Manchester United return from Denmark in which they suffered one of their most embarrassing defeats in recent memory. The rich tradition and history of United was put to a stop from Midtjylland, a team that first started playing top flight football in 1999, United’s memorable treble winning year.
Shrewsbury Town, a League 1 side will be welcoming United this Monday as the Red Devils return to 5th round action on the FA Cup. United should, the key word being should, be able to bounce back and take care of this footballing minnow, but as we’ve seen with this squad under Louis van Gaal, you never know what you’ll get next.
Here will be van Gaal’s injury ravaged squad that will travel to Shrewsbury Town:
Goalkeeper
David de Gea picked up an injury right before the Europa League match this past Thursday, so outcast, Sergio Romero was called upon. Romero made some superb saves, which kept United in the match and saved them from further embarrassment.
Defence
Cameron Borthwick-Jackson came down with an illness and did not feature in the Europa League match, so we could see Daley Blind abandon his partnership with Chris Smalling and slide over and cover the left back position.
Donald Love made his first start for the squad in the last match and it ended up being a shaky performance for the young Scot, as he was caught out of position several times in Denmark.
The center backs will also look the same as they did on Thursday, with Chris Smalling being partnered by Paddy McNair. They will both look to keep forward Andy Mangan off the score sheet, who is joint top scorer for Shrewsbury Town with 4 goals, with one being in the FA Cup.
Midfield
Ander Herrera played one of his worst matches in a United shirt and was rightfully subbed off after he failed to take care of the ball in the center of the park, so we should see the man that replaced him, Morgan Schneiderlin restored back to the starting XI.
Partnering Schneiderlin should be Michael Carrick, who will need to be diligent enough on the ball and string some strong passes together in order to get United into scoring positions.
In the attacking midfield, Juan Mata will resume his role as the center attacking mid with Memphis Depay to his left and Jesse Lingard to his right. Although Memphis scored the sloppy goal, it was Lingard, who provided the assist for that goal who was somewhat impressive on the night.
Striker
Wayne Rooney has been ruled out with a knee injury for about 6 weeks, which means Anthony Martial should be seen at his preferred striker role during that time. The pressure will once again be put on the young Frenchman to carry the load and bang in goals that have been hard to come by for this United team.
Stats have shown that Martial has been much more efficient playing the left attacking role compared to the center forward position. Although Martial has scored only one more goal in the left attacking role, he has done so in seven less appearances in that position in comparison to his preferred center forward role.
(4-2-3-1)
Via – Lineup Builder
