“In December, I had the talks internally, with the medical and performance teams,” said Ten Hag. “They assured me they [Malacia and Shaw] will both be fit in January and so you will have two left fullbacks. Then you have a third one [Reguilon], so I would always have to disappoint one full-back.
“We talk about one of my biggest frustrations, there. You can accept in a position that a player is not available, but when two players are not available over the course of the season, that is very frustrating, because that is also very difficult to catch up as a team.
“We dealt with it in the best way, but of course it is a disadvantage. In our left full-back position, we’ve had two injuries almost over the whole course of the season. I think Liverpool is a good example. Last year they had the same and they couldn’t deal with it as well.”
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