The best players have been overloaded due to a packed fixture calendar leaving them prone to injury, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said ahead of the Old Trafford side’s Europa League opener against his boyhood club Twente on Wednesday.
Last season, England recorded the highest number of domestic back-to-back matches, 87, among top European leagues, with Premier League clubs averaging the shortest recovery time between games at 67.3 hours.
Manchester United experienced the shortest turnaround between matches in November last year, when they beat Fulham in the Premier League 64 hours and 15 minutes after losing to Newcastle United in the League Cup.
“There are too many games – the top players are overloaded. It is not good for football. Maybe it is good for commercial (reasons),” Dutchman Ten Hag told reporters on Tuesday.
“There is a limit and players are getting injuries. It is almost unavoidable because of the overload of so many games… We are professionals and revenues have to come, but we have to balance this out.”
All three European club competitions have been expanded to 36 teams this season with Manchester City midfielder Rodri having said the players could be close to strike action over the amount of games they are required to play.
In July, soccer players’ union FIFPRO said it is filing a complaint with EU antitrust regulators regarding FIFA’s international match calendar.
“First we have to take the experience, every match is significant, every goal is significant,” Ten Hag said of the new league phase format of the Europa League.
“An opportunity and more roads to achieve the target you want. It is the most difficult (pathway to the Champions League), probably. In a tournament of 36 you have to be the best. It is a target and a road we want to go.”
United won the Europa League under Jose Mourinho in 2017 with a 2-0 victory over Ajax Amsterdam.
Ten Hag said it would hurt to beat his boyhood club Twente, having helped them win the Dutch Cup as a player in 2001.
“I would have preferred to play against somebody else. It’s not nice to hurt something you love. Of all the teams, Twente is the team I follow the most,” Ten Hag added.
“I watch them as a fan, as a supporter, not as an analyst. It’s a different way of watching their games. Twente brought me a lot, I was put through their academy, so for me a great deal of history there.”
Twente are fourth in the Eredivisie following back-to-back wins. After hosting Twente, United welcome Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Sunday.
