Manchester United failed to make their dominance count in Sunday’s Manchester derby, eventually playing out a sterile goalless stalemate at Old Trafford.
The hosts had four more shots than Manchester City and generally looked more dangerous, something Ruben Amorim alluded to after the game, but like what happened in the Nottingham Forest tie, the attackers once again failed to find their mark.
The mismanagement in the transfer window has further depleted the head coach’s resources and he has had no choice but to keep playing out-of-form stars like Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund in almost every game.
But the team’s overall display since the international break will give the Portuguese confidence heading into the all-important Europa League quarter-final game against Olympique Lyon.
Maguire update
The Red Devils’ season rides on this particular encounter and the head coach could do with his players avoiding injury heading into the tie.
Matthijs de Ligt already missed the derby, as Harry Maguire started and the England international managed 58 minutes before he was subbed off for Victor Lindelof.
While it was an understandable change given the 32-year-old recently overcame an injury which had kept him out of action for a month, the ex-Leicester City star was seen hobbling off.
Amorim was naturally asked about his centre-back’s fitness and he allayed fears and explained that Maguire should be fit to play against the Ligue 1 side.
“Harry Maguire just had 60 minutes allowed from the medical department to play, so he’s fit and ready to go. So we need to be careful on this,” Amorim was quoted as saying by the club website.
De Ligt, Mainoo update
“No, it’s not an injury, it’s just [that] we had a time that we could use Harry without any danger. We cannot lose any more players, we have to try to divide the moments between the players. We have a really important game on Thursday.”
“Just managing [him]. After 60 minutes, 55 minutes is a risk and we cannot risk any player in this moment.”
The former Sporting CP boss was asked about De Ligt’s condition as well and whether he expects Kobbie Mainoo to return for the mid-week European tie.
“Matta, he has an injury. Let’s see how long it is going to take. We’ll see. Mason Mount is ready to do whatever we want.
Of course, we have to look at the minutes. Kobbie Mainoo is training with us, we want to be careful, again, with our players, but maybe he’s going to be in our squad.”
Luke Shaw was included in the matchday squad on Sunday, which is another positive and hopefully, Amorim can get a couple of more players fit ahead of Thursday’s game.
Feature image Michael Steele via Getty Images
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Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
