Injuries have been a disruption: Jonny Evans reacts to deflating Manchester derby defeat

Jonny Evans was likely as surprised as Manchester United fans were when his name was included in the starting line-up to face Manchester City.

The 35-year-old made his first Manchester derby appearance at Old Trafford since October 2011; in the game, he received a red card and United lost 6-1.

Whilst the scoreline was less humiliating on Sunday, it’s deflating to watch as fans and not see the team even put up a fight in one of their most highly-anticipated fixtures of the season against such fierce rivals.

Evans started ahead of Raphael Varane, which raised the eyebrows of supporters as the Frenchman has often been the side’s most reliable centre-half. Erik ten Hag labelled the decision a ‘tactical’ one but ultimately, it’s clear to see that it failed.

Evans reacts to derby defeat

The former Leicester City captain reacted to the defeat while speaking to MUTV and made it clear that injuries have been a mitigating factor in United’s form this season.

“It’s never easy,” he began. “Everyone’s disappointed. You wish you could turn back the clock, but you know we’ve got to move on now. 

“At this club, that’s what it’s all about, you’ve got to [move on]. We’ll be preparing for the next game now and making sure preparations are ready. I think we’ve been disrupted with a lot of injuries this season in terms of key personnel. Probably a lot of our starting players would be, you know, they’re missing. I think the manager’s found out difficulties having to sort of work on [the] team, on tactics and having to change the personnel quite a lot with only two days in between games.

“So that’s been difficult, hopefully, we can get more players back and get a real sort of opportunity to create freshness within the playing squad.”

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