Rio Ferdinand reveals his one major ‘concern’ for Man United with Erik ten Hag in charge… as the club legend admits his former side have failed to deal with their ongoing injury crisis

Rio Ferdinand has detailed his concerns for Manchester United under Erik ten Hag this season.

On Thursday the club produced a Jekyll and Hyde performance of epic proportions against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

With Marcus Rashford left on the bench for the first time in 2024, Erik ten Hag’s side fell behind from an early goal from Conor Gallagher followed by a Cole Palmer penalty within the first 20 minutes.

The visitors recovered well however, and looked set to secure three points courtesy of a goal from captain Bruno Fernandes and a Alejandro Garnacho brace.

Unfortunately for Ten Hag however, his team were once again unable to maintain a lead in the closing stages, with Palmer adding two goals in stoppage time to secure all three points for the hosts.

Erik ten Hag’s side have lost three of their last five and sit nine points behind Tottenham

With just four points from a possible 15 in their last five Premier League games, United now face an uphill battle to qualify for Champions League football, with Ten Hag admitting as much earlier this week.

Speaking following Man City’s win against Crystal Palace, Ferdinand admitted that he is unsure if his former club have made any real improvements in the Dutchman’s second season in charge.

‘But I think if you just look at the facts of the matter, are Manchester United any further forward than they were at the end of last season?’ Ferdinand said on TNT Sports. 

‘I was sitting there quite, “you know what, actually, I’m looking forward to this season”, but it hasn’t panned out like that at all. Yes, there’s been a lot of injuries. But we’re no closer to seeing what an Erik ten Hag team is now than we were day one of this season. And that concerns me a little bit. 

Ferdinand conceded his time are dealing with an injury crisis but questioned whether they had improved in Ten Hag’s second season in charge

‘As I said, when we have spoken to him he has mentioned injuries and they have had a lot of injuries. Don’t get me wrong, but it’s unfortunate everyone has injuries and you’ve got to deal with it. And they just haven’t been able to deal with it as well as other teams.’

The club’s injury crisis has been so severe this season that they announced an internal investigation had been opened in a bid to get to the bottom of the issue.

The crisis deepened this week with defenders Martinez and Lindelof ruled out for a month with calf and hamstring injuries respectively, joining Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia on the sidelines.