DESPITE securing a comfortable 3-0 victory over Southampton on the road, not everything is rosy for Manchester United.
The Red Devils breezed past the Saints on the south coast with goals from Matthijs de Ligt, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho.
What should have been an afternoon of celebration, with United righting the wrongs of their 3-0 defeat to Liverpool last time out, was instead clouded by injury concerns.
Fans were sent into a manic frenzy online when they came to realisation that FOUR United defenders appeared to pick up injuries during the Saints clash.
Noussair Mazraoui, Matthjis de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez were all taken off by Erik ten Hag in the second half with fans concerned over their fitness.
While Harry Maguire, who was subbed on for Mazraoui, was seen limping heavily towards the end of the game.
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Fans couldn’t believe their luck with United spending the majority of last season ravaged by injury.
Taking to social media, one wrote: “Just like that, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Martinez and Maguire with potential injuries.”
While another added: “Mazraoui, Maguire, Martinez injured?? Nah we’re cursed”.
A third fumed: “Mazraoui, Martinez, De ligt and Maguire potentially all injured in one game??? Nah man, even when we win we lose.”
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A fourth wrote: “It is pretty hilarious how we had to substitute three defenders due to injury. Maguire also injured towards end.”
Fans can breathe a sigh of relief about one of the stars after De Ligt revealed that he was taken off as a precaution after suffering cramp.
Speaking to TNT Sports, he said: “Yeah, I’m fine. I just had a little bit of cramp in the last five minutes.
“It’s the first time in probably five months that I’ve played three times in a row.
“I wanted to play until the end but the coach said it would be better to take me off.”
While Erik ten Hag offered an update on the other three stars during his post-match chat with TNT, hinting that his decision to take off Mazraoui and Martinez may have been about keeping them sharp.
He said: “We’ve just had the international break and we had a shortened pre-season.
“Some [players] have come from intercontinental flights and you have a 12:30pm game and you can struggle [to play] until the end.”
However, he did suggest that there may be some knocks that could cause problems.
Adding: “Hopefully it’s nothing serious and we have to assess it today and tomorrow and then we will see.”
Ten Hag will certainly be hoping he hasn’t lost all his defensive options with a busy schedule ahead.
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The Red Devils take on Barnsley in the EFL Cup on Tuesday before travelling to Crystal Palace in the league next weekend.
The hectic period doesn’t stop there either with a Europa League clash with FC Twente and a Prem battle with Spurs also on the horizon.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
