Erik ten Hag is confident that Manchester United can deal with the absence of Christian Eriksen after the midfielder was ruled out for three months with an ankle problem.
United have confirmed that Eriksen will be out until late April at the earliest after sustaining the issue during the club’s 3-1 win over Reading on Saturday.
The Denmark international was on the receiving end of a poor challenge from Andy Carroll, who was later sent off for two bookable offences, and was pictured leaving Old Trafford on crutches.
Eriksen will now miss much of the remainder of the campaign and Ten Hag admits the diagnosis is a disappointment for the club. Speaking ahead of United’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg with Nottingham Forest, the Dutchman discussed how his side will deal with Eriksen’s absence.
“Of course, he’s disappointed, we are disappointed, but it happens in top football. You have to deal with it,” Ten Hag told his pre-match press conference.
“We have players in the midfield department, good players and we have players who can fill the gap. I think you can never fill that gap because every player has his own characteristics, identification, another player will always fill in in a different way.
“But it doesn’t mean you have to be less successful. It’s quite clear Christian brings top quality to our squad and he has some specifics that are hard to replace, such as his impacts in the final third with his final ball.”
