Erik ten Hag has vowed to ease Rasmus Hojlund and Mason Mount back into the Manchester United first team so that they do not suffer any more injuries.
Hojlund is yet to appear for United this season because of a hamstring injury he picked up in a pre-season friendly against Arsenal, and Mount played in the matches against Fulham and Brighton & Hove Albion before he also suffered a hamstring injury in training.
Both returned to training this week and are in contention for Saturday’s away match against Crystal Palace but Ten Hag, the United manager, is conscious that Hojlund and Mount missed six and 30 games respectively last season due to injury and so is wary of throwing them in at the deep end.
Ten Hag admitted he was forced to rush the pair back from injury last term, and during the summer’s European Championship Luke Shaw revealed he was rushed back into first-team action by the club in the second half of last season, which exacerbated the injury problems that caused him to miss the last three months of the campaign and most of the Euros. After the tournament, Shaw suffered a calf injury in pre-season training, which has ruled him out of action for United so far this season.
This year, Ten Hag says he is in a position where he can re-introduce players to the fold more slowly because he has a bigger squad. “We hope we can integrate them in a very careful way,” Ten Hag said.
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“You have to be careful in top football. You always go to boundaries. It’s not avoidable but when you have a full squad available then it’s easier to manage the load than when you are in circumstances like last season and there is a need to play. Then we had to overload them.”
For that reason, Ten Hag will see how Mount and Hojlund fare in training over the next couple of days before deciding whether to involve them in the match at Selhurst Park, where United lost 4-0 last season.
“It’s very good news they are back on the pitch, they are back in team training. We have to decide whether they are fit enough to start but it is very pleasing they are fit and back in the squad,” Ten Hag said.
The 4-0 hammering at Selhurst Park in May was the lowest point of Ten Hag’s two-year spell in charge of United. Palace could have easily racked up a bigger victory over United’s patched-up team, which was so ravaged by injury that the midfielder Casemiro had to play alongside the 36-year-old Jonny Evans in defence.
Ten Hag is confident that United will head to Palace with more confidence on the back of successive victories against Southampton and Barnsley, although he is still without the injured Shaw, Leny Yoro, Tyrell Malacia and Victor Lindelöf for the Saturday evening kick-off.
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“It was a clear 4-0, totally deserved, but Saturday will be different,” Ten Hag said. “We know it is always tough there, they are always aggressive but we also know the circumstances were different [then]. We didn’t have a fit squad, we had one or two players at 20 per cent fitness. This time it is totally different. We have a fit squad and definitely have 18 players to go into this good challenge.”
Crystal Palace v Manchester United
Premier League
Saturday, kick-off 5.30pm
TV Sky Sports Premier League
