Man United suffered a 3-1 loss to Arsenal on Sunday but that defeat has come at the cost of some more significant injury setbacks.
Apart from the usual injury concerns, Scott McTominay was missing from Sunday’s matchday squad due to a fever and during the match, Lisandro Martinez picked up a foot injury and had to be taken off in the 67th minute.
The extent of his injury is not yet known but it looks like Martinez is going to miss Argentina’s World Cup qualifiers.
“Licha said he had a problem on his foot. But I’m not sure if it’s an injury. We have to wait, we have to see, we have to make the diagnosis,” Ten Hag said after the match.
To add to his, Victor Lindelof who was the other centre-back in that match was also taken off and after the game, his manager revealed that Lindelof was ill which is why he had to be subbed off.
This is a major crisis for the Man United manager because Raphael Varane is also out for a couple of weeks so if Martinez’s injury is serious then Ten Hag will once again have to rely on Harry Maguire.
Man United play their next game on the 16th of September against Brighton and hopefully, Lindelof will be fit by then so all eyes will be on Lisandro Martinez and his recovery time.
After Lindelof and Maguire, Ten Hag has 35-year-old Jonny Evans in his squad and the last thing the manager will want is to use a centre-back who signed a short-term deal with United after failing to find a club this summer.
Apart from these three defenders, Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia are also out with injuries and while Malacia should be back to full fitness in a few days, Shaw is expected to return by the end of this month.
Manchester United have signed Reguilon so the left-back position won’t be an immediate issue plus Ten Hag also has Dalot who can play on the left.
Mason Mount is another big name who is missing from action after picking up a hamstring injury and he will be back in action sometime in October. This is a big blow for the Manchester United manager but thankfully, they have been able to secure Amrabat’s signature on deadline day and the central midfielder will come straight into the starting line up when United welcome the Seagulls.
After the loss to Arsenal, Man United find themselves 11th on the Premier League table with six points and even after four games, they have already fallen behind in the title race. Just four days after the Brighton game, Manchester United head to Germany to take on Bayern Munich and Ten Hag will just be keeping his fingers crossed that Martinez and Raphael Varane are fit before this all-important Champions League tie.
UPDATE:
According to TyC Sports journalist Gaston Edul, Lisandro Martinez is fine and he will travel with the Argentina squad for international duty. However, there’s no official confirmation yet.
