The MUFC boss spoke to the press ahead of United's (and the Premier League's) opener at Old Trafford tomorrow night. The Red Devils take on Marco Silva's Fulham to get the 24/25 campaign going.
However, the Dutchman feels that his side aren't quite so ready to get going themselves.
When asked whether United are ready for the new campaign, the manager said "No" and that despite five or six weeks of pre-season preparation where you can work on the team, "It's very complicated." He mentioned that in pre-season, he had a squad for the USA leg of the tour and now that they've added those from the Euros and Copa America as well as the new signings, "Now we have to make a team from it."
"That team is not ready but the league starts."
He continued to say that other managers will have this problem but that at United, "we have some rules, some principles, we have to make a start, can't hide, we can't run away from it, we have to deal with it."
After working together for 10 days, the Dutchman feels that things will take time and that at the start of the season, "the aim is to not drop points." They are going to take it on a game-by-game basis to try to get higher performance levels.
ten Hag also confirmed that recent additions to the squad Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs De Ligt will be available for Fulham. Harry Maguire is also ready for selection on Friday night.
On Luke Shaw, the manager says that "he thinks he will return in the short-term" and that they are looking forward to the defender making his way back into the side. He speaks about how important a player he is to the team and that they want him back soon.
As he's said many times before, Erik ten Hag feels that "we are in the right direction" when talking about his team's goals for the season. He wants to integrate the new signings and hopes that they can make an improvement to the game model and team levels.
"I have always very high expectations but we want to go for trophies."
Read the quotes from Manchester Evening News.
Final Thoughts
"The team is not ready."
That is a pretty worrying quote in a way. While he added that other managers and teams have to face this same issue and that United have to simply get on with it, it doesn't take away from the fact that this makes me concerned, nor do I care about other managers and teams' issues.
What does he mean by this though? Is it just simply that 'we need more time to properly integrate everyone into the team?' Is he making an excuse? We had a poor start to last season and perhaps the manager is trying to explain why his side could start slowly again this year.
Whatever the case is, it ain't great to hear your manager say we are not ready ahead of a season that is so, so important. He really did burst my positivity bubble there.
I understand that without his main squad for the tour and having to integrate new signings, it will take time for everyone to be up to speed but still, don't be saying we're not ready!
I don't know what to expect from United for Fulham now that he's said this 😐.
What I am hopeful about is that both Mazraoui and De Ligt could start! ten Hag didn't actually say that but after confirming that they will be part of the squad and given the injuries we have, I just have a sneaky feeling we could see two new starters, hopefully three with Joshua Zirkzee - I feel people forget about him.
In terms of the goals for this season, I do agree with him that we are moving in the right direction. With the new co-ownership and football structure, the signings that we've made, the potential signings for the future and those we're looking to move on, I think we can all see for the first time in a while, we appear to be operating like a big club again.
It makes us all feel very confident about the future and with signings like Zirkzee, Yoro, Mazraoui and De Ligt, that confidence increases even further still because all of them are top players who can play the way the manager wants, all brought in for good deals and are quite young so can be here for the long-term.
It just feels very positive at United at the moment. Now, it's about delivering on the pitch.
Background Image: Erik ten Hag in Man Utd training | Creator: Ash Donelon | Credit: Manchester United via Getty Images - SuperSport