Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United were tepid in their defeat to Valencia last night.
His side went down 2-1, having fielded a midfield trio of Marouane Fellaini, Paul Pogba and blockbuster summer signing Fred.
He made a few changes, as United were already qualified for the group stages, fielding this XI from the outset: Romeo; Valencia, Rojo; Jones, Bailly; Fellaini, Pogba, Fred; Mata, Perreira, Lukaku.
But when asked about his side for Sunday, when Liverpool host United at Anfield, Mourinho confirmed that Ashley Young, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford would start.
“You only have to find eight more,” he told Manchester Evening News, before naming a number of injured players who’ll struggle to face us.
“Marcos Rojo no because he’s injured. The rest are not injured, they belong to the squad. We have lots of players that were not here today because they are injured, this is our squad, our players, they have a chance to play Sunday.
“Smalling is injured, Lindelof is injured, Darmian is injured, Martial is injured, Dalot is injured, the only two players I could bring and didn’t was De Gea and Matic.
“Matic, you are the first ones to make the stats and to say how many minutes he is playing and you are saying week after week that he needs a rest. If he doesn’t have a rest in a match we have already qualified then he would play until he explodes, was a normal option to leave him out.”
We reckon United will like up like this, looking to play counter-attack with long-balls:
De Gea; Valencia, Young, Bailly, Jones; Herrera, Pogba, Fellaini; Rashford, Mata, Lukaku.
Hopefully, Jurgen Klopp’s Reds will be able to overcome a side likely to park the bass and ping balls to Lukaku.