A problem looms for Tuesday

Navas officially confirmed as a non-starter due to his injury, Corchia still not fit and Layun not registered to play in the CL.

So the options seem to be move Mercado over to the right and play kjaer in the middle or god forbid bring back Pareja?

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Or maybe drop Nzonzi into back line for his heinght and strength and play Pizarro with Banega? Then Move Mercado to rb. Could even play 3 cb’s with Nozonzi and Kjaer and go 5-4-1
It will be a difficult choice for Montella to make because Utd will start the game on full power to try and get a goal and park the Mourinho bus I think

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The last thing we needed was not having Navas available for the return leg. He was crucial in the first leg stopping both Alexis and Martial from doing anything on the right flank. Mercado and him functioned perfectly that night with Mercado doing the dirty physical work and Navas outrunning the opponents to win the ball. Corchia would’ve also been helpful for his pace, but now we’re stuck with the worst ever option, Mercado at RB and Kjaer at CB (worst scenario).

I think whatever option Montella chooses should be made clear in the match vs. Valencia. We shouldn’t have Layun play there as RB and then a totally different scheme for Tuesday in a span of 4 days. That means, if Montella decides to play Mercado at RB then Mercado should start at RB vs. Valencia, or else it would be a risky experiment on Tuesday and we might even get humiliated just like vs. Atletico in RSP.

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I like the 5 in the back idea but I would like to see Muriel and Ben Yedder both up top. so maybe a 5-2-1-2
Rico
Sarabia - Mercado - Kjaer - Lenglet - Escudero
N’zonzi - Banega
Mudo
WBY Muriel

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Tomorrow vrs Valencia is just as important, if not MORE important for us to win…

Let’s see who is available for Man Utd after tomorrow and take it from there

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