Erik on Martial and summer plans
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has delivered a fresh fitness update on forward Anthony Martial.
Erik confirmed the striker has returned to the grass at Carrington, but a timescale on his return is yet to be fully established.
Posed the question and much more in the second part of his pre-match press conference, Ten Hag looked ahead to our next Premier League test against Bournemouth on Saturday.
Below, you can both read, and watch, the standout quotes from the boss's most recent media briefing...
Part two: Press conference v Bournemouth
Press conference part two | Ten Hag talks Martial, summer recruitment and more, ahead of our trip to the south coast...
“I don't know, he [Anthony] is still with the medical [team]. He's out on the pitch. But if he will be available, I don't know."
FORWARD OPTIONS
"Yeah. But so, [in] the first part of the season, we had a lack of goals, but I think after the winter, we improved a lot in that fact. And I think the last games, I think from January on, we scored in every game. And also, lately, we have scored more than one time in games."
STRIKER RECRUITMENT
“I think it would help [to bring in a forward], as I always had, in this plan we constructed, that we should have had enough goals. If you count them for the season, you count on goals from Rashy [Marcus Rashford]. And, last year, you scored 30. Yeah. You count on goals for Martial. And I have to point [out]. In my first season, he played very well and also in very important games. He had a high impact on our performances. And then bringing a goalscorer, Rasmus Hojlund in, that should have been enough goals.”
SWITCHING OFF LATE IN GAMES
“No they don't [lose focus]. They don't forget what they're doing. And if you see positive, after we got it to 2-2 against Liverpool, and I think it was extra-time was it seven or eight minutes. So there were another 16 or 17 minutes to play and Liverpool went full for it and we survived. So I have seen many moments, also in this season, where we can survive such moments. Just do your job, know your job, do your job, follow rules, follow the rules and the principles and we will survive such moments."
Getting ready for the Cherries
GalleryTake a look at our fresh batch of training pictures from Wednesday's session at Carrington...
“So we have good [transfer] plans, I think, also with quality players. Also you see now about recruitment, [Andre]Onana's doing very well. Rasmus Hojlund, everyone is seeing his big talent and potential. So you see we're doing quite good. And [Lisandro] Martinez, everyone was hugely happy with him. And so there are others. So the recruitment is good but, if they have even better ideas, we are always open for [them] and always you have to judge if we have options, but they come with better options. We are open to fill this in. But we have a way we want to play so we know our profiles. Exactly. So it has to match the profiles we want."
RALLYING CALL
“No, you couldn't expect these [setbacks]. But you have to deal with it. But this business, this industry, is about results. And many see only the result. But you have to see also what's underneath. And I see underneath and I see the potential, I see the direction. So I'm positive in the way we want to go. And we will be successful.”