MANCHESTER: Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag said his side are "not ready" for the start of the Premier League season on Friday, but is hoping new signings Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui can bed in quickly.
United open the English top-flight campaign at home to Fulham with Ten Hag in need of a fast start after finishing eighth last season.
A shock victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final in May is widely believed to be what kept Ten Hag in his job.
The Dutchman has been heavily backed in the transfer market with De Ligt and Mazraoui joining from Bayern Munich this week after the arrivals of Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee.
But injuries have again blighted United's pre-season preparations with Yoro, striker Rasmus Hojlund and left-back Luke Shaw all sidelined.
"The team is not ready but the league starts," Ten Hag told his pre-match press conference on Thursday. "We can't hide from it. We have to deal with it."
De Ligt and Mazraoui both previously played under Ten Hag at Ajax and he confirmed they will be in the squad to face Fulham.
"It's not about the players who are not available," added Ten Hag.
"It's also what I said always last season: it's about the players who are available and we have a good group, we can make a strong selection."
Despite losing on penalties to Manchester City there were positive signs for Ten Hag in last weekend's Community Shield.
Alejandro Garnacho came off the bench to score United's goal in a 1-1 draw, but is just one of many players short of match fitness after returning to pre-season late due to international commitments over the summer.
"We will not (be) 100 percent," said Ten Hag. "But we have to go from game to game to improve, to get higher performance levels in the team and individual players, and we will see how quick we can go into this process."--AFP