Carrick gives Shaw injury update after he misses game before Manchester derby

Michael Carrick has revealed Luke Shaw’s absence against Sabah on Thursday night was just a precaution. The defender was missing from the Red Devils’ squad for their comfortable 4-0 win in their Champions League opener at Old Trafford.

But the United boss has assured fans that he wasn’t ruled out with a serious issue and his absence was just a precautionary measure ahead of this weekend’s derby clash with local rivals Manchester City.

Speaking before Thursday evening’s game, Carrick said: "It's a little bit of that [managing him]. He came off the other day [at Everton] with a little bit of cramp.

“We didn't want to take any risks really. We tried to manage him so we will see how he is after this one."

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Carrick reshuffled his side in the absence of Shaw, with Patrick Dorgu instead being selected at left-back. The Dane enjoyed a positive evening, having teed up Matheus Cunha for the Red Devils’ opener, while he also managed to help the side to their first clean sheet of the campaign.

He was also named the UEFA Player of the Match. Speaking after United’s emphatic win, Dorgu said: “It was good. Really thank you to god for the giving me the opportunity to play in the Champions League.

“I’m really happy with my performance and really happy that the team got the three points and are up and running in the Champions League.”

He added: “The last couple of games, we conceded a lot of goals so it was good to get the confidence going into the derby at the weekend.”

Carrick was also able to give Dorgu a rest, with fellow defender Harry Amass handed a late cameo off the bench at left-back, having been left out of the squad for the 2-2 draw with Everton on the weekend.

United boss Carrick was left satisfied with the Red Devils' ability to keep Sabah out. He said: "It's nice to have a clean sheet and obviously win the game. There was a lot. I thought some of our attacking play was fantastic. Some of the football we played was really good, dangerous on transition.

"Defended on the most part really well. I have to give them [Sabah] a lot of credit. A really tough team to play against. They play little connections and make you really work to get the ball back. The result looks comfortable, it wasn't always like that. I thought we did a lot of good things tonight which gave us a good result."

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