Alejandro Garnacho (right) and Marcus Rashford celebrate for Man United.
Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho were left out of the Manchester United squad for the Manchester derby.
Manchester United's team at Tottenham tonight might be more about who is absent than who is named in their starting XI.
Reds boss Ruben Amorim made headlines ahead of the Manchester derby last time out by axing Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho from the squad, citing concerns over performances and attitude in training. The latter has travelled to the capital for tonight's Carabao Cup quarter final and seems likely to be involved in the squad, but the picture is less clear on Rashford who was not spotted with the travelling United party.
The frontman was absent from training on Monday due to illness and, on his day off on Tuesday, visited a primary school where he spoke of his desire for a new challenge. Amorim, when quizzed on Rashford's interview in his press conference ahead of the game with Spurs, said he just wanted to help his striker hit the heights that he is capable of and suggested there is a new challenge facing him at Old Trafford as United seek to climb the table.
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"I think it's right," Amorim said when asked about Rashford's reference to a new challenge. "We have here a new challenge. It's a tough one, for me it's the biggest challenge in football because we are in a difficult situation and I already said this is one of the biggest clubs in the world.
"This is a really new challenge and the biggest one. I really hope all my players are ready for this new challenge."
It remains to be seen if there is a route back into the XI for Rashford, with United facing Bournemouth on Sunday in the Premier League. Indeed, the forward does not seem a natural fit for Amorim's favoured formation, and while he scored the opening goal of the Amorim era at Ipswich when playing through the middle, his preference is to play off the left in a position that does not exist in United's new 3-4-3 shape.
There is scope for the England international to become one of the two 10s, but Amad Diallo looks to have nailed down one of those slots while there is plenty of competition for the other, assuming captain Bruno Fernandes fulfils a deeper role.
Rashford has started three of Amorim's seven games in charge, and come off the bench in three more, but the trend is moving away from matchday minutes for the 27-year-old. He started the first two Premier League fixtures under Amorim, scoring against Ipswich and then netting a brace against Everton.
But he was on the bench against Arsenal and Nottingham Forest and it was telling that he started the Europa League game with Viktoria Plzen, being replaced on the hour with United behind in a game they went on to win.
Rashford has played 307 minutes under Amorim, but the majority came in the first three matches of the Portuguese's reign with the striker having mustered just 62 minutes across the last three Premier League games and with no starts.
In contrast, Garnacho was selected for that trip to Arsenal and also started against Forest and Ipswich. He has played 20 minutes more than Rashford under Amorim thus far and, while he was only a late sub against Plzen, he seemingly has a brighter outlook and perhaps offers the positional flexibility to fill in at wing back or as an inside forward.
Rashford and Garnacho took opposite approaches to dealing with their derby day admission - the latter remaining silent while the former opted to speak openly to a journalist. It remains to be seen whether their United careers move in opposite directions.