United, already without Wayne Rooney, Marcos Rojo, Antonio Valencia, Ander Herrera, Luke Shaw and Phil Jones, had to substitute both Paddy McNair and Morgan Schneiderlin in Saturday’s 0-0 draw against West Ham.
“Paddy McNair has an ankle problem and Schneiderlin is a little bit stiff in the hip, so we have to wait and see as always on that,” United boss Louis van Gaal said of the latest injuries.
“I hope they can play on Tuesday but it is a very short [turnaround] so it is a very big question mark.”
Only victory will guarantee United’s progress to the last 16, but Louis van Gaal is not worried about another no-show from his forwards despite a sixth goalless draw of the season at the weekend.
“A lot of players have missed chances against West Ham,” he said. “We can make a big issue of it but I don’t believe we have to do that.
“I have great confidence that we shall score at Wolfsburg.”
The United board expected Van Gaal to lead his team through their group untroubled.
But after drawing 0-0 at home to PSV Eindhoven last month, there is a real danger United will drop into the Europa League, which will deal a big blow to the club’s credibility and that of their manager too.
“We don’t want to be eliminated,” Van Gaal added. “But in sport it is always possible. You can’t win every year or every game. It’s not like that.
“It’s a very important game for us at this moment because of the situation. We are not scoring out of many chances and we have to score at Wolfsburg.
“We could be out. And that is bad for everybody, for the club, for the players and for the manager.”
No comments:
Post a Comment