Manchester United defender Phil Jones is the latest injury victim of the club leaving manager with few options to select from with Chris Smalling also doubtful.
The English defender has been ruled out for around three to four weeks with a torn hamstring, manager Louis van Gaal has revealed.
Phil Jones limped off with 13 minutes to go in England’s 2-0 away win in Switzerland on Monday and will probably miss action till after the next international break in October.
It’s definitely not the best of news for Manchester United and Louis Van Gaal especially when they are getting ready to welcome more first team players from injuries.
Although Chris Smalling is back in training, he is still not ready to return the team with the English man also having hamstring injury in august leaving Manchester United with two cases at the back.
Luke Shaw and Rafael Da Silva are all fit to play in their next English Premier League match. They will be joined by Marcos Rojo, Jonny Evans and Tyler Blackett.
The defensive headache is set to continue for Louis Van Gaal with this latest development and it can’t get any worse with him not having a full defensive team to work with since his arrival.
Manchester United brought in quality players during the summer transfer window but didn’t get to sign any top defender like they would have.
Mehdi Benatia and Matt Hummels were strongly linked to Manchester United during the summer transfers but none made it to Old Trafford.
The former switched to Allianz Arena where he currently ply his trade with Bundesliga champions, Bayern Munich and Hummels also stayed back in Borrusia Dortmund in Germany with Jurgen Klopp not interested in allowing his top defender leave after Robert Lewandoski moved to Bayern Munich in the summer on free transfer.
Daley Blind can be deployed in the left back position or even wing back if the manager decides to stick with his 3-5-2 formation.
The return of Luke Shaw and Rafael Da Silva will give more width from the full back positions and also give the manager the option to switch his formation.
It is highly unlikely though that that will happen as the manager may not want to throw the players straight into action rather giving them few minutes to get ready.
Marcos Rojo been granted work permit is also a big addition to the squad but the major concern is how the manager will end of fielding the defenders in their upcoming match.
Rojo, Evans and Blackett are the available centre-backs and are all left footed.
Does that mean Louis van Gaal will be forced to have a look at the 4 – defence set up system for the first time in his reign as Manchester United manager?
A look at that system will not only be perfect for the defenders now but also for the attacking set up which will allow the likes of Wayne Rooney, Angel Di Maria and Juan Mata to be more attack minded if they get to play.
