Alexander Isak hobbled off with an injury on Saturday as the ‘curse’ of keeping the Swede and Callum Wilson fit at the same time struck again; but we should’ve seen this coming months ago.
In fairness, the treatment Isak received from the Palace players wasn’t great, with the ref offering him little protection in another poor display from an official. However, Saturday was another reminder that our two centre-forwards are never far from a knock and rarely put themselves in a position to be on the pitch at the same time.
We don’t know if it’s a serious injury – Howe seems confident it’s just a contact injury that will soon wear off – but what is serious is the failure in squad building.
To have two strikers prone to injury (one who is almost a fulltime crock) is a failure in transfer strategy to pay £10m for a player in Osula, who either isn’t fancied or isn’t good enough, and we haven’t seen enough of him for it to be the second one.
It says a lot, sadly, that he didn’t come on at Palace and left a few fans scratching their heads, with Howe opting to play Gordon out of position than bring on a 21-year-old summer signing that won’t improve if he is never given Premier League minutes to prove himself.
United must go into the transfer market in January. The squad needs strengthening as a matter of urgency and it’s time for the club to put up and back the manager, his methods, and go out and get the players he wants, or to make the other decision. Because in a season like this is shaping up to be you cannot afford to finish midtable or bottom half.