Erik ten Hag believes he may have won up to 75 of his first 100 matches as Manchester United boss was it not for an injury list he claims no team would be able to cope with.
This has been a poor second season in the hotseat for the under-pressure Dutchman, who suffered a 3-1 defeat at rivals Manchester City last weekend as he brought up a century of matches in charge.
Ten Hag had to field a patched-up team against the Premier League champions and absentee-hit United will again be without a host of first-team players for Saturday’s clash with embattled Everton.
Marcus Rashford and Jonny Evans have been passed fit after coming off in the Manchester derby, but Omari Forson has joined their lengthy list of injuries ahead of the weekend.
“That’s the good news, (Rashford and Evans) recovered after the derby, so they are available,” boss Ten Hag said.
“For the rest it is the same squad apart from Omari Forson. He dropped out. He has an injury.
“Mason Mount, I think he is in a good spell now and he will return shortly. I think after the international break.
“For next week, some players are planning to return hopefully.
“When the process will continue like it is now Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka I expect them to be available for our game against Liverpool. (Rasmus) Hojlund similar, yeah.”
Defeat in next weekend’s FA Cup quarter-final clash against rivals Liverpool will end United’s last remaining route to silverware this term.
Ten Hag won the Carabao Cup in his first campaign and led the side to third in the Premier League – a far cry from their current place in sixth, 11 points off fourth-placed Aston Villa with 11 games to go.
Injuries have played a key role in this season’s drop-off and without such issues the Dutchman believes he would have won far more than 61 of his first 100 matches at the helm.
“It tells that we are in the right direction,” Ten Hag said of his win ratio.
“So, imagine if we had many more players available, not so many setbacks in injuries, it could have been easily 70 or 75 wins and that tells the bright future of this team when players are available.
“Because if you compare it, you compare it with other managers or other teams who were in a build-up stage, or with previous managers in this big club, then you can see there is a bright future.
“Also, I think it’s a good balance in ages in this squad, where young players, middle-aged players, experienced players together.
“Imagine when they are available. As I said, we could have easily win from 100 games 75 and that’s a big difference I think with the stats you mentioned.”
Long-term absentees Lisandro Martinez, Anthony Martial, Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia are others sidelined right now, unbalancing a side clearly lacking strength in depth.
“No team can deal with this, with so many injuries,” Ten Hag added. “I think we are playing to maximum levels if you take in the availability of the players.
“So, when you miss so many key players over many parts of the season, then obviously the results, the performances will not be (the same as) when the players are available.
“We have seen when the players were available like in January and February our performances were very good.
“And I think from that moment when the players were not even fit, they could have done even better when they are 100 per cent fit in that moment but they were not.”
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
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