5 areas of concern for Manchester United from their Pre-Season tour of the US

Modified Aug 02, 2018 20:01 GMT

Manchester United v Real Madrid - International Champions Cup 2018 — Mourinho has some areas to solve before the start of the season

#4 Piling Injuries, Lack of full team

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The pre-season in the US also saw players added to the injury list. For starters, Matic returned early from his World Cup sabbatical, with United fans hopeful of his involvement in the game against AC Milan.

However, Mourinho later revealed that Matic had picked up an injury while on international duty and would miss the start of the season.

Next, it was Valencia's turn, as the club captain designee picked up a calf injury in the game against San Jose Earthquakes that ruled his out of the preseason tour of US. Ahead of the game against Livepool, Smalling picked up a knock in training and has not featured in the first team since. Dalot is already injured. Even the phenomenal Bailly himself is nursing an injury.

Apart from the injuries, the FIFA World Cup 2018 has resulted in at least 6 first team members missing out on the pre-season entirely.

Romelu Lukaku, Paul Pogba, Ashley Young, Victor Lindelof, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard should feature prominently in the first team in the upcoming season, yet they were enjoying deserved rest after extensive world cup run with their countries.

Thankfully, David De Gea returned in time to feature in the last game in the US against Real Madrid.

The preseason games are supposed to prepare teams for the grueling season ahead, whereas Manchester United have not played their first team or even a team close to their first 11 in the pre-season.

Mourinho will be worried if his missing stars will be able to adjust with the rest of the squad in time. As such, pre-season was more about individual developments for Manchester United, while doubts about Mourinho's strongest 11 still exists.

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Edited by Alan John