New Injury Crisis Preventing Louis Van Gaal from Fielding Best XI at Man United

First it was his centre-backs, now it's his full-backs. The new year hasn't brought Louis van Gaal any more luck in his bid to field his strongest XI at Manchester United.

Victory at Yeovil Town in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday came at a cost. Luke Shaw and Rafael, only just back from injuries, were forced off at half-time.

The Dutchman told the Manchester Evening News he was impressed with the way the pair had played through the pain at Huish Park. But it still leaves him with decisions to make before they play Southampton at Old Trafford on Sunday.

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Rafael Da Silva has a injury and a fracture of his bone so it was fantastic he had the guts to play through.

Rafael played through because over the last few weeks he has not played so much. But he has a fantastic attitude. He is unbelievable.

I had to change him and also Luke Shaw because he had an ankle problem. He played on also. Rafael has already gone away in a car to the hospital. I don’t know how he did it. I cannot say I will have to watch the video. Also the same with Shaw. But it was a very physical game.

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It's bad enough for Van Gaal to be without the only two natural full-backs in his squad. It's even worse when you consider his stand-ins, Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young, are also nursing injuries. Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind, who can also play at left-back, are also sidelined.

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The defence is an area of the team that thrives on stability. Managers don't like changing centre-backs and full-backs unless they have to. And Van Gaal has been forced to make a lot of changes this season.

He's already had to use 25 different centre-back combinations in the Premier League this season. It makes it remarkable that United have only conceded one more league goal than Chelsea and Manchester City.

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The latest injuries to Rafael and Shaw will only add to the feeling that we can't know how good United are yet. More than halfway through the season and Van Gaal still hasn't been able to field his best XI. When a couple start coming back, inevitably someone else picks up a knock or niggle.

Van Gaal has already had to convert Valencia and Young into full-backs to plug gaps in his team. Without Shaw and Rafael, he'll have to start squeezing more square pegs into more round holes when Southampton visit Old Trafford this weekend.