Ahead of Man City vs Man United Community Shield, Ten Hag Only Plays Ready Players

Manchester, Todaysgist.com – Coach Erik ten Hag confirmed that he will only field players who are in the best condition when his club Manchester United (Man Utd) meets Manchester City (Man City) in the English Community Shield match at Wembley Stadium, Saturday (10/8/2024) tomorrow.

“We always want to win,” Ten Hag said on Friday (9/8/2024), during a pre-match press conference at Wembley Stadium.

“We have a chance to win the title so we will use a very competitive squad. But it’s still pre-season and we won’t take any risks. That’s the normal approach to this game,” he said.

Ten Hag said the likes of Tyrell Malacia and rookie Leny Yoro were certain to miss out, while Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Luke Shaw and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were all in contention to feature.

Ten Hag has only three options at the back in Jonny Evans, Lisandro Martinez, Diogo Dalot, with 17-year-old left-back Harry Amass starting in the Red Devils’ 3-0 friendly defeat to Liverpool on their pre-season tour of the US today.

Martinez, Dalot and Bruno Fernandes as well as Alejandro Garnacho have just returned to training at Carrington after competing internationally and missing the US tour.

“It depends on each player,” said Ten Hag when asked whether the new arrivals could play against Man City or not.

“They have different playing minutes. We will evaluate and then decide who will start, come on as a substitute or not play,” he said.

Up front, Man Utd are without Rasmus Hojlund who is out for six weeks with a hamstring injury in the opening game of their US tour. Ten Hag confirmed that Bologna rookie Joshua Zirkzee could make his debut in tomorrow’s game. Another option is to push Jadon Sancho into a striker role.

The Old Trafford owners have just signed Yoro and Zirkzee this summer, and are eyeing midfielders Manuel Ugarte (PSG), Sander Berge (Burnley) and defenders Matthijs de Ligt (Bayern Munich) and Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton). Ten Hag urged fans to be patient as he revealed that the club is still negotiating to strengthen its squad and will announce when all procedures are complete.