Man United welcome Norwich City in the Premier League this weekend but Ralf Rangnick will definitely not be an assured man going into this tie.
United have been in a really poor run of form during the second half of the season and to make matters worse, the interim boss will be missing as many as five regular first-team players.
Midfielders Fred and McTominay will both miss out along with defender Raphael Varane and now the Man United boss has updated that full-back Luke Shaw will be out of action for more than a month.
“Five players will still be missing for tomorrow, and probably some of them also for the upcoming games,” the interim manager told reporters.
“You already mentioned Fred and Scott. Rapha Varane, Luke Shaw had his bolts and metal stuff removed from his leg and Edinson Cavani, those are the five that will be missing.
“He[Luke Shaw] will be out for at least another four weeks, if not five weeks. So I think for him it will be difficult to be available for one of the outstanding remaining seven games.”
Luke Shaw in a protective boot following surgery to remove bolts from his leg pic.twitter.com/8pu5GqKk8M
— utdreport (@utdreport) April 15, 2022
Ralf Rangnick also updated on Varane’s injury claiming that he could make an early comeback and there’s a chance that the French defender might be back in action against Liverpool or Arsenal.
“I think probably with Raphael Varane he’s the one who can hopefully can back for at least one of the next two games against Liverpool or Arsenal,” he said.
“With the others, I don’t see them coming back within the next couple of days.”
Does the Man United manager have adequate cover?
Alex Telles will deputise at left-back until Luke Shaw comes back and with Cavani still missing, Ronaldo will take up his usual role up top but the midfield and central defence are going to be the major areas of concern for the interim manager.
The pairing of Maguire and Lindelof haven’t done particularly well this season and with McFred out of action, Pogba and Matic will have to pair up in central midfield.
Some experts have suggested that Ralf Rangnick might actually go for a change in formation and bring in a 3-4-2-1 system on Saturday but since Norwich are not the most difficult side to beat, we doubt if Rangnick is going to make any radical changes.
The Man United boss will keep faith in his usual system and just hope that the likes of Sancho, Ronaldo and Fernandes can come up with the goods in the final third.
