Next up for Manchester United is a Premier League clash away to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
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Manchester United suffered heartbreak in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals when they threw away a 2-0 goal lead against Sevilla late on. At one point, the Reds were cruising to victory against the Spanish opponent on Thursday night. However, a couple of deflected goals late on in the match meant Erik ten Hag’s side had to settle for a draw. Other than the shock ending to the game, United were dealt with couple of injury scares to some senior players.
Both Man United centre-backs Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez had to be substituted due to unspecified injuries. With not that many games left in the season, it is unclear when they will return from their respective injuries. Next up for Manchester United is a Premier League clash away to Nottingham Forest on Sunday. Ahead of the match, in a press conference, Erik ten Hag was asked about the centre-backs. The manager was quoted as saying by the club’s website, “No, sorry. It is not even 24 hours so I don’t have complete diagnosis, so I can’t tell in this moment.”
The latest set of injuries pave the way for Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof to get a start on Sunday. When asked how much faith he has on these two players, ten Hag replied, “A lot. I think we have decent centre-halves and they have proved in the past, they have proved this season. We have four or five very good centre-halves who can do the job.” Asked about players who could be available that were missing, he said, “For Sunday? Yeah, [there] could be, but we have to see. We have now two sessions to go of training, so I don’t know by now, but it can be that Scott and Luke return in the squad, but [I’m] not sure.”
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Anthony Martial made a rare start after returning from an injury. He was excellent in the first half against Sevilla. Speaking about him and the first half, Erik ten Hag said, “When you see the first half, I think we were in a really good shape. Aaron Wan-Bissaka played very well, Antony played very well, Marcel Sabitzer played really well. Bruno played very good and Anthony Martial as well. Also Rapha and Licha, so there were many positives about yesterday’s game.”
Asked about when Martial will be able to complete 90 minutes, ten Hag replied, “So maybe he can, but it’s a risk and we can’t take that risk in this moment, because we don’t have so many options in the frontline with Rashford injured, with Garnacho injured. We don’t have so many options there, so we have to be careful and also in [an] individual prospect, we know when there is a lot of load he gets injured. So we have to build it and, especially when the games are coming quick after each other, the recovery time is less. We have to take that also in mind and manage that very well and very carefully.”
Manchester United still have about 11 games left to play in the season which could increase if they go further in the knockout rounds of the cup competitions. “We have depth in the squad. We have to use the squad – that’s also what we did yesterday. In the meantime, you have to win games so also you have to have a tactical approach to win the games but I think we have good players and when we have problems – so injuries and suspensions – we have depth in the squad,” the manager added.
