When we saw today’s lineup to face Manchester United we were surprised to see Marc Cucurella restored to left centre back.
It hadn’t worked well against Aston Villa last week and manager Graham Potter had admitted as much. So why wasn’t Kalidou Koulibaly, a natural in that position, carrying on?
All became clear when Potter spoke to the Sky cameras in the buildup to the game. According to the former Brighton coach, K2 felt a twinge in his knee in the latter stages of the draw against Brentford, so was left out of today’s starting lineup.
Graham Potter has explained Kalidou Koulibaly’s absence today: “He just felt his knee at the back end of the game against Brentford. It's not too bad, but it's too soon for him to play in this game.†#CFC
— Adam Newson (@AdamNewson) October 22, 2022
It doesn’t sound too bad – in fact Potter said as much – but it’s still a huge blow for today’s game.
This is one of the matches that could prove crucial in the top 4 race, and a setup that struggled against a bad Aston Villa team will now be repeated against a much stronger Man U.
Good luck out there, Marc…
