Manchester United will cut down on the amount of travelling during their pre-season tour this summer after listening to feedback from their players.
Like many of their rivals in the Premier League, United headed to the United States in the summer of 2023 to try and engage their supporters in North America. Erik ten Hag’s side played in New Jersey, California, Texas and Nevada during that leg of the summer, which came after matches in Oslo and Edinburgh.
United played eight matches altogether, but only won four of them, suffering defeats against Wrexham, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund while in the USA. Ten Hag has now confirmed that they will scale things back this summer after Christian Eriksen complained there was “too much travelling” last summer.
The club has so far only announced five fixtures for the summer of 2024: United will play Rosenborg in Trondheim, the day after the Euros and Copa America conclude on July 14, before facing Rangers in Edinburgh. They will then fly out to the west coast of America to play Arsenal in Los Angeles and Real Betis in San Diego, before playing Liverpool in South Carolina.
While that schedule still involves a lot of air miles, Ten Hag has promised it will be easier on the players. “We had a good time there [in the US last year]. [This time] we will do things slightly differently,” he told the club website. “We will stay longer in the base camp and not so much travelling any more. We will play again against strong opponents.
“Pre-season is about preparing for the season and we have to make that our next step. It is one of the only times when you have the team together, and you can work in training on structures, the way of play, but also on certain standards around the team and that’s very important to take this period and use it effectively.”
United will embark on their pre-season tour without those who reach the latter stages of Euro 2024 and the Copa America. The Euros in Germany run from June 14 to July 14, while the South American equivalent is from June 20 to July 14. Those who are involved will hope for a less brutal travel schedule
“I think it’s been good, there’s been a lot of games and too much travelling, to be honest,” Eriksen told MUTV in August last year after a 3-2 defeat by Borussia Dortmund in Las Vegas. “It’s been nice to see all the fans and to give back to them. I think we played a strong game apart from the result. We lost, so it’s a big disappointment, but I think we tried to do what we could and I think we played a strong 43 mins in the first half, then the second half as well, but yeah, when we make mistakes like that we get punished.
“It’s feeling easier going into the games [with better fitness levels], we’re feeling more prepared. It feels good to be playing normal. We expected a tough pre-season, but for me, there’s probably been too much travelling around.”