Erik ten Hag has stood by his training regimen and the choice to forgo a fitness coach at Old Trafford, attributing Manchester United’s injury woes to cumulative fatigue over his first 18 months as manager, compounded by the demands of international play.
This season, United’s roster has been impacted by 53 instances of injury or illness. Ten Hag points to the need for players as resilient as captain Bruno Fernandes, who has participated in 98 out of 103 matches during Ten Hag’s tenure.
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He contends that the current demands placed on elite footballers are excessive, cautioning that the quality of play declines when injuries sideline pivotal players.
Nevertheless, he maintains that the intensity of workouts at Carrington is not to blame for the team’s injury susceptibility.
“We don’t train too hard,” he said. “We need to be fit. With the standards in this league, you need to be fit. Otherwise you can’t match the standards you are required in a game. We don’t train too hard.”
Upon his appointment in 2022, Ten Hag enlisted Mitchell van der Gaag from Ajax as his assistant, and welcomed Steve McClaren and Benni McCarthy into his support team. However, he opted not to include a dedicated fitness coach in his staff.
He feels it is the correct decision, saying: “We have good departments, we have good people around with a lot of knowledge. Based on data we make our decisions.”
Despite participating in only 13 matches in 2024 due to an early exit from European competitions, Ten Hag is of the opinion that the team is still facing consequences from the demanding 62-match schedule of the previous season.
“I know that it still has an effect, the huge amount of games we had in the last 18 months,” he explained. “That still has an impact on our squad, the accumulation on the players.”
He added: “You need very robust players. That is the requirement. I think we have more players who are very robust like Bruno is. But that is the type of player you need.”
Ten Hag suggests that international football contributes to player injuries, highlighting that champions Manchester City lost two defenders while on duty for England, and calls for national teams to exercise greater caution.
“The players get overloaded and can’t bring the performances anymore,” he said. “We are already over the point where we demand what we want from our top players.
“You see this weekend, City is playing without [Kyle] Walker, without [John] Stones. The levels were dropping without them. There was a different team to what we faced. The levels for teams will keep dropping if you keep going in this process we are in, overloading the international competition.
“We have national teams five times a year you give the players away and you don’t have any impact. Some national teams we have very good connections and we manage the programmes but there are also others that do what they want. You don’t have anything in hand on what they are doing there.”
