Louis van Gaal bemoaned the fact that his squad had faced 6 games in 18 days in the run up to the Wolfsburg victory on Wednesday:
“A lot of players are very tired because of the accumulation of a lot of matches,”
All we can say is ‘welcome to England mate!’
It’s certainly a big change from last year when Manchester United weren’t in The Champions League and lost at the first attempt in The Capital One Cup.
But his squad is deep and he will look to freshen things up slightly for the big trip to Arsenal at the weekend. His problem is that, at last, he is finding his strongest XI and clearly wants to keep them intact as much as possible.
But a win is vital before the international break as it will keep Manchester United top of the tree.
In his pre-Arsneal press conference Louis confirmed that:
“I’m happy to say that there are no injuries from last night,”
He also gave the seasoned Manchester United fan the best possible news by stating that the imperious Michael Carrick is once more available for selection. He is surely the perfect player for Arsenal away.
We think that Ashley Young did a really good job at right back after replacing the errant Antonio Valencia in midweek.
His energy and freshness will be handy out wide right. Matteo Darmian looks just as good at left back and, in the continued absence of Marcos Rojo, he should start there.
LvG has a bit of a poser in terms of his central defence. Phil Jones has returned and looks solid but the duo of Smalling and Blind looks largely comfortable.
Blind’s positioning for Wolfsburg’s goal was questionable but he offers so much with his passing and complements Smalling in that respect.
Basti was brilliant against Wolfsburg as he continues to gather fitness. Perhaps he was withdrawn after 70 minutes with Sunday in mind. We would love to see him and Carrick together in the middle against the Gunners.
Up top, it’s as you were.
So here is our Manchester United XI to once more take the points at The Emirates.
Manchester United fans: let’s have your teams
