Manchester United defender Jonny Evans has blamed his team’s poor record on a slew of injuries, as the club’s tumultuous season reached a new low with Sunday’s derby defeat to Manchester City.
City won 3-0 at Old Trafford in a one-sided match that could have been even worse for Erik ten Hag’s outclassed team.
After winning their previous three games, United had reverted to the sloppy, lethargic form that had seen them lose six of their first ten games in all competitions.
United boss Ten Hag has had to deal with a significant injury list including Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Amad Diallo.
And Evans believes the absence of so many players has destabilised the squad.
“I think we’ve been disrupted with a lot of injuries this season in terms of key personnel,” Evans told MUTV.
“Probably a lot of our starting players would be, you know, they’re missing.
“I think the manager’s found out difficulties having to sort of work on team, on tactics and having to change the personnel quite a lot with only two days in between games.
“So that’s been difficult. Hopefully we can get more players back and get a real sort of opportunity to create freshness within the playing squad.”
Four of United’s walking wounded played important roles in the club’s League Cup final victory over Newcastle, who visit Old Trafford in the fourth round of the competition on Wednesday.
United have now lost five of their first ten Premier League games, putting them in eighth place, 11 points behind leaders Tottenham.
Evans urged his teammates to put the City flop behind them as quickly as possible as they look to beat Newcastle.
“It’s never easy, everyone’s disappointed,” he said. “You wish you could turn back the clock, but you know we’ve got to move on now.
“We put a lot into the second half to get back and you know 2-0, maybe the chance with Rashy (Marcus Rashford) we sort of get back in it.
“But you know it’s probably disappointing that we didn’t create too much in the second half.”