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Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen has hinted that the team’s recent poor form in pre-season could be attributed to excessive travelling.
Eriksen spoke to club media after United suffered a third consecutive pre-season friendly loss against Borussia Dortmund.
A double from Donyell Marlen and one goal from Youssoufa Moukoko were enough to ensure that goals in either half from Diogo Dalot and Antony did not count for too much at the end.
Eriksen was named in Erik ten Hag’s starting XI, in a midfield trio also consisting of Scott McTominay and Donny van de Beek.
The Dane told MUTV, “There have been a lot of games. There has been too much travelling, to be honest – but it is nice to see the fans.”
He said about the match, “I think we played a strong game, obviously apart from the result. We lost and it’s a big disappointment, but I think we tried what we could.”
“We played a strong 43 minutes of the first half – second half as well – but when we make the mistakes we did, you get punished.”
On whether he and his colleagues are physically ready for the new Premier League season, Eriksen refused to give a definitively affirmative response.
He instead remarked that the team is getting there and it’s all progressive.
The 31-year-old pointed out that they’re gradually getting into shape as they play more and more minutes during the pre-season friendlies.
On the toughest part of pre-season, Eriksen doubled down on his previous comments that there has probably been too much travelling. He however insisted that everyone has done well to adapt despite being happy to be flying back to England.
He explained, “[Pre-season] is about getting the confidence and the minutes in, getting for the real season and the Premier League.”
