Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has hit back at Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp for suggesting that Marcus Rashford was dropped as a form of punishment. Rashford, who had started United’s first six games of the season and scored three goals in his last two games, was named on the bench for the goalless draw against Crystal Palace. Ten Hag clarified before the match that his decision was based on rotation and the good form of fellow wingers Alejandro Garnacho and Amad, not disciplinary reasons, as Redknapp had speculated.
Erik Ten Hag responded “It feels something’s gone on untoward… I would almost say as a person you are not okay when you bring such speculation if you don’t know what’s on. This is just rotation. We have many games to cover, we have more than 11 starting players but we have to give all the players, if they perform, the chances and finally we will find out, of course, the players who perform better will play more. But this has nothing to do with it, I am very happy with Marcus, with everything, with his defending part, offensive, he scores in this moment, so he performs very good. Nothing to do with the fact he was on the bench, just rotation.”
Ten Hag continued to explain the performances of other players.
Erik Ten Hag said “I have to say Amad is playing very good, I have to say Garnacho, all of the games so far, apart from maybe Liverpool, he has end product. We have to play them as well.”
After the game, Ten Hag reflected on United’s performance:
Erik Ten Hag said “We left them alive in the first half. In and out of possession, we played a really good game. The only thing I can criticise is we were not clinical enough in the box, not decisive enough, we should have scored. We left them alive in the first half. It would be fair to say the second half was more equal and both teams had their chances.”
