concerned about the fatigue levels of certain players.
United forced to rotate less
Were it not for Sociedad’s loss at Old Trafford, Ten Hag might have opted to turn things around more. But after his initial experiment went off track, the Dutch coach decided not to make too many changes from the start.
Diogo Dalot has started every game due to Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s injury. Christian Eriksen was supposed to have a day off on Thursday, but he was forced to come on in a bid to help his team cross the line.
Their best defender of the season, Lisandro Martínez, has been forced to play all the games due to the difficulties of his teammates.
His initial plan was always for his team to crush the opposition in the first half or within the first 60 minutes so that he could then make the necessary changes.
Ten Hag on only making three changes: “I want to keep the team build. When you make too many changes, routines often fail and I want to avoid that. I want to keep the good builds and also rotate a little bit.” [bt] #mulive
— utdcrib (@utdcrib) October 13, 2022
The away draw against Sheriff Tiraspol was not a problem as there were no Premier League games at the weekend, but the United manager was definitely not happy with his team after the two Omonia Nicosia games.
After resting some heavy weapons for the away tie, he was forced to bring in injury-prone Anthony Martial and top scorer Marcus Rashford to salvage three points, while for the home tie his side were huffing and puffing. he was huffing and puffing until a last minute win was secured after Eriksen and Jadon Sancho were thrown into the mix.
The new format of the Europa League encourages finishing first by allowing them direct entry to the next round. Second place means United need to win a further series of games against the Champions League defectors to secure passage.
Goal difference will come into play and that is why Ten Hag expected more cruelty in front of goal.
europe complications
“One thing about football, you have to score,” he added. “I think this game had to be three or four to nil. The only thing missing was scoring goals,” the manager told MUTV.
With so many games scheduled after the World Cup, the former Ajax boss definitely doesn’t want that to be the case.
United’s next Premier League game is against Newcastle United, who last played on Saturday. And that means they’ll be well-rested for the big occasion.
As for the 20-time English champions, they will once again have to fall back on the same group of players and Cristiano Ronaldo, 37, could have to lead the line again in the space of two days.
United have crucial fixtures against Tottenham, West Ham and Chelsea, with a home game against Sheriff in between.
Ideally, the boss would have rotated his squad, but there’s a feeling that even for the Sheriff test, he’ll need to go with a strong lineup as he looks to secure direct qualification.
Facundo Pellistri, Anthony Elanga and Alejandro Garnacho await an opportunity, but circumstances have forced Ten Hag’s hands.
This will undoubtedly create a huge problem for the Red Devils, especially with injuries to Martial, Harry Maguire and possibly Raphael Varane.
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