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Ten Hag on injuries, having 'highest standards' and Copenhagen atmosphere

BBC
·2-min read

Nicola Pearson, BBC Sport

Erik ten Hag has been speaking to the media before Manchester United's Champions League match against FC Copenhagen on Wednesday.

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

  • Ten Hag confirmed Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire are both available for the match with Maguire having undergone concussion protocol both during and after the game at the weekend.

  • He also confirmed he is not expecting Casemiro or Lisandro Martinez to return from their injuries before Christmas.

  • On whether his side can perform in a hostile stadium like Copenhagen's, he said: "We are looking forward to it and this team is experienced and has experienced hostile atmospheres. We did last year against Barcelona and we can get good results and performance in that [atmosphere]."

  • Asked about the banner held up by fans asking players to "play like you mean it", he said: "I think the players make their efforts but they can always be more. We expect the highest standards when you are a player, staff, manager, fans expect the highest standards, you have to win every game."

  • He added: "We ourselves have high expectations and when you’re not playing right or well you still have to win."

  • Ten Hag feels that Rasmus Hojlund has already "integrated well", adding: "Three goals already in the Champions League. As a team we can be better in creating stuff, we can give our forward players more opportunities to score goals. We have to have a stable starting XI and then rhythms and patterns will become more regular."

  • On if they can get back to controlling games like last season, he said: "First of all by getting more towards a starting XI that you can rotate and you can get routines in the team. In this season so far we have to change some positions a lot. You swap the team, you don’t get routines in, but once we get there we will be better."

  • He added: "I’m happy with the points we got so far because we didn't even play well but we are not too far away and in we are in a position where we can compete for everything. We want to play better and that is our target."

  • On what he is expecting from Copenhagen, he said: "They played a very decent game, I thought we didn’t play a good game but we still won. We weren’t deserving and have to do things better, we have to lift the performance if we want to do things better."

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