Erik ten Hag admitted Luke Shaw's recovery from injury is not going to plan, when he spoke for the final time before he was sacked by Manchester United.
The Dutchman was dismissed on Monday after Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at West Ham left United down in 14th place in the Premier League.
Noussair Mazraoui started at left-back at the London Stadium and it is now more than three months since Shaw featured in a competitive match, the full-back having started for England in the Euro 2024 Final against Spain.
After a serious hamstring problem last season, Shaw is now sidelined by a heel injury and has had setbacks in his recovery.
“The process is not going as we expected, that’s the truth”, said Ten Hag, speaking before he was sacked.
“It’s a setback, yes. But we also want to do it [Shaw’s reintegration to the team] carefully, because when he is now dropping again, then we made the wrong process. So we want to be very careful.
“We know his past. We have to do this right, because we want him to be available because he will have a big impact on our performances and on our levels. We can’t have it that he is playing for some games and then drops out again. So we do it very carefully.”
Asked whether any other injured players are expected back for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup match against Leicester City, Ten Hag replied: “No, I don’t think so.”
Ten Hag was also quizzed on why summer signing Manuel Ugarte has now started more matches.
“My midfielders, I have different types”, he explained. “We have the holding midfielders, the box-to-box, the No10s. Most of the time, we have four midfielders there. We rotate them.
“Specifically for Manuel Ugarte, most of the times he will be playing in a holding midfield position. What we expect from him is holding, but also linking and building the attack and making the links into attack. And then it is very important he is in the rest defence and defence on transition.
“Every player can do better, but I was very happy with his performance in Fenerbahce. That was definitely a step forward.”
