United were humiliated by Brighton at the weekend, losing 3-1 at Old Trafford in the Premier League. It compounded a woeful start to the campaign for the Red Devils.
Ten Hag has overseen just two wins in United’s first five matches this season, with victories over Wolves and Nottingham Forest deemed extremely fortunate. The Dutchman is desperate for a shock positive result against an in-form Bayern team in Europe.
United travel to Germany struggling with confidence and with a plethora of off-field problems clouding their campaign. To make matters worse, four key stars will not feature in Munich.
According to the Manchester Evening News, Mount, Maguire, Amrabat and Varane have all been left at home. The quartet are all injured, with Ten Hag scrambling to put together a strong enough team to compete in United’s European opener.
Mount has not been seen since limping off in the closing stages of the Red Devils’ 2-0 defeat by Tottenham on August 19. Maguire reportedly has a fresh knock, while deadline-day arrival Amrabat is yet to make his debut having suffered a problem while on international duty with Morocco.
Varane’s absence creates a serious defensive issue for Ten Hag. Veteran centre-back Jonny Evans is United’s only senior alternative to Victor Lindelof and Lisandro Martinez, who both struggled against Brighton.
Injuries continue to mount for Ten Hag but the former Ajax boss insists the club are not in a crisis. Rejecting claims of a ‘crisis’, Ten Hag said on Saturday: “We must stick together and stick to the plan and the rules and we will turn this around.
“[The form] It bothers me but I have to see the way we play. It’s about character, we have to see how strong we are and how the team sticks together. Players standing up and showing character because in all the games, especially the game today [Saturday] and against Arsenal and Forest, we have seen we can play well and create chances.”
United take on a Bayern side who have enjoyed an unbeaten start to their Bundesliga title defence. Red Devils summer target Harry Kane has scored four goals in his first four appearances.
