Man United vs Omonia LIVE Football Match 14 Oct 2022
Anthony Martial could make his first start of the season on Thursday after making a goal-scoring return from injury at the weekend. Manchester United have the chance to immediately bounce back from Sunday’s embarrassing 6-3 defeat to Manchester City when they return to Europa League competition to take on Omonia Nicosia. Erik ten Hag is likely to make a few changes in response to the dreadful display. One of which could be Martial coming into the starting line-up. An Achilles injury has limited the Frenchman to just two substitute appearances this season but in each of those he has made positive contributions. Martial set up the second goal in the victory over Liverpool and bagged a late brace at the Etihad to save United some face.
He had a bright pre-season playing as the main striker and could get the chance to do so from the off in Cyprus. None of the front three that started on Sunday had good games – despite Antony’s great strike – but Jadon Sancho was particularly ineffective and he could be the one to make way with Marcus Rashord moving over to the left. Ten Hag promised that he would play his ‘best team’ on Thursday so it’s likely to still be a strong starting XI despite the level of opposition, so Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen may start again in midfield. There could be a second start for Casemiro though after the decision not to start him over Scott McTominay against the Blues backfired.
There will be one enforced alteration at the back as Raphael Varane will not play after picking up a knock in the derby. With Harry Maguire also sidelined it will likely be Victor Lindelof coming into partner Lisandro Martinez. Aaron Wan-Bissaka is also injured so Diogo Dalot will remain in the team but Luke Shaw could come in for Tyrell Malacia after the Dutchman’s disastrous display on Sunday. Erik ten Hag will have much to consider when it comes to selecting his starting XI for Manchester United’s Europa League group-stage match away to Omonia Nicosia. That short trip to the Etihad Stadium was the first of nine fixtures in a busy October, and it will therefore be intriguing to see which line-up Ten Hag opts for when he takes his squad on a much longer journey in midweek.
Our Europa League opener versus Real Sociedad may offer some clues; that came three days after another intense Premier League outing, against Arsenal, and the manager chose to make several changes to the starting side. As for the away win at Sheriff Tiraspol, the boss picked a more familiar team to the one we have seen in recent domestic matches. The Reds had blank weekends either side of that one but the Omonia game will be closely followed by a Premier League trip to Everton on Sunday evening. As well as assessing the fixture list, Ten Hag will have other factors to consider, including the fitness of centre-backs Raphael Varane and Harry Maguire.
Varane was forced off in the first half of Sunday’s derby, while Maguire picked up an injury while on duty with England in the recent international break. The boss is likely to be asked about both defenders during his pre-match press conference, which you will be able to see live on ManUtd.com, MUTV and the United App at 11:30 BST on Wednesday. Erik may also be quizzed on the availability of players like Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Donny van de Beek, who were sidelined before the break and not in the squad at the weekend. Martin Dubravka also sustained an injury while away with Slovakia and was not among the 18 players that were named in the matchday group at Manchester City. One player who returned to action on Sunday was Anthony Martial, who scored twice in the closing stages from the bench. He could potentially build on his minutes in Cyprus.
The Frenchman came on shortly before the hour mark, replacing Marcus Rashford who got 60 minutes under his belt following a recent layoff. The winger had been told to protect full-back Diogo Dalot who was under immense pressure the whole game. But Antony seemingly forgot to follow orders, letting Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva constantly run down the flank.Meanwhile, Graeme Souness believes that Cristiano Ronaldo is being shown disrespect as Erik Ten Hag consistently leaves him on the bench.Ronaldo, 37, was an unused substitute in the City hammering and Ten Hag claimed he did it out of ‘respect’ for the Portuguese icon’s career. And Manchester United have received a huge blow in their potential bid for Atletico Madrid legendary keeper Jan Oblak as the Spanish giants have reportedly stated that he is not for sale in January.
Manchester United will endeavour to bounce back from their Manchester derby drubbing when they resume Europa League duties against Omonia in Group E on Thursday night. The Red Devils have taken three points from their opening two games to sit second in the rankings, while their Cypriot hosts are rock bottom without a single point to their name. Competing with the big boys of Real Sociedad and Manchester United in Group E was always going to be a challenging task for Omonia, whose continental journey is at risk of an early end following back-to-back defeats to Sheriff Tiraspol and Sociedad. The team now managed by ex-Celtic head coach Neil Lennon were close to snatching a point away from their clash with Sociedad after Bruno Felipe cancelled out Ander Guevara’s opening strike, but Alexander Sorloth came up with the winner 10 minutes from time for the La Liga powerhouses.
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