Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has issued a crucial fitness update on Noussair Mazraoui ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with Grimsby Town.
United looking to kick on this season
United will be making their way to Blundell Park on Wednesday to take on Grimsby in the second round of the EFL Cup.
The contest represents a chance for United to finally get a first win of the season, following disappointing Premier League results against Arsenal and Fulham.
United fell to a narrow 1-0 loss against Arsenal, but optimism remained high thanks to an encouraging display. That positivity quickly faded last weekend, however, as the Red Devils slumped to a lacklustre 1-1 draw against Marco Silva’s men.
Pressure is slowly mounting on Amorim to mastermind a U-turn and get United back on track, and a positive performance and result against Grimsby will certainly help his situation.
He spoke to reporters and gave an injury update on Mazraoui and assessed the team’s preparedness for the game.
Amorim’s remarks
The Portuguese coach said about Mazraoui, “No, maybe he is going to return next week, we will see. But he’s near, we are just finishing some drills with him to be sure that he’s not going to have another problem.”
Asked whether he’ll make personnel changes, Amorim answered, “Yes. Yes, we have three games this week, we have quality players, and we need to do rotation to try to win every game.”
On keeping some players happy with the reduced number of games due to not being in Europe, Amorim remarked, “It’s a normal thing that happens in other clubs. I think we were not prepared to play Europe; that is my feeling, to have strong games in the Champions League and then play Premier League.”
“We need time to develop as a team. So, they just need to fight for the places, and then everything can change. Sometimes one is playing, in other moments, other guys are going to play, and we have the cups, so we’re going to have a lot of games for everybody.”
Amorim stressed that he is happy to have more time with his players on the training ground.
“We need time to prepare every game. The games are really competitive, and we need time to build a base, and then, in the future, to move forward. And we’ll reach one moment where we need to have Europe for everybody to play games.”
The 40-year-old launched a passionate defence of goalkeeper Altay Bayindir, who was targeted by Fulham during corner kicks and set-piece routines.
“I know that you are focused a lot on the opponent’s corners, but if you remember this game – it was 10, 20 minutes ago – we had our chances. And we scored one goal [from] set pieces, we had a penalty, we had a least one in the end near the post.”
“And you can see every game in the Premier League, tell me one game you didn’t see a big occasion from corners. So, I think that will happen in every game.”
On whether Rasmus Hojlund is in contention to be selected against Grimsby, Amorim only said that every player will be considered before settling on an ideal starting XI.
Featured image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images
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Derick Kinoti
Derick Kinoti is a football writer at The Peoples Person who has covered Manchester United and the game extensively for many years. He is a keen analyst with expertise in SEO and journalism standards. Derick is convinced Wayne Rooney is the true GOAT and won’t hear otherwise!
