Manchester United is trying to get back on track and rally for the remainder of the season, but injuries are making the effort almost impossible. The team is just about done in the Premier League, but they have a chance to save themselves in the FA Cup if they can get players back quickly. As Luis van Gaal fights for his job, will certain names return quickly to help?
The injury list is growing for United. The team lost both Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Will Keane to injuries in the win over Shrewsbury. That leaves them very short-handed once again. Van Gaal believes that while February was not a good month for the club, March will be better as bigger names begin to return from injuries. Van Gaal told the Daily Mail that he expects a majority of the team's 13 players to come back in March, as Wayne Rooney and David De Gea could be two of them.
Rooney was expected to miss six weeks with a knee injury, but he could return quicker than that depending on how fit he can get once the injury has healed, according to van Gaal. He noted that Rooney tired to play through the injury for a majority of the last few games, which only made things worse.
"He's a guy who wants to go until the end - if he's feeling pain he doesn't want to go off. He wants to win," van Gaal said, via The Herald Scotland. "That's a fantastic attitude but sometimes it's also bad for his body. But you cannot say (if he made the injury worse by staying on) because he didn't know when it happened. That's the difficulty."
De Gea is another player United needs back quickly. The goal keep has been out since injuring his knee in warmups before an FA match. There has been no timetable for De Gea's return. The injury was not as bad as expected, but van Gaal admits that he does not know how long it will take for him to get his fitness back, just like with Rooney, according to The Telegraph.
"I don't know if De Gea will be fit. It is not so heavy an injury, but we have to wait and see when we can start him again," van Gaal said.
In the meantime, van Gaal continues to fight for his job. There is a good chance that van Gaal stays on for long than expected, according to Scott Patterson of ESPNFC.com. United looked strong against Shrewsbury, and if that continues, the manager could be saving his job.
