Erik ten Hag sounds warning over Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund's Man Utd returns

Erik ten Hag says Manchester United will ease Rasmus Hojlund and Mason Mount back into action – after admitting players were overloaded last season.

Hojlund and Mount are back in training, after recovering from injury, ahead of United's Premier League trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday. Last season, United suffered an unprecedented injury crisis, with 66 separate issues affecting players throughout the campaign.

Ten Hag admitted losing so many players last season meant others were forced to play too many games, leading them to break down themselves.

The United boss said lessons have been learned from last season and vowed to treat Hojlund and Mount differently in terms of their respective returns.

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"You have to be careful,” said Ten Hag. “In top football, you always go to boundaries. When you have a full squad available, then it’s easier to manage the load. When you are in circumstances like last season and there's a need to play, we had to overload them. We hope we can integrate them in a very careful way."‌

United were humbled 4-0 at Palace on their last visit to Selhurst Park in May, although Ten Hag was without key players for that game, with midfielder Casemiro forced to play in central defence.‌ This time, Ten Hag has more options and personnel at his disposal and said United are better equipped to deal with the challenge that awaits them.

“The circumstances in that moment, from February onwards, we had to find every time 11 players to construct a team,” said Ten Hag. Now we are in a different place - we have 18 players to choose from and we can pick a team.”

Before United's 7-0 mauling of Barnsley in the Carabao Cup on midweek, Ten Hag said winger Antony had to earn the right to start regularly. The £86million signing scored in that emphatic win and Ten Hag said Antony produced the perfect response.

“I think every player should give those reactions,” said Ten Hag. “You have to train hard, you have to perform in training, you have to earn a right to play and when it's your chance, you have to take it.

“But the manager can only pick 11 players and make five subs. So you have to make sure you have those players [available] in every game and performing on a consistent basis perform and, most importantly, when the chance is there, you have to perform and contribute to a winning team.”

On Marcus Rashford, who has three goals in his last two games, Ten Hag said: “Strikers need that belief, now we have a few players on the scoring list, it's very good for the team, it will strengthen their belief and they will go for more and go for more goals.”

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