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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Nathan Ridley

Why Man Utd are changing their sock colour for FA Cup clash with Middlesbrough

Manchester United will wear white socks for their FA Cup clash with Middlesbrough on Friday.

The Red Devils, who usually don black, have decided on the switch 'to avoid potential issues for colour-blind fans and viewers'.

This is because their opponents only have two choices of kit for the fourth-round tie at Old Trafford, red or all-green.

United, who wear red themselves, have therefore changed from black socks to white 'to help increase the visual contrast' to red or green, sources told the Mail.

Colour-blindness comes in many forms and people with deuteranomaly and protanomaly - collectively known as red-green colour-blind - generally have difficulty distinguishing between reds, greens, oranges and browns.

Ralf Rangnick's men last wore white socks for their dismal 1-1 draw at Newcastle after previously wearing them for a 2-2 draw in the Champions League away to Atalanta.

They were also used in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 's final victory as boss, a 3-0 win at Tottenham.

Join the debate! Can Man Utd win the FA Cup? Give us your prediction here.

The Red Devils will be desperate to repeat the same outcome as in the latter match when Middlesbrough come to town on Friday and club legend Bryan Robson believes the competition is "absolutely massive".

"This group of players, what they've got to do is win something, to get that confidence and belief in each other. They've got to win something," former captain Robson affirmed, with United having not won a trophy since 2017 and losing two finals since.

"That's why I said last season, it was so important to win that Europa League final, because we'd kept getting to semi-finals and then to the final, but we still didn't get over the line to win something.

"As a group of players, when I look back to 1990 with Sir Alex [Ferguson], that first FA Cup and first major trophy win, that gave us all belief in each other, because we had quite a lot of young lads in the squad at that time.

"You have to have belief to go on and keep winning things, and I think that's where this group of players are up to at this moment in time. They need to win something."

Robson both played for and managed Boro, who are now under the leadership of at Chris Wilder.

Wilder was handed the keys at the Riverside Stadium in November, replacing the outgoing Neil Warnock, and 'Captain Marvel' was a fan of chairman Steve Gibson 's decision to appoint the former Sheffield United boss.

"I think Chris Wilder is a good manager and I think he will do a really good job for Boro. He'll make it difficult for us in a one-off game at Old Trafford," Robson added.

"But I 'm just seeing signs of us having a little bit more devilment in our play and, with the ability that our lads have got, as long as we field a strong side - and I don't see any reason why we wouldn't - then we should go on to win the game."

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