MX23RW : Friday, March 29 07:45:32| >> :120:3604:3604:
[monks data]
Attendance: 57,559
Manchester United logo
EFL Cup | Quarter-Finals
Dec 18, 2019 at 8pm UK
 
Colchester United

3-0

Rashford (51'), Jackson (56' og.), Martial (61')
FT(HT: 0-0)

Paul Pogba return delayed by illness after attending brother's wedding

The French midfielder has only made six appearances this season.

Paul Pogba's recovery from an ankle injury has been compounded by illness, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer suggesting it has set the Manchester United midfielder "back quite a bit".

Having fuelled speculation about his future during a summer of intense scrutiny, the 26-year-old has not featured since September due to an ankle injury that has restricted him to just six appearances this season.

United manager Solskjaer has spoken confidently about the Real Madrid target returning to action before the end of the year and Pogba had been due to resume first-team training this week, only to succumb to a new problem.

Paul Pogba last featured for United against Arsenal on September 30
Paul Pogba last featured for United against Arsenal on September 30 (Nick Potts/PA)

"Of all things he's struck down ill now," Solskjaer said on Sunday, when previewing the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Colchester.

"He's been off for two or three days – three days probably – so that's not beneficial. That's probably set him back quite a bit."

Solskjaer's comments came just hours before videos were posted on social media on Sunday evening, with Pogba dancing and showing few ill effects at his brother Florentin's wedding.

The PA news agency understands the midfielder had permission to attend the wedding in France on Friday, before falling ill on Saturday and getting worse on Sunday.

"As I've said so many times, Paul's a top, top player that we want to see playing his best football at Man United," Solskjaer said.

"We just need to get him fit and match fit. It might be half an hour, 45, 60, 90 – who knows, the first game. We're working hard to get him back but now he's ill."

Pogba's presence was certainly missed on Sunday, when United were crying out for a creative midfielder in the 1-1 league draw with Everton.

Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by Everton on Sunday
Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by Everton on Sunday (Martin Rickett/PA)

"We can talk about Paul all day long and it's games like this for example when you're lacking that one creative pass or ideas maybe," Solskjaer said.

"He has that quality that not many midfielders in the world have so to get him back would be great."

Pogba will again be sidelined as United take to the field on Wednesday, when Diogo Dalot could make his first appearance in 10 weeks.

View this post on Instagram

Pushing forward! 👊🏻 @manchesterunited

A post shared by Diogo Dalot (@diogodalot) on

Marcos Rojo, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Eric Bailly remain sidelined as United look to progress past League Two side Colchester and reach the Carabao Cup semi-finals.

"Any player or any team – and for us now it's a good team that's building – would benefit a lot from winning a trophy or getting to a final, of course winning it is major," Solskjaer said.

"Now we've got a chance of getting into the semis so for us this game is a big one."

Asked about the importance of leading the side to a first trophy, Solskjaer, who never won the League Cup as a player, said: "I think so yes, definitely.

"We showed that by the team we put out against Chelsea, that we take this seriously, even though we were in a difficult spell in the league it was still important for us to create that momentum and belief in the players.

"Yes definitely, we're hoping to get to the final."

Solskjaer plans to make changes and rotate against Colchester, but pledged the side will be strong enough to win the game, "create chances and hopefully score goals".

Mason Greenwood could well playing a starring role again on Wednesday, having followed up a brace and man-of-the-match display in the Europa League against AZ Alkmaar by hitting the leveller against Everton.

"He's making it hard for me to leave him out," Solskjaer said of the 18-year-old.

"I remember when I came to the club as well and I kept scoring a few goals but still I felt I could perform better, I'm not involved in the game, but the manager's comments were that it was hard to keep players who score out of the team.

"It's very, very difficult now to put a team out there without having Mason in my mind, yeah."

ID:383211: cacheID:383211:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:23536:No Data Analysis info
Restore Data
Share this article now:
A general shot of the EFL Cup / League Cup trophy ahead of the 2019 final between Chelsea and Manchester City on February 24, 2019
Read Next:
EFL Cup quarter-final predictions including Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!