Here are your Manchester United morning headlines for Thursday, July 16.
Ole unhappy
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hit out at the “unfair” fixture scheduling ahead of Manchester United’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea.
United have just three days between tonight’s game at Crystal Palace and Sunday’s semi-final, while Chelsea will have five days between fixtures.
Frank Lampard’s side edged out already-relegated Norwich 1-0 on Tuesday night and now have an additional 48 hours rest ahead of the Wembley clash.
"There is a concern, obviously, that they will have had 48 hours more rest and recovery than us," Solskjaer said.
"It’s not fair. We spoke about fair scheduling going into this restart and, of course, it isn't. But I have to think about Thursday, winning that one, and then picking up the pieces after that. We've not really played every three days, but we definitely will now. The next two weeks will be hectic, but then again we're very fit. Our lads have not felt as fit as this for years, I’m sure.
"It was a big thing towards the end of last season that we felt our team wasn't fit enough. We got a few injuries. This season we've not had that kind of a problem.”
Rest cure?
Paul Pogba has started five Premier League matches in a row, but could be set for a rest at Crystal Palace on Thursday night.
The 27-year-old played 63 minutes against Southampton on Monday night before being subbed off, having clocked up a lot of minutes in a short period after sitting out most of the season through injury.
Now, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hinted that Pogba may be rested for the Selhurst Park trip, which comes just 70 hours ahead of United’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea.
"I've been speaking more or less every day with Paul," Solskjaer said. "He knows he wouldn't be dropped. When Paul plays like he has he wouldn't be dropped from any team in the world.
"But he’s been out for a long, long time. There was a question mark before the game [against Southampton], but he felt ready for it, which was great. So now let’s see how he is.
"He’s been fantastic since the restart and brought a lot to the team.”
Rojo update
Marcos Rojo has not returned to Manchester United, despite his loan at Estudiantes ending. And Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has now admitted he does not believe the Argentinian defender will return to the club this summer, in a fresh hint he will soon exit Old Trafford permanently.
"Marcos has been in lockdown over there so they've not played," Solskjaer explained, in quotes carried by the MEN. "At the moment I can’t see him coming back here over the summer because we've been in this bubble and have this squad available until next summer.
"So he just needs to focus on getting and staying fit and being ready for wherever that takes him."
