Solskjaer Provides Updates Of Man Utd Injury Updates

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is hoping to have Paul Pogba back and available for Manchester United’s Champions League clash with Istanbul Basaksehir on Tuesday night after the Frenchman missed the win over West Brom on Saturday.

Pogba picked up a knock while on international duty with France and sat out the 1-0 win at Old Trafford secured thanks to a retaken Bruno Fernandes penalty.

Whether the World Cup winner will go straight back into the United starting XI is yet to be seen, but Solskjaer expects him to be in the squad. ‘We hope he’s going to be available, he trained so we’ll see if there’s any reaction when we report tomorrow,’ the Norwegian said of the former Juventus man.

The only confirmed absentees for the visit of the Turkish side are Luke Shaw, Phil Jones and Jesse Lingard, with Solskjaer, hopeful and expecting Mason Greenwood and Eric Bailly to be available again. ‘Still, Luke Shaw, Phil Jones is out, Jesse’s still self isolating after being in contact with a positive case [of Covid-19],’ Solskjaer said. ‘There are one or two little things that we need to look at in the morning but hopefully, everyone else is available.’

Shaw is out with a thigh problem that was given a four-six week prognosis and Solskjaer remains hopeful that the England international will be back sooner rather than later. ‘We hope nearer to four but with a reoccurrence of a hamstring injury, you can’t risk anything,’ said the United boss. ‘We’ll see how he reacts to the rehab he’s on, but hopefully, it’s nearer to four than six weeks.’ 

Greenwood has been out with illness but is expected to return to the squad on Tuesday and Solskjaer is looking forward to having him back. ‘We’re looking forward to having Mason back fit again and well, so hopefully we can hit some form like we did toward the end of last season,’ said Solskjaer. ‘We need to improve. We need to get more flow and rhythm to our game, be more clinical, and take our chances.

‘We’ve got plenty of quality and sometimes the most difficult thing is to keep it simple and sometimes we want to over-complicate things. ‘Yeah, we want players to seize the opportunity but we need more flow, rhythm, make the opposition move.’