Erik ten Hag could be set to make changes to his starting line-up in the Carabao Cup third round against Aston Villa.
The manager held a slightly different press conference than usual this afternoon – by inviting members of the supporters clubs to ask questions instead of journalists.
Ten Hag stressed that Jadon Sancho and Antony remain doubts after illness and injury respectively, but Anthony Martial looks set to continue his recovery with more minutes on the pitch.
“First of all, all the games that we play, we have only one aim,” Ten Hag said, as per ManUtd.com. “We have to win. So that is the most important. We have to win, so we put the best players on the pitch we have.
“For every game, we make a proper plan for the line-up and tomorrow is the same. Of course, we have a lot of games to cover and this is a different competition. We plan some changes but want to play a strong team. We have only one aim: we have to win tomorrow, to go to the next round.
“An injuries update? Yeah, there are some players coming back and also some question marks. As you have seen, Anthony Martial, for the last 20 minutes, was back at Villa, so we are happy with that and we hope he can continue this tomorrow. He will be in the squad, we have to see, but he will have minutes, definitely, if he has recovered.
“Yesterday, we had a day off so, tonight, we have final training and then we will see. I think he’s capable to play for minutes. On the rest, Jadon Sancho, we have to wait, and Antony, we have to wait, today, on final training.”
The French striker won’t be going to Qatar for the World Cup but he came off the bench on Sunday in United’s 3-1 defeat against Aston Villa in the league. Tomorrow night, we will be seeking revenge in the cup.
We won’t see Raphael Varane in a United shirt again until after the World Cup and he will be hoping for that all important call from Didier Deschamps this evening.
Will we see Facundo Pellistri get minutes ahead of World Cup?
I certainly hope so.
It beggars belief that he didn’t get any minutes in the Europa League and reports suggest that he could look for a move away from Old Trafford after the World Cup.
Ten Hag must have his reasons for not giving him minutes – and opting to prioritise Alejandro Garnacho on the left wing.
