No I wouldn't. Nobody would. Calm down please.
Funny how people accusing others of hysteria (for the crime of suggesting we don't play our strongest team for Reading at home in an unprecedented fixture schedule) are the most hysterical themselves.
Christian Eriksen has left Old Trafford on crutches
- Thread starter MyOnlySolskjaer
- Start date
Funny how people accusing others of hysteria (for the crime of suggesting we don't play our strongest team for Reading at home in an unprecedented fixture schedule) are the most hysterical themselves.
Who else would you play?
we have 1 week until we play Leeds.
we play another game midweek against Nottingham who we will be playing our 2nd string.
Mctominay had a knock and wasn't fit, so you want to play Fred and Mainoo 2 games in a row?
It's clear the plan was play full strength today, have 1 weeks rest until Leeds and let bench players play on Wednesday.
Eriksen needed a rest anyway and has looked tired in the last couple of games so it would have been a good game to rest him but ETH doesn’t do a lot of rotation as he wants his teams to get into a rhythm
We need another creative midfielder anyway so maybe we can get one on loan before the window closes
We need another creative midfielder anyway so maybe we can get one on loan before the window closes
Hopefully it’s just a knock and he gets the rest he needs.
That’s what I hope it is too but if he has left OT on crutches then it doesn’t look good.
Again will wait and see what the diagnostics are.
Yeah, like you can specifically predict what's going to happen to a single player. The point is that he put out a strong lineup which is the only part that can be questioned really and even that was justified by the first 55mins.
No one is claiming this was predictable.
As already evaluated earlier the second part is just untrue.
Surprised only Eriksen got injured. Carroll seemed determined to nobble someone. Having said that, I’ve seen worse.
I don't understand the point people are trying to make about resting players. It is far from a guarantee that we would have won had we gone with full youth. Garnacho and Pellistri etc. have all shown they cannot be relied upon yet.
The likelihood is that we would have had to sub on these players, anyway. It only takes a second for a player to get injured. You just cannot avoid it; that is the risk of playing football.
The likelihood is that we would have had to sub on these players, anyway. It only takes a second for a player to get injured. You just cannot avoid it; that is the risk of playing football.
Here's hoping the moon boot was just for protection rather than remedial. He wasn't exactly stretchered off in agony, playing on a little before knowing something wasn't right and asking to come off. Of course this outlook may well indicate why a career in medicine wasn't for me.
But he is rotating, so stop being so dramatic.
People seriously blaming ETH for that injury? 
Injuries tend to happen, it was an injury via contact and not from muscle stress so I don't get why people would blame it on ETH.
Playing competitive football leads to injuries, in a way that is unpredictable. You can’t stop footballers playing matches (obviously) but you can think twice about playing key players in matches of lower importance.
Some of you are acting like you’ve never heard of managers dropping key players for cup matches against lower league opposition.
Ten Hag wants a trophy.
Why wouldn't he play his best players when they are available?!
Why wouldn't he play his best players when they are available?!
Fellow fans, both of the following can be true at the same time.
- ETH probably should have rotated more
- It's not directly ETH's fault Eriksen got injured
Well, because he risks unpredictable injury would be the central answer.
I agree though, if every trophy and the PL are of the exact same importance then there would never be a reason to drop anyone. If the different trophies and league hold different levels of importance, and if it’s not possible to play every game in every competition, then that argument falls apart.
Then in which case why play any player ever, for fear that they might get injured?
It is possible that Ten Hag believes the FA cup to be achievable, so why wouldn't he play his best players?
There's two games left in the League cup, one of which should be comfortable. Four (?) Maximum in the FA cup, so why not go for the domestics?
Arsenal might not win anything this season, they have put all their eggs into the league and possibly the Europa due to rotation. Would it be worth it if they win nothing?
It could clearly result in us not winning a trophy when the first team squad get serious fatigue. It's not even a usual season, we've had a horrific amount of games since the World Cup ended and continue to do so through February.
I love ETH but he's getting this seriously wrong, only natural mind as he's doing what he's used to doing at Ajax, but we get far more games over here in England than Ajax did in Netherlands. It'll bite us in the arse honestly. I don't even think it's doom mongering either, it's just common sense. Players are not machines, they can't continue to play 2 times a week over 2 months without burnout,
The point is to keep key players fit and fresh for when the important games for the trophy come around... Like the cup final in a few weeks, which we likely now won't have Eriksen for.
He's managing Varane fine IMO. Eriksen, Bruno and Rashford play almost every minute though. I get it with Rashford, we have nobody else there. We can play Fred more though. He's good enough to start vs Spurs and City and produce a great performance, he should be good enough then to rest both of them now and then, rather than see Eriksens fitness fall off a cliff after half time every game.
Re your last sentence.
Course they can. Two times a week is no big deal. If we're saying only one game a week is the way to avoid burnout then the players aren't fit enough.
How is he getting it wrong so far?
We are still on every cup competition and safely in the top four. So far I'd say he's got it spot on.
If we were to not win anything and lose the top four spot then yeah you could say he's got it wrong.
But up til now it's spot on right.
People seriously blaming ETH for that injury?
Thick bastards.
There are so many people in this thread intent on not using their brain.
You can say it's a freak injury and still equally point out that EtH risked it by playing all of our top players against a shit Championship side at home. Similar to the Palace game and subbing Casemiro although that's justified imo because the league takes priority.
You can also say that we would have struggled but at the end of the day, we probably won't be able to win all of the cups because of our squad. But being optimistic we'll do another Liverpool of last season and get no injuries despite playing a huge amount of games (although in an even more congested season) is just not realistic.
