Manchester United is unable to perform optimally due to work-related stress, according to the club’s manager, Erik ten Hag, who has pointed out that the players are struggling to maintain consistent levels because they are being “overloaded”.

“The players get overloaded and can’t bring the performances anymore. We are already, I think, over the point of what we demand from our top players,” he stated.

United put up a great performance to beat Liverpool 4-3 in the FA Cup quarter-finals but later struggled to keep up with Brentford, managing only a 1-1 draw.

Ten Hag has also suggested that many clubs in the English Premier League are facing similar struggles since a lot is demanded from players who also have to train for their international assignments.

“You see the levels dropping with them [Manchester City] again. It was a different team to when we faced them, so yeah, the levels with teams will drop at any moment if we keep going in this process by overloading the international programme,” he added.

“You can’t 100% avoid this; it’s impossible. It depends on certain factors. Also, you have national teams, and so five times a year, you give the players away, and you don’t have any impact.

“With some national teams, we have excellent connections, and we manage the programmes, but there are also others who do what they want, and you don’t have anything in hand, but they are doing that.”

Due to fixture congestion, players tend not to train as hard to reduce the demand on them. The 2022 World Cup was staged in the middle of last season, leading to more fixture congestion domestically, and the Ten Hag believes that it is still having an impact.

Fifpro, on the other hand, has said football needs to do more to protect players against “dangerous levels of fixture congestion”.

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