Marcus Rashford’s withdrawal from Manchester United’s traveling squad for tomorrow’s Europa League game against Sheriff Tiraspol leaves manager Erik ten Hag with a dilemma over his replacement.
Playing a traditional centre-forward, the manager’s only option is Cristiano Ronaldo, unless he takes a chance on 18-year-old Charlie McNeill, which seems highly unlikely.
However, Ronaldo’s recent form has not been good, as he has failed to score goals this season and struggled to adapt to Ten Hag’s system.
Another option would be to play with a false nine. But the only other time the manager attempted this formation was in the opening Premier League game against Brighton, which United lost 2-1.
On that occasion it was Christian Eriksen who took on the role of striker, and he looked out of his league. However, not having participated in the pre-season tour, he himself had had little time to integrate with the rest of the squad and was very much in the background. So maybe he could take a second bite of the cherry.
Another player capable of playing the role would be Bruno Fernandes.
It could be that this is the option that Ten Hag tries this time. With Casemiro available to hold, this would allow Scott McTominay and Eriksen a freer role behind him, with the Dane as a deep-lying playmaker and the Scot taking on a forceful box-to-box role.
Fred is a reserve option in midfield, along with Zidane Iqbal, but Donny van de Beek has not traveled as he is recovering from a minor problem.
Antony and Jadon Sancho are expected to fill the wing positions. Anthony Elanga and Alejandro Garnacho have also traveled.
In defence, Raphael Varane and Lisandro MartÃnez look likely to resume their successful centre-back partnership, with Diogo Dalot and Tyrell Malacia flanking them.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka hasn’t traveled, so he definitely won’t be included.
It seems certain that David de Gea will be in goal, as Martin Dubravka has not traveled either.
With all that in mind, here is our expected line-up for tomorrow’s kickoff at 17:45:
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