What is it about United's defence that we almost always seem to have problems? I don't think in Erik ten Hag's time at the club we've ever had a fully-fit defence and overall squad.
As we know, MUFC do pick up quite a few injuries especially in the past year but when looking at it, a lot of the problems are in the back line.
Luke Shaw
Tyrell Malacia
Victor Lindelof
Harry Maguire
Lisandro Martinez
Leny Yoro
Noussair Mazraoui
Matthijs De Ligt
Jonny Evans
All of these are defenders (which is basically ALL of our defenders) and all of them are either injured at the moment or have had their problems in the past.
Even three of the new recruits this summer (who are defenders) are relatively injury prone.
While Leny Yoro has never really been injured before, the fact that he's going to miss four months of the season due to a metatarsal issue is concerning for the future. Martinez had a similar injury towards the end of the 22/23 season. We all saw how it affected him last season as he went on to miss most of the campaign with several other problems.
De Ligt is fit at the moment but has a bit of an injury history himself. There's nothing serious but from that history, he does tend to miss out on a couple games at a time.
His former Bayern team-mate and current United team-mate Mazraoui is also a player with injury issues. While his absence is due to an operation for an ongoing heart problem (which sounds worse than it is), he will still miss a few weeks according to reports.
The Moroccan's injury puts Erik ten Hag in a pickle as with Mazraoui, Malacia and Shaw all out, his only available full-back is Diogo Dalot who isn't in the best of form. This has caused many to think that Jonny Evans would have to fill in at left-back for Saturday's game against Brentford.
There are other injured/injury prone players across the squad but why is it that majority of them are in defence?
In the past year, only Dalot and Onana have been ever-present. Onana is a goalkeeper who is highly unlikely to get injured.
Maguire's injury history isn't the worst but if you look at the past year, he's picking up more and more injuries. He's injured at the moment thanks to a knee issue he got during last week's draw at Villa. Maguire will be out for a few weeks according to the club.
United have also been recently reported to offer Maguire a new one-year extension to his current deal which will take him to June 2026. Is it a good idea given his injury problems?
However, when looking at the rest of the defence, is letting him go a good idea as well because we also cannot completely rely on the others?
Is it a problem with recruitment that we seem to go and get players with an injury history like De Ligt and Mazraoui? Or is there something going on at United where players pick up more injuries upon joining the club like Martinez and Yoro?
I think it could be a bit of both but our medical department is an area that needs as much improvement as anywhere in the team as we've had injury problems to players for so many years.
I know that in general, we have a lot of players out across the squad but it was just interesting to note how many of them were/are in defence.
Total days and games missed since Erik ten Hag joined Man Utd in 22/23 for club and country:
*Luke Shaw - 377 days missed, 60 games missed
*Tyrell Malacia - 456 days missed, 63 games missed
Victor Lindelof - 175 days missed, 31 games missed
*Harry Maguire - 131 days missed, 19 games missed
Lisandro Martinez - 265 days missed, 56 games missed
*Leny Yoro - 94 days missed, 15 games missed
Jonny Evans - 53 days missed, 10 games missed
*Asterisk means they're still out and the days and games missed will increase. Stats via Transfermarkt.
These injuries aren't to take a dig at Erik ten Hag but rather the recruitment and medical department when looking at the number of days and games missed by defenders.
I dare not take a look at the entire squad since the Dutchman's appointment 😬.
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