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MOUNT & MAGUIRE FITNESS DOUBTS CAST SHADOW OVER MAN UNITED PREP

Man United face a fitness test for heroes Harry Maguire & Mason Mount before Brighton clash. Ruben Amorim provides an update as the Red Devils aim for a third straight Premier League win.

Mount & Maguire Fitness Doubts Cast Shadow Over Man United Prep
Harry Maguire is an injury doubt for Manchester United - COURTESY/PHOTO

According to Ruben Amorim, Manchester United must evaluate Mason Mount and Harry Maguire, the game-winning player from the previous weekend, before facing Brighton.

After winning back-to-back Premier League games for the first time since the Portuguese joined last November, the Red Devils will host the Seagulls at Old Trafford on Saturday night.

The defender might not play when United returns to action, but Maguire's late header sealed a thrilling 2-1 victory against bitter rivals Liverpool, their first Anfield victory since 2016.

After playing the first 61 minutes last Sunday, the defence and midfielder Mount are both struggling with knocks.

"We have some doubts, but the squad is OK," head coach Amorim stated.

"We encountered some problems with Mason Mount and Harry Maguire during the week. A few knocks, but nothing significant. Tomorrow, we will see. There is no Licha [Lisandro Martinez]. The others are prepared for the match.

"I believe the game will be really challenging, as usual. One of the most entertaining teams to watch is Brighton.

"They excel in every part of the game, including the build-up and transitions. I believe they are a very complete team because they are performing well on set pieces this season.

"They are an extremely strong squad, so we need to be really clever and focus on everything we do in that game."

After his impressive performance at Liverpool last weekend, Maguire will be eager to prove himself and keep his spot.

Since signing for Leicester in 2019 for £80 million, the 32-year-old defender has received criticism from some places, but he has made several significant contributions throughout that time.

With his contract expiring at the end of the season, Maguire is drawing adoring looks, but Amorim is more concerned with gaining momentum than with his contract status.

He declared, "We are really pleased with Harry." "That gives the impression that we are thinking too far ahead, so now is not the time to discuss it.

"We need to concentrate on the next game, but we are incredibly happy with Harry, and he is really essential to us."

Despite these failures, Maguire has remarkably recovered from losing the captaincy to former manager Erik ten Hag, who gave the armband to Bruno Fernandes two years ago.

On Saturday, the unstoppable creator will make his historic 300th appearance for United, and Amorim is gushing about his countryman.

The Red Devils manager stated, "I think he is a little bit different from what I was expecting." Sometimes, what you read about the player is not accurate.

"You can see that he wants to help his teammates a lot, which is why he gets frustrated sometimes. He comes from a nice place, but sometimes it is not the greatest method. When you are not here, you are unaware of that.

He always craves responsibilities. The losses caused him a great deal of pain.

"You can tell he takes it personally every time we lose a game, which is appropriate for a captain. He is a fantastic football player and captain.

EX-CAPTAIN NEVILLE CLAIMS SUBSTITUTIONS MADE MANCHESTER UNITED "WORSE" AGAINST WOLVES

Gary Neville slams Ruben Amorim’s "weird" substitutions and tactical shifts after Manchester United's 1-1 draw with bottom-side Wolves.

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Was the halftime substitution a tactical error or an injury?

Gary Neville said that the performance of Manchester United in their match against winless Wolves was ‘the baddest of the bad.’

United would have moved fourth in the league with a win at Old Trafford last night, although Wolves, who had two points in 18 games before kickoff, ended their record of 11 straight losses with a 1-1 draw.

Amorim’s team had been knocked out of the Carabao Cup by a League Two team, Grimsby, in August, but Neville was convinced that United had hit rock bottom in a game that could have been even more one-sided were it not for two important saves by Senne Lammens.

“That was the baddest of the bad," the former United captain declared on the Gary Neville podcast.

“They weren’t just booed off at the final whistle. The fans waited in the stadium to continue to boo them. They’ve gone backwards.”

United had won at Newcastle 1-0 on Boxing Day, despite being plagued by an injury list that already lacked skipper Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire, and Matthijs de Ligt, as well as three players on African Cup of Nations duty.

But they remained flat right from the first whistle, and the header by Ladislav Krejci just before the half bottled Joshua Zirkzee's deflected shot.

Amorim’s formation choice of 3-4-3 was brought into focus once more as the Portuguese opted to go back to his preferred tactic of four at the back against Newcastle.

“This isn’t right. I’ve watched enough of United over the last five or six weeks to know what looks right and what isn’t right,” Neville had declared 20 minutes into his commentary on Sky Sports.

“Because, when I see that we go back (to three at the back) after five minutes tonight, I’m thinking, no, Ruben, why have you done that?

"The manager has to look at that and think, I got that wrong. I complicated it."

However, Amorim decided to substitute Zirkzee at halftime and brought on an 18-year-old Jack Fletcher, who made his third appearance at the senior level.

Regarding substitutions made by Amorim, Neville further added, “They made Manchester United worse. Every single substitution was ridiculous.”

‘If Zirkzee was injured, and it was a tactical substitution, that was a very poor one.’ But Zirkzee isn't Eric Cantona, not by a long shot, and he had to get out there for physicality, for presence, for experience.”

SEE LISANDRO MARTINEZ’S FURIOUS REACTION AFTER MAN UTD’S SHOCK WOLVES DRAW

Lisandro Martinez demands more after Man Utd’s 1-1 draw with bottom-placed Wolves. United ended 2025 sixth in the Premier League.

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Martinez slams United’s tactical mistakes

Stand-in captain Lisandro Martinez was mad that Manchester United dropped points against Wolves, who are at the bottom of the league.

United came into the last game of 2025 after a good win against Newcastle on Boxing Day and were expected to easily beat Wolves.

Joshua Zirkzee scored first for United, but they didn't take their chances. Ladislav Krejci's header tied the game for Wolves, 1-1.

It was only their third point in 19 games, and it stopped their 11-game losing streak. United fans booed at the end of the game.

When Martinez was asked if it felt like a disappointing point, he said, 100 percent.

We are very disappointed. We can't keep drawing or losing points at home. We have to win.

We want to be at the top, competing with the best.

We can't drop points in games like this. We just have to accept it and be hungry for the next game.

Martinez was captain again because Bruno Fernandes is still recovering from an injury.

When United coach Ruben Amorim was asked about injured players for the game against Leeds on Sunday, he didn't give much away. Leeds are really wanting to beat United for the first time since 2010.

Martinez said to MUTV, You can either make excuses, or you can be strong and say, 'We're dropping points, so we need to go for the next one and show what we can do.'

We need to work together and do the easy things to get the three points.

United is in sixth place in the league at the end of 2025, only two points behind Liverpool for the last Champions League spot. Liverpool has a game in hand.

They could be in a better position if they had been better in both boxes. Leeds has been playing well lately, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin doing great up front.

Martinez added, It's about us. I don't like to think about other teams.

I'm thinking about what we can do to get better as a team every day, and we have to learn from this game.

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