Adding injury to insult today, Manchester United defender Jonny Evans left King Power Stadium today on crutches. A 3-1 advantage, and what seemed to be a certain victory ended in a 5-3 bitter defeat at the hands of newly promoted Leicester City. Louis van Gaal’s side completely collapsed, and the small budget Foxes embarrassed the big money Red Devils.
Evans will miss the match against West Ham on Saturday due to injury.
“Luke Shaw shall be fit enough to play so we can manage it but it is a thin defense,’ admitted Van Gaal.
Indeed he is conceding what we all know. Tyler Blackett has had his moments, but he is playing a much larger role than he should be at this point in his career. His increased playing time speaks to lack of depth in the back line.
Van Gaal started all three of his big name forwards: Radamel Falcao, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie today. However, he later complained: ‘We have too many players who want to seek for the goal.’
That’s exactly what’s wrong with United right now. All forwards, all scoring, but no defense.
Sportsmail columnist Jamie Carragher made some harsh critiques on Sky Sports today:
‘Spending all that money and not bringing in a top defender is mismanagement at the end of the day,’ said the former Liverpool defender. ‘United look vulnerable like that at the back this season.’
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partners with Fox Sports and Yahoo. Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN2