Man United is not having a smooth start to the season as Erik ten Hag soon faces many difficult problems.
Trauma crisis
Ten Hag can be somewhat sympathetic because of the injuries of the pillars. And the number of players having to sit out increased after the loss to Arsenal. £72m rookie Rasmus Hojlund has only played 23 minutes so far due to a back problem. Another rookie, Mason Mount, has missed the last two matches due to a thigh injury.
M.U’s defense was also affected when Luke Shaw had to sit out until November. Similar was the case with Tyrell Malacia, causing Ten Hag to borrow Sergio Reguilon from Tottenham. In addition, Raphael Varane had to miss a few weeks, while the duo Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof had foot problems and were sick, respectively.
In the final moments of the match against Arsenal, Ten Hag was forced to use Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans, leading to Man United conceding 2 goals. Not stopping yet, the “Red Devils” just received bad news when rookie Sofyan Amrabat had to leave the Moroccan team soon due to injury. Amrabat’s ability to play against Brighton is open.
Off-field problems with Sancho and Antony
As problems on the field are piling up, Ten Hag must face additional troubles surrounding Antony and Sancho.
After the defeat against Arsenal, Ten Hag revealed that he removed Sancho from the playing list because of his poor performance in training. Afterwards, Sancho refuted Ten Hag’s views and said that he had been “a scapegoat for a long time”. Ten Hag is said to be losing patience with Sancho, having allowed the English player to take 3 months off last season to recover physically and mentally.
The former Ajax strategist feels he has done everything in his power to help Sancho regain his best form. However, the situation has not changed and trust in the 23-year-old player has been exhausted. In addition to Sancho, Ten Hag and Man United are under pressure to impose punishment on Antony for allegations of assaulting his girlfriend.
Antony was dropped from the Brazilian team after accusations from his ex-girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin. While two other women also spoke up about being assaulted by the 23-year-old player. All of this Antony denied. Man United was in a difficult position when they had previously parted ways with Mason Greenwood for the same reason as Antony. In other words, they must take tough action against the Brazilian player while waiting for the results of the police investigation.