Supporting cast must get chance on centre stage
SITTING on the sidelines, watching your team-mates warm up for the new Premier League season with a prestige fixture against Real Madrid and the chance to lift another piece of silverware, should be agonising.
Frustrating, worrying that another team-mate’s display leaves you further from the first team frame.
But for Phil Jones, Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial, there may have been some quiet satisfaction.
Unquestionably, all would have preferred to see United triumph against the best team on the continent ahead of a return to Champions League contention.
But watching from the stands – or the bench – the trio should also have seen their own claims to a first team place enhanced by the struggles of their team-mates.
The suspended Eric Bailly also fits comfortably into this category, but he has long been established as United’s best central defender, and that status has been cemented even further with every game he does and doesn’t play.
For the other three, they have never been indisputably first choice under Jose Mourinho.
But the inadequate challenge being put forward by their colleagues means that could, and should, be about to change.
It should be an easy decision for Mourinho to restore Jones and Bailly to the line-up for the visit of West Ham. They have comfortably outperformed the others during pre-season, and have started to form the basis of a solid partnership.
Shaw came under fire from his manager repeatedly last season, but an indifferent summer from Matteo Darmian coupled with a poor one from Daley Blind, should ensure that the Portuguese is counting down the days until Shaw is fit again.
Marcus Rashford’s introduction was understandable, and he troubled the Real Madrid defence with his pace, but Martial had a good pre-season and looks more natural on the wing than his team-mate.
The lack of difficult personnel decisions should worry Mourinho, because it merely serves to illustrate United’s lack of strength in depth - particularly in defence and on the wing.
Nemanja Matic’s arrival should revolutionise a midfield that also has Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini and potentially Andreas Pereira in reserve.
United are also blessed with a number of players who would all name no.10 as their best position.
But in other areas they look short, and Mourinho is entitled to expect more from his squad players when they are given the chance to stake their own claims.
United were far from terrible in Skopje, but the fact remains that some of the best nights were had by those who didn’t take the field.
Three should start at Old Trafford on Sunday.