Gary Neville identifies Man Utd’s ‘big problem’ and explains why Burnley win was ‘massive’

Gary Neville has described Manchester United’s lack of centre-back options as a ‘big problem’ for the club over the coming weeks.

The Red Devils were forced to field Casemiro at the heart of defence on Wednesday night in the 2-0 win over Burnley, alongside the experienced Victor Lindelof. United were without three senior centre-backs for the game with Harry Maguire out through illness and Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane yet to return to the club following Argentina and France progressing to the final of the World Cup.

To make matters worse, Varane hobbled out of the match on Sunday, while Axel Tuanzebe remains unavailable and Teden Mengi picked up an injury during the winter friendly against Cadiz earlier this month. It means United are extremely short of centre-back options ahead of Premier League games against Nottingham Forest, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bournemouth in the coming weeks.

“They’ve got a big problem at centre-back because Martinez you imagine is going to be at least a couple of weeks. Varane looked like he was injured and you don’t know when he is going to come back,” Neville said live on Sky Sports, following United’s Carabao Cup victory.

“If Harry Maguire is ill, they’re going to go with a real weakened defence into those Premier League games. I think if they’d have been playing against a Premier League team tonight they would have been punished, Manchester United. They have to get some players back quickly.”

Despite Neville’s concerns, he felt the win over Burnley was huge for Erik ten Hag and his players, who progress to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup and will be joined by just one of the traditional ‘top six’ with Manchester City and Liverpool to lock horns on Thursday, while Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur have already been eliminated.

The draw for the next round will take place on Thursday with one of Wolves, Southampton, Newcastle United, Leicester City, Charlton Athletic, Forest and City or Liverpool set to face Red Devils, who will have high hopes of ending a trophy-less period that stretches back to 20127.

“That was massive for United tonight, they could not afford to lose that game,” Neville opined on Wednesday. “They’ve got to get back into winning trophies and Erik ten Hag has to get on a route of winning trophies, and this is the best chance for them.

“Newcastle and what they trying to do up there, Liverpool and City are still in it and they treat this competition seriously so they will obviously be favourites, but those others in the Premier League have to go for it. Manchester United have to get back [to winning trophies]. Five years since they last won a trophy, this is a great chance for them.”