Erik Ten Hag raises Liverpool fans' eyebrows with injury comments

Manchester United boss Erik Ten Hag has raised some eyebrows amongst Liverpool fans with his injury comments this week. The manager has bemoaned his situation.

Erik Ten Hag managed his 100th Manchester United game at the weekend as they lost to Manchester City. But even with the defeat, Ten Hag boasts 61 wins across those fixtures - a superior record to both Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and Mikel Arteta at Arsenal.

Of course, neither Klopp nor Arteta had anything like the same funds at their disposal across their first two years in the job.

Still, Ten Hag actually believes his record would be even better if not for an injury crisis. He could have been setting records.

"[The record] tells that we are in the right direction," said Ten Hag this week. "So imagine if we had many more players available and not setbacks and injuries.  It could easily have been 75 wins and that tells the bright future of this team.

"When you compare it with other managers, other teams, or previous managers in this big club, you can see there is a bright future.

"It is a good balance in ages in this squad. Young players, middle-aged players, imagine when they are available, we could easily have won from 100 games 75. It is a big difference with the stats you mentioned.

"No team can deal with so many injuries. I think we played to maximum levels if you take in respect the availability of the players. We missed so many key players over the part of the season."

For comparison, Pep Guardiola won 71 of his first 100 games in charge of Manchester City. José Mourinho managed 72 with Chelsea. Ten Hag feels injuries are the reason he hasn't done considerably better.

Fans react to Erik Ten Hag comments

The replies to Ten Hag's comments under, for instance, the Daily Mail's Tweet show the general feeling to what he's said. Many are Liverpool fans pointing out that despite an injury crisis over the last few weeks, the Reds won two Premier League games, qualified for the FA Cup Fifth Round and won a cup final.

But Newcastle United fans are there having a dig, too. Sky Sports showed two weeks ago that they've had the most problems with injuries this season, as players have collectively missed the most games.

United, in contrast, are sixth. That's three places ahead of Liverpool, though this was before the bulk of the Reds' injury crisis.