Paul Scholes believes Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag could be forced into a change of system following the loss of Raphael Varane to injury.
The centre-back was forced off on the hour mark during Saturday's 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and was visibly distressed as he left the pitch.
The former Real Madrid man has been central to United's improvement under Ten Hag in recent weeks, and with Harry Maguire also sidelined, United now find themselves short of options in the midst of a busy period in the season.
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Scholes believes Varane's injury will make United less stable at the back, potentially prompting Ten Hag to offer his defence more protection by setting up with two defensive midfielders instead of just the one.
"He must know he's done something really bad and that he'll be out for a while, that's the only thing I can think of," Scholes said of Varane's reaction to his injury, speaking as an Optus Sport pundit. "You don't really see players, centre halves especially, getting that emotional. United will miss him, he's a big miss. We were talking before about one-v-one defenders and he's capable of that.
"In his top physical condition of a few years ago, he was up there with the likes of Jaap [Stam] and Rio [Ferdinand]. I'm not sure he's quite at that level now, he's picking up a lot of injuries, but he's the one centre-half you'd fancy one on one.
"The rest of them... [Victor] Lindelof is going to come in quite slow, [Harry] Maguire, we know the troubles he's had, we know Martinez isn't a one-v-one defender. You wonder how that will affect the team, especially in the middle of the pitch because you'll be thinking he'll [Ten Hag] have to play two holding players to protect whatever is behind him.
"We just don't see him (Varane) enough because unfortunately he's at that stage of his career now where he seems to be picking up a load of injuries."
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