‘Not looking comfortable’: How one Utd star left St. James’ Park poses a major concern for Carrick in lead up to Villa

Noussair Mazraoui was ‘not looking comfortable’ when he departed St. James’ Park at full-time last night.The full-back can be seen walking gingerly alongside Leny Yoro and Manchester United staff members in a video shared by journalist Katherine Walsh on X/Twitter: Noussair Mazraoui not looking comfortable walking out of St James’ Park #mufc pic.twitter.com/3j5P6It5fc — Katherine Walsh (@katwalshy1) March 4, 2026DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL STRETTY NEWS APP FOR ALL THE LATEST UPDATES & BREAKING NEWS – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON APPLE & GOOGLE PLAYMazraoui sustains injury late on at St. James’(Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)It comes after Mazraoui was substituted in the closing stages of the Reds’ clash with Newcastle United on Tyneside, with Michael Carrick having to call upon the out-of-favour Tyrell Malacia to see out the remaining five minutes plus stoppage time.In that time, 10-man Newcastle went on to snatch a goal via young forward William Osula in the 90th minute – and fans were quick to point out Malacia’s mishaps in the match-winner. https://t.co/Wu1rhIpExY pic.twitter.com/5DSXzbnLkU — SJ (@316simsim) March 4, 2026The Dutchman was completely out of sorts when trying to track Osula, with it looking abundantly clear that Malacia has not been playing first-team football this season.Prior to his appearance on Wednesday, he had featured only one other time for United this term, via a two-minute cameo against the Magpies on Boxing Day.Why Carrick had no other choice but to utilise Malacia(Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)Before kick-off, Carrick had opted to drop Diogo Dalot in place of Mazraoui, but called upon him when taking off Luke Shaw after the hour mark. Had the manager delayed the substitution, Dalot would’ve been available to replace Mazraoui. Player Appearances Starts Minutes played Mazraoui 15 7 615 Dalot 27 23 2,056 *Mazraoui and Dalot’s records in the league this season (Transfermarkt)Yet, with United playing so few fixtures, Carrick was never realistically going to leave Dalot on the bench until the dying embers. If anything, it just shows that more depth at right-back is essential when matters are being addressed this summer.Should Mazraoui have to oversee a spell on the sidelines, it would leave only Shaw, Dalot and Malacia as the available full-backs for the visit of Aston Villa next Sunday, as Patrick Dorgu is a long-term absentee.