Manchester United return to action on Saturday when Brentford, who have made a habit of scoring early goals this season, at Old Trafford.
Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia are inching ever closer to being available once more, but this weekend has still come too soon for the pair. It means that left-back remains a headache for Erik ten Hag, with Noussair Mazraoui underoing a minor heart procedure and only just returning to training.
Mazraoui had been starting games at right-back, but his presence there meant that Diogo Dalot was able to fill in on the left. Now, with Mazraoui perhaps still a doubt and Dalot the only definitely available senior full-back, Ten Hag has a decision to make over how he puts together his defence for this one.
Perhaps the most obvious solution is to stick with Dalot at left-back and come up with an emergency solution on the right instead.
It isn’t the Portuguese’s preferred side of the pitch, but, at least as a specialist full-back, he is potentially best equipped to deal with the chief Brentford threat of Bryan Mbeumo, who tends to operate on the Bees’ right flank.
Dalot did stay on the left even when Mazraoui went off at half-time against Aston Villa and made a game-saving block towards the end, which could be a clue as to Ten Hag’s thinking.
However, the alternative way of thinking is that keeping Dalot on the left leaves United with two square pegs in round holes. If Ten Hag returns him to the right, it’s one at most. Then, the Dutchman would need to assess who is most suited for the left-back challenge.
Victor Lindelof got his first minutes of the season at Villa Park, replacing Mazraoui for the second half and finishing the 0-0 draw at right-back. That could continue for the visit of Brentford, but the Iceman, who also played 28 minutes for Sweden during the international break, spent a considerable amount of time filling in at left-back last season – including at home against Brentford.
After a difficult night against Porto in the Europa League, Lisandro Martinez was withdrawn from the spotlight at Villa Park. The Argentine would ordinarily be a starter in the centre of defence but it remains to be seen how Ten Hag views that situation, although Harry Maguire is now sidelined.
Martinez did feature at left-back at Wembley back in August, when United were only denied a win over Manchester City in the Community Shield by a late equaliser. He marked Oscar Bobb that day.
A left-back with a lot of talent and potential that United fans are yet to see at senior level is Harry Amass. The teenager hadn’t long turned 17 when he started being consistently named on the first-team bench in the latter stages of last season, but this campaign has so far been spent been spent playing regularly in Premier League 2 after being promoted from the Under-18 squad.
Amass did feature during pre-season and has been personally name-dropped by Luke Shaw in the last few months as someone to keep an eye on. But this would be a baptism of fire.
If Ten Hag doesn’t reshuffle a centre-back out to the left and is wary of potentially throwing Amass to the lions, a youngster with a little more senior experience is Toby Collyer.
Although a midfielder by trade, Collyer has already played at left-back against Barnsley in the Carabao Cup. He is also well liked by Ten Hag, who turned to the 20-year-old at half-time in the September defeat to Liverpool when Casemiro was struggling.
