Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has highlighted his side’s injury problems ahead of their clash with Liverpool on Sunday.
The Red Devils go into the match 16 points behind their bitter rivals, who top the Premier League, and eight points outside the top four.
What problems is Mourinho facing ahead of this weekend? Five key things to know…
- United have not had the best start to the season and currently languish sixth in the Premier League.
- The Red Devils may have qualified for the last-16 of the Champions League but they suffered a bad defeat to Valencia on Wednesday.
- Up next for United is a match against bitter rivals Liverpool on Sunday, who will go into the game top of the league and building off a vital win over Napoli in midweek.
- However, Mourinho has revealed he will be without six players for the trip to Anfield with Smalling, Rojo, Dalot, Martial, Lindelof and Darmian all injured.
- Manchester United have used 24 players in the Premier League this season, the second-most in the division.
Mourinho played a heavily rotated XI in United’s 2-1 defeat away to Valencia in the Champions League on Wednesday, with the Red Devils already through to the last-16.
Eight changes were made to the team which beat Fulham last Saturday with the likes of Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Fred given game time. And while Mourinho will resort to his strongest XI for Liverpool on Sunday, the Portuguese has admitted he will be without six players for the game.
When asked after the game if any of his starters against Valencia would be in contention to face Liverpool, Mourinho told reporters (via Goal): “Marcos Rojo no, because he’s injured.
“The rest are not injured, they belong to the squad. We have lots of players that were not here because they are injured. This is our squad, our players. They have a chance to play Sunday.
“[Chris] Smalling is injured, [Victor] Lindelof is injured, [Matteo] Darmian is injured, [Anthony] Martial is injured, [Diogo] Dalot is injured.
“The only two players I could bring and didn’t were [David] De Gea and [Nemanja] Matic.”
Mourinho also hit out slightly at the media for their reporting of Matic’s playing time, insisting he had to rest the Serbian in midweek.
He added: “You are the first ones to make the stats and how many minutes he [Matic] is playing and that he needs a rest. If he doesn’t have a rest in a match [where] we have already qualified, he would play until he explodes.
“It was a normal option to leave him out and [with] David it’s to give a match to [Sergio] Romero. Romero is such a good goalkeeper; I played him in the Europa League final a couple of years ago.”
Mourinho has already conceded the race for the Premier League title but his side could drift even further away from the next goal of a top-four finish should they lose to bitter rivals Liverpool on Sunday.
Chelsea and Arsenal, who are level on 34 points in fourth and fifth respectively have more favourable ties this weekend, with the Blues facing Brighton & Hove Albion while Unai Emery’s men take on Southampton.
Mourinho’s injury problems at United
This is not the first time Mourinho has bemoaned the number of injuries at United, even going as far as attacking the club’s medical department.
Speaking in February after Ander Herrera lasted 17 minutes in a crucial match against Sevilla, prior to which the Spaniard had been given the all clear, Mourinho said: “He had a small injury that stopped him for the last couple of matches, but the medical team said he was 100 per cent ready for the last Saturday.
“We didn’t play him to give him more work and protection, but it looks like he wasn’t fully fit.
“The medical department gave him fully fit on Saturday. He trained Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and he looked fit.”
Mourinho also started the new season by rattling off a list of players he would be without due to injury.
The post Jose Mourinho lists Man Utd’s six injuries for Liverpool game appeared first on Squawka News.
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