Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag said his side are “not ready” for the start of the Premier League season on Friday, but is hoping new signings Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui can bed in quickly.
United open the English top-flight campaign at home to Fulham with Ten Hag in need of a fast start after finishing eighth last season. A shock victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final in May is widely believed to be what kept Ten Hag in his job.
The Dutchman has been heavily backed in the transfer market with De Ligt and Mazraoui joining from Bayern Munich this week after the arrivals of Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee. But injuries have again blighted United’s pre-season preparations with Yoro, striker Rasmus Hojlund and left-back Luke Shaw all sidelined.
“The team is not ready but the league starts,” Ten Hag told his pre-match press conference.
“We can’t hide from it. We have to deal with it.”
De Ligt and Mazraoui both previously played under Ten Hag at Ajax and he confirmed they will be in the squad to face Fulham. “It’s not about the players who are not available,” added Ten Hag. “It’s also what I said always last season: it’s about the players who are available and we have a good group, we can make a strong selection.”
Despite losing on penalties to Manchester City there were positive signs for Ten Hag in last weekend’s Community Shield. Alejandro Garnacho came off the bench to score United’s goal in a 1-1 draw, but is just one of many players short of match fitness after returning to pre-season late due to international commitments over the summer.
“We will not (be) 100 percent,” said Ten Hag. “But we have to go from game to game to improve, to get higher performance levels in the team and individual players, and we will see how quick we can go into this process.”
Fulham won at Old Trafford for the first time in 20 years in February. Any repeat on Friday will have United fans fearing another season to forget.
Meanwhile, Arne Slot faces a tricky start to his Premier League career when Liverpool travel to an Ipswich side back in the top-flight after a 22-year absence and buoyant after successive promotions. Liverpool are yet to make a single signing in the transfer window but have been rampant in pre-season with eye-catching wins over Arsenal, United and Sevilla.
Victory at Portman Road would bring some relief to Liverpool fans still coming to terms with the end of Klopp’s iconic reign. The Reds could then build some momentum with a comfortable run of fixtures to come before the October international break.
But Ipswich defender Axel Tuanzebe is confident of maintaining Ipswich’s proud home record over the past two seasons. “We’re going to empty the tank and give everything we’ve got,” Tuanzebe said. “They’re just humans” he added. “It is just 11 v 11 on the pitch. Not many teams win at Portman Road and we intend to keep it that way.”
New Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has a baptism of fire against his former club. Maresca was part of Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff at City before leading Leicester to promotion from the Championship last season.
The Italian inherits a chaotic situation at Stamford Bridge with a first team squad now boasting over 50 players and question marks over the future of most of them.
Chelsea’s issues were exposed in a torrid pre-season, that included a 4-2 defeat to City in the USA. By contrast, there have been few changes for Guardiola’s champions. Brazilian winger Savinho is the only new arrival, while Argentine forward Julian Alvarez departed this week for Atletico Madrid.
City’s England trio of Kyle Walker, John Stones and Phil Foden, plus Spanish midfielder Rodri, only returned to training this week after competing in the Euro 2024 final and are unlikely to start against Chelsea.
