“We are Manchester United”: United leader issues rallying cry as injury crisis threatens to derail the campaign

Despite a spirited display, Manchester United succumbed to a 1-2 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa away at Villa Park on Sunday. It was already an uphill battle given the absence of Amad, Bryan Mbeumo, Noussair Mazraoui, Matthijs de Ligt, Harry Maguire, and Casemiro. Matters were made worse by Kobbie Mainoo’s absence from the matchday squad, yet the players gamely carried on and fought tooth and nail. In fact, they enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession and created more clear-cut chances. If not for Matheus Cunha’s point-blank miss in the second-half, the Red Devils would have come away with a point. Spirited display The pressing from the front created all sorts of problems for the hosts, and a bit more quality on the ball could have made the difference on another night. Diogo Dalot, who started as the right wingback in Amad’s absence, explained to Sky Sports after the game, “We had good moments in the game. “We kept pressing them high and knew they wanted to play long and if we won the second ball we could control the game. I think we did it quite well in the first half with one or two chances. Injury crisis “They had a great first goal and credit to Morgan Rogers, it was a great goal. The second half we tried to do the same things. On the ball we were comfortable and could have tried to find the spaces in behind because they had a quite high line. “We did enough to score more goals. We couldn’t take the chances we had and that’s overall [story] for today.” The injury-enforced substitution of Bruno Fernandes could not have come at a worse time as the attacking momentum seemed to slip away in the second 45 minutes. The Portugal international is likely to be sidelined for over a month, a huge blow considering he is the club’s best player. And his compatriot explained what a big blow the club captain’s injury while urging members of the squad to step up in his absence and become a hero. Diogo Dalot war cry “It’s massive. We don’t know how bad it is but for him to come off, we know how tough he is. Hopefully it’s not too bad and we keep with him for the next games. “This is the time that opportunities come for other players and the time you step up and show you deserve to be in the team and play more minutes. “I think that’s how the players who get opportunities should look at it. We are Manchester United and we have to find a way to win.” United return to action on Boxing Day against Newcastle United, and it will be interesting to see the head coach’s team selection given the sheer number of absentees. Feature image Alex Pantling via Getty Images The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Ayantan Chowdhury After failing to become a professional footballer, Ayantan switched to the next best thing: writing about the greatest football club in the world. He has extensive sports journalism experience, having worked for over 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25