REVEALED: United Boss Mourinho Faces Selection Crisis Ahead Of Middlesbrough Game
Reuters / Andrew Yates
Jose Mourinho faces a selection crisis against Middlesbrough on Sunday with as many as seven players potentially missing the fixture.
Paul Pogba’s early withdrawal due to a hamstring problem was the major news to come out of Thursday’s victory against Rostov and there is no hope of the Frenchman returning to full fitness ahead of the Boro encounter on Sunday.
Initial suggestions hint a lay-off of around three weeks, which would force Pogba to miss minimum three league fixtures in total.
Since their last League outing against Bournemouth, Manchester United have been hit with a double blow on the disciplinary front. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s elbow on Tyrone Mings against the Cherries handed him three domestic match suspension, while Ander Herrera’s first-half sent off in the FA Cup quarter-final loss to Chelsea rules him out for two games.
Both will miss the trip to Middlesbrough as a result, and they will be unavailable again when West Brom come to Old Trafford on April 1.
Elsewhere, Daley Blind’s knock to the head at Old Trafford makes him uncertain to make the trip, but good news is Anthony Martial might come back into contention after joining training on Wednesday.
Wayne Rooney’s knee injury, picked up in a training-ground collision with Phil Jones, is most likely to force him to sit out for another match, also his snub from Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions squad a strong evidence of the lack of optimism for a quick return.
Mourinho may choose to rest Marcos Rojo after the Portuguese claimed he hit a physical wall late in the game against Rostov following the heavy workload over the past few weeks.
