Manchester United’s Christian Eriksen Unhappy With Current Game Time
Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen is currently unhappy with his game time at the club and detailed his frustrations at the prolonged periods he’s been spending on the bench during a recent interview with Danish media.
The Denmark international came on for United late in the game against Liverpool and played a huge part in his side eventually edging out their arch rivals and winning the game 4-3 to progress to the next stage of the FA Cup. United will now face Coventry City in the semi-final at Wembley, with an opportunity to face either Chelsea or Manchester City in the final.
Eriksen detailed that he has had discussions with United manager Erik ten Hag regarding his current situation, and vented his frustrations to the Dutchman.
“I have had a conversation with Erik [ten Hag] about being unhappy with the situation and wanting to play as much as possible.”
“Of course you can be worried in the long run, because I want to play as much as possible. Of course, you don’t want to sit on the bench all the time. I don’t have that approach to it, but it’s not something that worries me right now.
Christian Eriksen
Eriksen’s Decreasing Influence:
The Danish midfielder has featured for just 116 minutes in all competitions since January for the club, in a much smaller role than that of last season. Eriksen signed for United on a free transfer last summer from Brentford, and was a mainstay in the side, playing over 3,000 minutes.
United’s struggles this season in the middle of the park contribute to the reason Eriksen perhaps hasn’t gotten a lot of game time, but he certainly still has his merits in the team, as he proved at the weekend. The Red’s often struggle to progress the ball from defence into midfield, but that didn’t seem to be an issue when Eriksen came on at the weekend and Bruno Fernandes dropped into a deeper position at centre-back.
At 32 years old, Eriksen has still featured for over 1,000 minutes so far this season for the club and will likely be part of a lot of games from here until the run in if he stays fit. Kobbie Mainoo’s emergence in the side is one of the reasons the Dane has struggled for game time, as well as the fact that Scott McTominay has at times this season proved un-droppable due to his goal-scoring ability. The Scottish player of the year has won United seven points with his goals this season, more than Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez. (5)
United face Eriksen’s former side Brentford after the international break, with Casemiro expected to be back for the Red’s after sustaining a hamstring injury before the Liverpool game. The Brazilian was not included in the Brazil squad as he aims to recover from the injury. It’s not currently likely that Eriksen will get the nod over Casemiro if he is fit, or Scott McTominay after his performance against Liverpool on Sunday.
Eriksen, however, respects that Manchester United are in a decent moment right now, with just two defeats in their last ten games, and understands that the manager may not want to change a team that is managing to get over the line in games more often than not.
“It’s often the case that when you change teams and win, you don’t change the winning team, and I respect that.”
Christian Eriksen.
It will be intriguing to see if the Dane can force his way back into the United side in the coming weeks, especially due to the fact that it is coming up to the so called crunch time of the campaign.
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