February might only have 28 days but for Manchester United the second month of the year will feel like the longest rather than the shortest.
They will play eight games, including two against Leeds, two against Barcelona and a Wembley cup final. It’s not a leap year, but it feels like a leap into the unknown.
The month could end with their first trophy in six years, but there is so much happening before then that it’s hard to even cast your mind forward to Wembley. Playing Leeds twice in five days is going to expend energy, a quirk of the fixture list that has handed down a doubleheader full of edge.
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Then there is the back-to-back Thursday nights against Barcelona, in the Nou Camp on February 16 and at Old Trafford on February 23. It’s a European fixture worthy of the pyramid stage but being played out on the fringe, a Europa League play-off round that looks totally out of place in this competition, but it remains a huge fixture.
Crystal Palace and Leicester City are the other Premier League opponents and Nottingham Forest were beaten on the first day of the month. It’s not as if February will end and Erik ten Hag’s squad can rest. They began March with an FA Cup fifth round game against West Ham and a trip to Anfield a few days later.
Setting targets for the end of the month is almost impossible given the complications of the fixture list, but five of the games (including Forest) are at Old Trafford and United are on a 12-game winning streak there. If they can end February third in the Premier League, into the Europa League last 16 and with the League Cup in their possession, it will be an achievement worthy of celebration, setting them up for a thrilling final three months of the campaign.
To do that might require careful management of the squad, but as Ten Hag pointed out after the win on Wednesday booked that Wembley date, he has been here before.
The question focused on the advantage Newcastle have before the February 26 final, when they will have a free week to prepare, while United play Barcelona on Thursday.
“We have it, I have nothing to do with it, I handled this before when I had to play a cup game after we play in Europe with Ajax, I know how to deal with it,” said Ten Hag.
“Newcastle has an advantage, but it’s about attitude and mentality, when the players are fit we can do it.”
Within that answer was a recall from Ten Hag to 2019 when he was in an almost identical position with Ajax, during what was his best season in Amsterdam.
On Tuesday, April 30, Ajax won 1-0 at Tottenham to take control of their Champions League semi-final, then on the Sunday that followed they won 4-0 against Willem II in Rotterdam to lift the KNVB Cup, the Dutch equivalent of the FA Cup. There were three changes to the side between those two games, a reminder that rotation is often a last resort for Ten Hag.
There was a longer break between the two fixtures, a Tuesday to a Sunday, rather than a Thursday to Sunday, but Ajax's midweek game in Europe was away, while United's is at home, a crucial difference. Ajax won both matches that week, although their Champions League semi-final would eventually end in agony.
It felt telling that, still three-and-a-half weeks out from the final, Ten Hag was insisting coping with the disadvantage was about "attitude and mentality". He doesn't want excuses to be festering already over what is going to be a tough week.
It will be interesting to see how he approaches the month. Rotation has been in short supply so far, but the squad looks stronger now with Jadon Sancho and Anthony Martial returning, Wout Weghorst settled in and Marcel Sabitzer replacing Christian Eriksen.
There are options for Ten Hag, but there are not many free hits this month to make changes. As he did at Ajax, don't be surprised if it's a very similar team to face Barcelona and Newcastle in February's final frontier. After all, it's not about fresh legs, but "attitude and mentality".
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