Ten Hag explains why Man Utd is not starting games and he’s ‘confident’ signing will come good
Erik ten Hag has backed Rasmus Hojlund to come good for Manchester United ahead of their Champions League group game against FC Copenhagen.
An initial fee of around £64m was splashed out by Man Utd to recruit Hojlund during the summer transfer window. He was recruited after he was involved in 14 goals in 34 appearances for Atalanta during the 2022/23 campaign.
There is a lot of pressure on Hojlund to shine as Man Utd are short of options in attacking areas but he has enjoyed a promising start at Old Trafford.
Hojlund – who is among the worst finishers in the Premier League – is without a goal in six league appearances but he has three goals in United’s first two Champions League group games.
Despite this, Man Utd lost their first two games in Group A so they need to beat FC Copenhagen (Hojlund’s former team) when they meet at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.
Ten Hag told reporters on Monday afternoon that he is “confident” in Hojlund’s ability to score goals for Man Utd.
“He’s always playing in scoring positions in our team and I’m confident [he will score goals], as well for Marcus Rashford the same,” Ten Hag told reporters.
“In every game when we do what we have to do as a team we always get in scoring positions and then it’s about finishing. When you analyse all the games so far we have seen it.
When asked about Hojlund playing with Anthony Martial, he answered: “It’s possible they can play together. So far we haven’t done that in games but I can see that they can play together because Martial is also able to play from the side.”
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On Christian Eriksen (who has not started in four league games), Ten Hag added: “You see his importance when he’s on the pitch and he’s a big influence on our team. He’s a great player, a brilliant player and he’s very important for our squad.
“We have many great players. We don’t have a squad of 11; we have a squad where there’s internal competition and in the back we have some struggle to line up but in the midfield department there’s huge competition internally in our squad.”
Ten Hag also revealed Sergio Reguillon is being “assessed” ahead of this week’s Champions League clash.
“We hope [to have players back from injury]. [Sergio Reguilon] got ill for Saturday so he was fit, trained all last week and yesterday he was back in training,” Ten Hag continued.
“Today he will train and we have to assess if he is ready and game-fit and if he can be involved in the squad. So we have to wait for that.”
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