We might end up being on the ground from having our pick of multiple chairs and that would be a shame. Especially if we don't make top 4. Disagree all you want with this but it's a distinct possibility. Having your eyes open to this does not mean you want EtH out, it means you can think for yourself and don't just spout the party line the club journalists tell you to follow or the manager himself.
You can say it's a freak injury and still equally point out that EtH risked it by playing all of our top players against a shit Championship side at home. Similar to the Palace game and subbing Casemiro although that's justified imo because the league takes priority.
You can also say that we would have struggled but at the end of the day, we probably won't be able to win all of the cups because of our squad. But being optimistic we'll do another Liverpool of last season and get no injuries despite playing a huge amount of games (although in an even more congested season) is just not realistic.
We might end up being on the ground from having our pick of multiple chairs and that would be a shame. Especially if we don't make top 4. Disagree all you want with this but it's a distinct possibility. Having your eyes open to this does not mean you want EtH out, it means you can think for yourself and don't just spout the party line the club journalists tell you to follow or the manager himself.
Eriksen was just as likely to get injured in the next game.
So I tell you what, let's never play Eriksen again until we really need him as we don't want him to ever get injured.
I'd much prefer a manager take all cups seriously, play the strongest possible side and rotate during the game, as Ten Hag did. 5 subs allows this much better than 3 subs.
If he has, that should be the final push to go out and not wait until the summer to strengthen the midfield. Not only would it help us this season, it would enable us to sell McTominay early in the window in the summer and use those funds to further reinvest.
You think? You demonstrate this point rather well yourself.
I agree he should have rotated more. Eriksen is definitely a player in need of even more attention… But blaming ETH for the injury is ridiculous.
Technically if he didn't play at all vs Reading, he would be fresher and have less wear and tear, less match load so no, he wouldn't be as likely to get injured in the next game.
And higher level players generally know how to tackle better than lower level players, so again, less likely to get injured though still possible.
You guys act as if people who call for some rotation are being dramatic and that nobody does it. When in fact, every single manager who comes to the premier league has learned they have to do it. I promise you if Sir Alex, Klopp, Pep and now Arteta know they have to do it, Ten Hag will eventually learn he has to do it as well.
Neither of us can predict the future. This might be the best decision Utd make (if they win the FA Cup and nothing else), or the worst.
I’m responding to posters who are trying to claim that there’s no possible argument for resting players in games like these, when there very clearly is.
You appear to be (deliberately, perhaps) missing the point that Ten Hag does indeed rotate players. He does this when the players coming in for those rotated are actually fairly decent.
Malacia for Shaw. Maguire/Lindelof for Varane, for example.
This is the second time in a week. He should've taken off Casemiro against Palace before the booking as well.People seriously blaming ETH for that injury?
I was a bit of surprise he started such a strong team instead of having the regulars on the bench just in case. However I'm also aware it's still early days for Erik and he's still getting his way of playing across so the more games they play the quicker it happens. Also cup shocks aren't exactly unknown and we've struggled against smaller teams at OT before. He wants to win our first trophy in over 5 years and the two domestic cup competitions are the most likely so can see why he did what he did.
Top 4 isn't a trophy though. If we end up with no trophies then surely he's got it wrong, by your own words he want's a trophy. We've got two fecking hard games against Barcelona coming up with a potential final against Newcastle directly after our Barca home game. This was a decent chance to rest a few players ultimately and Ten Hag decided not too, we'll only know how much damage all this was cause in the coming weeks. It's a lets wait and see brief. I will be staggered if we aren't running on empty by the time the league cup final comes.
Yeah he's rotating the defence fine IMO. I'm questioning why do Eriksen, Bruno and Rashford play almost every minute. Bruno has more minutes played across all competitions (not counting world cup) than De Gea for example, Eriksen is 3rd and Rashford is 4th for us. Eriksen visibly drops in the 2nd halves, so yes we need to sub him now (didn't happen in the first half of the season much, so very clearly that is the effect of tiredness). Players are more prone to injuries when they are fatigued. With Rashford, it's preventative if anything. We know he suffered from over playing in the past and it led to bigger injury problems and dramatic losses of form. Given we rely on him entirely for our attack, I'd just rather it doesn't happen but tbh I understand that one (though do think it's fine to take a risk vs fecking Reading and giving him a full week off).
With Bruno, well he's used to playing every minute so he's probably fine anyway. But again. Fatigue happens to all, and he plays every minute of every game basically, so taking the chance to rest him before the next month of games would've been wise IMO.
So what, had nothing to do with fatigue or muscle issues. He got snapped by a plank, could happen in any game. Nonsense.
The answer is staring you in the face. There are no alternatives. Garnacho can play ahead of Rashford, granted, but Rashford doesn’t look like a man who needs time off at the moment. Keep him running. He’ll get the night off against Forest, too. Garnacho also gets plenty of minutes regardless.
Bruno’s replacement (Van de Beek) is out for the season and Eriksen has regularly been replaced by Fred after the hour mark.
The reason Ten Hag is rotating that defence ‘fine’ (your words) is because he can bring in Lindelof and Maguire. Both of them are good players who can, for the most part, be trusted. Our midfield and attacking options are thin to non-existent, hence the reliance on our best players.
Fred is arguably the best squad player in our squad and he has played fewer minutes than Ronaldo. He should clearly be playing more.
Why don’t we wait for the diagnosis on Eriksen first before pointlessly overreacting?