Harry Maguire faces a prolonged period out after tearing a hip muscle, adding yet another name to Manchester United’s list of injured defenders. The 26-year-old centre-back, the defensive lynchpin of Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side, suffered a problem in the goalless draw at Wolves on Saturday and was ruled out of the 3-1 defeat by Manchester City on Tuesday.
After the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg, Solskjær hoped Maguire could be available for the weekend visit of Norwich but he has now been ruled out. Maguire joins Axel Tuanzebe, Eric Bailly and Marcos Rojo as unavailable central defenders and leaves Solskjær with Victor Lindelöf and Phil Jones as his only senior players in the position. The manager also has Paul Pogba, Scott McTominay and Timothy Fosu-Mensah on his injured list while Luke Shaw is yet to return after illness.
Meanwhile, Marcus Rashford has admitted United could not handle the pressure against City at Old Trafford and have much to improve following the torrid first-half capitulation on Tuesday but still believes they have a chance in the second leg.
Pep Guardiola’s side tore United apart to lead 3-0 after 45 minutes of the semi-final first leg, before the home team rallied with a Rashford goal. Yet United might have been further behind as City spurned several first-half chances.
It was the first time United had conceded three goals at Old Trafford since losing 3-0 to Spurs in August 2018 and their first home defeat since going down 2-1 to Crystal Palace in August last year. Rashford, captain for the night, echoed Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s scathing verdict of a first-half performance his manager described as the worst of his time in charge.
The striker said: “Whether you have the armband or not you have to put that responsibility on your own shoulders and try to show yourself as a Man United player.
“In the first half we didn’t do that but in the second half we did. We played better, we got a bit tighter to them but it was always going to be an uphill climb after they scored the three goals.
“ We were way off the tempo. They changed a little bit and brought more players deeper than the last time we played against them [United’s 2-1 win last month]. On the pitch we have to adapt. We have to try to control the situation better than we did.”
Rashford said the first half “wasn’t a Man United performance” but noted a marked improvement in the second, United belatedly showing “character and courage – and it was more like us”. He added: “It’s disappointing to lose but when we put ourselves 3-0 down against a team like this it’s going to be difficult. Nobody wants to lose. Nobody started playing football to lose games. Everyone knows that we want to win and that the team is fighting. We have to continue to do that.
“Everything can improve a lot. We’re probably only showing half of what we can do as a team. We need to keep fighting to find that extra percentage that will win us games.
“Until they scored the first goal we were in the game. Those key moments – we have to learn to control them better than we have done this season. It’s a learning curve for us. We’ll learn but it’s not going to keep us down.”
Last season United lost 2-0 against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last-16 first leg but won the return 3-1, progressing on away goals. Reminded of that, Rashford said: “It’s different, a completely different game, different players, different team. What’s important is the character that we showed. It happened against PSG and we’re going to have to find that again. There’s always a chance if we do that.”
The 2-1 win at City in the league in December also offers some encouragement. “We know we can do it but we understand how dangerous they are as a team with the individuals they have,” said Rashford.
“We move on to the Norwich game [on Saturday], analyse what went wrong in this one and try to put it right. [my goal]makes it doable but to be honest our minds aren’t on the second leg. It’s important to switch the focus to the Premier League and win the game.” – Guardian
