Erik ten Hag insists he will not take risks with his Manchester United players in the Community Shield because he has already proved he can beat Manchester City.
Ten Hag could be without up to six players, while several more, including England star Kobbie Mainoo, have just returned to training and he will not play anyone who is not ready against City. The United boss is not interested in local bragging rights and insists he has nothing to prove at Wembley on Saturday after upsetting City in the FA Cup final in May.
Ten Hag is mindful of United’s debilitating injury list last season and does not want to see this campaign underlined again.
“We know already we can beat City and that’s not dependent on the result on Saturday, that will not change that belief,” he said. “ The FA Cup was a higher occasion than the game on Saturday. Nevertheless, we want to win, but we have shown we can beat City. We have that belief, but we don’t want to take a risk with players and lose them for long periods.
“That’s what we have to take from last season because when you get in a pattern when you’re missing many players with injuries, that affects results. We want to get results and for that players have to be available.”
Ten Hag is aware some of his players are only half cooked and says it will take time before everyone is up to speed. “I can see this because we didn’t have time together,” he said.
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“We’ve had to work on our game model to find the patterns. It was a break, they all played in the Euros, the Copa America so they were in different teams, with different game models and different patterns.
“Now we have to bring this together. It’s complicated and I’m not the only one who has to deal with this problem. But there are also teams with fewer international players, they can make a proper pre-season so they are probably ahead of us.
"We have to deal with this in the coming weeks without dropping points.”
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