Crystal Palace manager Roy Hudson has revealed his concerns about the fitness of his players ahead of Tuesday’s Carabao Cup clash against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
The Eagles boss revealed that he has to deal with injury problems and fitness issues within a squad ahead of Tuesday’s fixture, which he says the Eagles may not be able to attack as much as he would like because of the unavailability of some of his players.
The Eagles are winless in their last two fixtures, which include a draw and a loss against Fulham and Aston Villa, including the weekend’s Premier League game at Selhurst Park against the Cottagers that ended goalless, and Roy Hudson has voiced his concerns again.
“I can’t attack the Carabao Cup as I intended to do because I don’t have any players. I’m worried about Edouard’s hamstring. At the moment, when I find out a player is out for three weeks, I’m relieved it’s not three months. It is no longer the case as it used to be… if you’re organized, you know what you need to do, and you know your patterns of play, you will catch teams out. You don’t. You have to be on your guard. The onus is on us to attack, and that is where the danger lies. If you attack and switch off your defensive duties, the opposition team punishes you.” Hodgson said.
Manchester United themselves have not had it rosy as they had to deal with issues surrounding players’ fitness and inconsistent results as they, before the weekend 1-0 over Burnley at Turf Moor, were on a three-match losing streak, including a 4-3 loss at Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League midweek last week.
There are six other EFL Cup fixtures on Tuesday aside from Manchester United against Crystal Palace.
Tuesday’s EFL Fixtures.
Ipswich v Wolves
Bradford City v Middlesbrough
Salford v Burnley
Port Vale v Sutton
Exeter v Luton Town
Mansfield v Peterborough
Manchester Utd v Crystal Palace.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu