Ten Hag expects Fred to fill in for injured Christian Eriksen

With

's injury, Man United lost their second chief creator in the midfield as well as a keystone who played 2274 minutes for

this term. However,

Erik ten Hag

is confident he can cope without the Danish midfielder.

Ahead of the EFL Cup semi-final second leg against Nottingham Forest, the Dutch coach told reporters:

"Of course, [Eriksen] is disappointed about [the injury], we are disappointed about it. It happens in top football, you have to deal with it.

"As you said, something coming out on deadline day is difficult and you can't make policy on such bad injuries, but we have players in the midfield department, good players, we also have players who can fill the gap.

"I think you can never fill that because every player has their own characteristics and identity, so another player will always fill it in in a different way.

"So, it doesn't mean that you have to be less successful, but it's quite clear that Christian Eriksen, for our squad, brings top quality and he has some specifics that are hard to replace. For instance, his impact in the final third, [with his] final ball."

Ten Hag praised

's energy and tenacity against Reading, he added:

"You mentioned already in your first sentence, he's playing together with Casemiro in the Brazilian squad, I would say that's not the worst squad in the world.

"They have so many choices what they can make but they often prefer to play them together. So, that tells something about the quality Fred has and what he can contribute to the team.

"He has done it several times with his performance for instance against Tottenham, for instance against Manchester City.

"When he's coming on [in the] last game [against Reading], he's scoring a goal straight away. He has a lot of qualities. I think they are a really good combination, Casemiro and Fred."

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