Erik Ten Hag on Antony's return to Manchester United training and playing Crystal Palace
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00:00 Hi Eric, there's been two statements from United today.
00:03 First of all, Anthony, what are your thoughts on the decision to allow him
00:08 back to train and to play? And are you worried it might be a distraction?
00:12 Yes, we make the statement, so I refer to the statement.
00:18 I think everything is, we make clear in the statement.
00:21 And no, I don't think it's a distraction.
00:26 We focus on the games and he will do as well.
00:29 The other statement regarded Lissandra Martinez.
00:32 How frustrating is that for you and your injury list?
00:34 Is there any improvements? Anyone back for tomorrow?
00:38 We have seen some players back on Tuesday and for tomorrow are back.
00:46 The players who are out of the squad for Tuesday, Scott McTominay, Christian Eriksen, they are back.
00:55 Just in terms of Anthony, did you have to think before you brought him back into the squad?
01:03 People will have opinions about whether he should be there or not.
01:06 I think we explained it in the statement, so I will keep referring to that.
01:12 Injuries, you're not the only club who's got a lot of injuries at the moment.
01:21 Next season, the Champions League expands, there's the new Club World Cup coming in as well.
01:26 There's more and more demands on players.
01:29 How do you deal with that?
01:32 Is it a bigger squad? Is it limiting the number of games players play?
01:36 How do you look after the players?
01:38 We already did. We already expanded the squad this season because, you make the reason clear,
01:46 we had a World Cup in the middle of the season.
01:53 We had a longer season. We had to play a longer season as well.
01:57 FA Cup, then Nations League games, then a shorter break.
02:03 And every time the schedule is expanding and the load on the players is just too much.
02:14 It's such a great overload.
02:16 But many colleagues of mine are already pointing to that.
02:19 I have pointed to that as well.
02:23 But it kept going. We keep expanding the schedule.
02:29 But anywhere it will stop, then players can't deal anymore with this overload.
02:40 That's what you see across many squads at the moment.
02:44 The statement on Anthony doesn't say when he'll resume training and when he'll become available.
02:50 Can you give us any clarity on the timescale on his fitness levels?
02:54 On Saturday he will be back in training.
02:57 So tomorrow.
03:00 You're comfortable with his fitness levels?
03:03 I have to see, but I think yes.
03:08 I guess a lot of your fans will think you've got clarity on one player,
03:11 the other player who's obviously been in the headlines recently, Jadon Sancho.
03:15 Is there no chance of any progress with that at this stage?
03:17 Are you not tempted to maybe seek a little bit of clarity with him having sorted one player out?
03:23 Many of you ask me so often these questions and I have said everything.
03:29 How long can that situation go on for?
03:35 When I said I said everything.
03:37 Richard?
03:39 Hi Eric, I just want to ask you about Sofiane Amrabat.
03:42 He had a really impressive debut on Tuesday.
03:44 What do you think his greatest asset is?
03:46 Is it his technical ability or is it his energy and his stamina?
03:49 As you say, he has more abilities.
03:54 You need, as a player, on the highest level, you need a bigger skill set than only one.
04:03 But I think his stamina, his dynamics, that is I think one of his biggest.
04:11 Against Burnley, you only had 38% possession.
04:15 That seems quite a small amount, especially with your history at Ajax of always having the ball.
04:19 Do you think United need to have more possession and how important is Amrabat to that aim?
04:23 You don't always have...
04:26 You need not always so much possession to have control in the game.
04:33 Because I think against Burnley, we had control of the game.
04:39 But yeah, I prefer to have it, like against Crystal Palace.
04:43 As some injuries coming back to Scotland, you have more options for Scotland.
04:51 In these two games, you gave some opportunities to the young players like Hannibal,
04:58 Plessy, and also Goyle, who has debuted on his birthday.
05:02 In the future, with even more tighter fixture, will these players have this hard?
05:08 It depends on their performances, on their levels, what they show,
05:12 if they can contribute to winning team.
05:15 And it's only about that.
05:17 You play the team, you make the selection based on the opportunity you win games.
05:24 How different will this game against Crystal Palace be to the one you played in the EFL Cup?
05:34 Because the playing squads will be different, the starting XI's will be different.
05:39 And what are you expecting from them this Saturday?
05:42 Yeah, definitely. I think both sides will be different.
05:44 But we can't believe from it.
05:49 But I know the opponent is looking for a defence, clear.
05:54 That will be their fuel.
05:56 And in terms of the young players, you mentioned on Tuesday night that the young players have
06:04 shown you in training that they deserve to get the shirt.
06:08 How important is that going to be during this period when you have got a number of injuries?
06:12 You see it already.
06:14 When you have players, when you develop players, you see the progress.
06:20 It can help you in tough situations.
06:24 But also, it's good for the club to develop such players and for the players as well to get
06:32 into professional football, to get into professional top football.
06:37 So great, I like it, to develop young players.
06:43 But as you said, the mentality has to be right.
06:46 You have to deserve the badge.
06:48 And every time, you have to prove it.
06:50 And on every occasion, so training, but especially on games.