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Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag reportedly believes that a number of his stars were so severely affected by the negativity and criticism aimed at the squad that it caused them to be injured.
United endured an extremely underwhelming 2023/24 season that saw the team finish in eighth position, their lowest-ever finish since 1989/90.
For large parts of the campaign, the Red Devils came under intense scrutiny for their inconsistent results and performances.
Often, United were slammed for lacking a recognised and coherent style of play – a factor that saw them outmatched by their rivals on multiple occasions.
Ten Hag almost paid the price of United’s disappointing showings with his job but ultimately, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS elected to stick with the Dutchman, who is now in line for a fresh two-year deal.
It wasn’t all down to Ten Hag though, as he wasn’t helped by consistently occurring injuries that kept his side from getting into any rhythm.
United registered 66 separate cases of injury or illness that caused a player to miss matches last term. Ten Hag was forced to use more than 30 different defensive combinations with his backline decimated. At one point, Casemiro had to play a run of matches in the centre-back role.
The Mirror now report on a theory Ten Hag holds regarding the spate of injuries that hit the 20-time English champions.
According to the newspaper, “Erik ten Hag reckons some of his Manchester United players were so badly affected by the negativity surrounding the club last season it caused them to be injured.”
“Ten Hag is of the belief that several of his squad were not mentally tough enough to cope with the criticism that came their way, with some unable to play through the pain barrier.”
“Ten Hag has confided that he felt a lot of the negativity surrounding United last season fed into the minds of the players and left many of them unable to play with the slightest injury issue.”
The Mirror adds, “Ten Hag is known to have felt that way about forward Anthony Martial, who last played for United on December 9 last year, spending the remainder of the season injured.”
The Manchester Evening News also sheds some light on how Ten Hag felt about Martial’s continued absence, which left Rasmus Hojlund with a huge workload in his maiden campaign in England.
MEN says, “Privately he [Ten Hag] was more critical and he was unhappy that Anthony Martial deprived fellow striker Rasmus Hojlund of support for the majority of the season.”
“When someone at Carrington half-jokingly suggested the oft-injured Martial, scorer of 19 goals in his last four seasons at United, should seek a career change, Ten Hag agreed.”
United forked out an initial fee of £36million to sign Martial from AS Monaco in 2015. The Frenchman is set to leave Old Trafford at the end of the current month when his contract expires.
Martial managed 90 goals in the 317 games he played for United.
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