The Reds face Newcastle United away on Monday after their previous two Premier League matches against Brentford and Brighton were postponed due to a rise in COVID-19 cases.
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Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick has provided an update on a positive development in the team news ahead of their upcoming away trip. The Reds are preparing for what will be their first game in over a fortnight. Rangnick’s side travel to Newcastle United on Monday after their previous two Premier League matches against Brentford and Brighton were postponed due to a rise in COVID-19 cases. As a result, Carrington was closed for a number of days, and finally, the players have made a staggered return to training this week. Things are starting to look bright for the German, as the manager now has virtually a full complement to choose from.
Paul Pogba, who is still recovering from an injury picked up while on international duty with France in November, is the only Red still absent. “As you know, we had last week, the last training session on Thursday, on that day we had eight outfield players and three goalkeepers and then we closed down the training ground for four days in order to break the chain,” Ralf told reporters on Thursday at his pre-match press conference.
“Today was the third day of training this week, we started on Tuesday, we trained yesterday and today. Today we had 25 outfield players. Paul Pogba is the only one missing, everyone else was on board. The development in the last week was extremely positive.”
▪️ Squad update ℹ️
▪️ #PL changes ?
▪️ Festive football ?? Ralf gives his take on all these and more in his #NEWMUN press conference… #MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 23, 2021
It could mean that World Cup-winning defender Raphael Varane and Uruguayan forward Edinson Cavani might be in contention to play. The pair have been missing with hamstring and tendon problems respectively since the 2-2 draw with Atalanta on 2nd November. They could now be a part of the Manchester United players traveling to Newcastle.
“Well as far as I could see in training today, they are all in good shape,” he added. “They did their homework, they all have their schedules to train at home and they stuck to that schedule and programme. From what I saw, I can say most of them, if not all of them, might be available, and of course I would have to take some difficult decisions as to who will be in the squad, who will be in the starting XI.”
Rangnick also believes that the Premier League should allow five substitutions per match to assist clubs in dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, the number of substitutions in English football was temporarily increased to five to support player welfare amid unprecedented fixture congestion. The Premier League was the only top European league that reverted to three replacements during the 2020/21 season. That number still remains in place now.
Asked about it, Rangnick said, “As far as I remember the five substitutes were implemented or it was decided that every team could sub five players when COVID started two years ago, or one and a half years ago. I think it was the right decision to do that, to have more options, to change players, to save energy for players especially if they have only just recovered from COVID. The same is true right now, so we have a similar situation to the one we had one-and-a-half years ago and therefore I wouldn’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be as it was one-and-a-half years ago.”
“As far as I know, in Europe, England is the only country where they only allow three subs, in all the other big leagues in Europe you can substitute five players. And on the other hand, you are still allowed to have eight outfield players on the team sheet and if you have eight outfield players on the team sheet, you should also be able to replace five, because if you can only replace three, you will always have five who cannot be substituted or cannot play.”
