Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag spoke out after suffering three injuries in the pre-season defeat to Liverpool in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Fabio Carvalho, Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas scored Arne Slot’s goals for a 3-0 victory in Columbia, South Carolina, in front of a crowd of 77,559.
United played with credit, but in the end they were outplayed in the scoring branch and Ten Hag will have learned a lot from this performance. However, the Dutchman also faced additional injuries after the match.
Defensive injuries have been the bane of United’s 2023/24 campaign and threaten to derail their plans for the new season.
Victor Lindelof and Jonny Evans played the game against Liverpool but were withdrawn at half-time.
Academy graduate Will Fish was among those who came on as a substitute but was sent off in the second half after a collision with Liverpool’s Harvey Blair.
Speaking to MUTV about the considerations over Lindelof, Evans and Fish, Ten Hag said: “We have to see what happened. “The assessment, of course, with Will Fish, is that it has an effect on the injury.
Don’t miss. . . Erik ten Hag takes to the field to console injured Man Utd ace Liverpool
“We also had to inform Jonny Evans at half-time because he was sick. Victor Lindelof [] as a precaution. So yes, there are some injuries, but we have to see how serious it will be.
Harry Maguire also missed the game as a precaution as United look to avoid further disruption defensively.
United already have a slew of talented players sidelined by injuries and who are in a race against time to have compatibility for the first weekend of next season in two weeks’ time.
Leny Yoro and Rasmus Hojlund were injured against Arsenal, which will leave them out of the first weeks of next season.
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Antony and Marcus Rashford also had challenges that forced them to face Real Betis, the latter giving the impression of having recovered from the challenge while playing – and looking good – against Liverpool on Sunday.
Speaking about Maguire, former Ajax coach Ten Hag said: “Pre-season is difficult. But yes, Harry Maguire, as a precautionary measure, we leave it aside.
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