At half time during Manchester United's game with Liverpool on Sunday the home team dressing room must have looked closer to a hospital scene in a war programme than a football changing room. Now Luke Shaw has revealed what was said during the break.
Jurgen Klopp claimed that the loss of rhythm in the game due to first half injuries had made life difficult for his team and the officials added four minutes of injury time in the first half without any major incidents, it told you all you needed to go.
The injuries in the opening 45 minutes of Manchester United's game against Liverpool on Sunday made the match almost into a farce.
Marcus Rashford had been down injured once before and looked to be struggling so surely he was coming off when Andreas Pereira appeared to be coming on? But no suddenly Ander Herrera was down and he was replaced.
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Shortly after Juan Mata was limping and came off for Jesse Lingard but from the off the England international seemed to be feeling his hamstring.
A ball from Romelu Lukaku sent Lingard one-on-one with Alisson, he tried to take it round the keeper, the Brazilian made a great save at the forward's feet and Lingard stayed down injured.
That was United making all three subs in one half and speaking after the game Luke Shaw revealed what was said in the break, saying:
"We were all very disappointed with how the first half went. We didn't play well at all. We gave too many balls away too cheaply and luckily that didn't cost us.
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"But we had a change of formation, we had a good chat at half-time. Everyone was going crazy. But, you know, we said, 'Relax and we just need to play our game', and I think the second half was better.
"We still weren't at our best but overall I think we created the best chances and I feel we should have won.
United had the better opportunities to win the match in the second half with an own goal by Joel Matip correctly ruled out because Chris Smalling was offside in the build up and Smalling himself having a chance from Romelu Lukaku's cross.
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With the Red Devils already without Anthony Martial and Nemanja Matic through injuries at the weekend it'll be interesting to see how they line up in two games in the next week.
You have to wonder whether or not the physio room at the Carrington training ground is big enough.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Juan Mata, Liverpool, Football News, Manchester United, Ander Herrera, Premier League, Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Jesse Lingard