‘He is fit’ – Ten Hag explains waiting until 99th minute to bring on £85m attacker in defeat

It was telling message to Antony that Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag left it until the 99th minute to bring him on against Fulham at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon.

The Reds lost the game 2-1 after Alex Iwobi’s injury-time winner. It was a demoralising blow because Harry Maguire’s equaliser game in the 89th minute and everyone thought United had done enough to secure a point at the very least.

Despite the absence of Rasmus Hojlund due to injury, Ten Hag couldn’t find room for his most expensive (£85 million) recruit in his starting line-up, instead opting to hand Omari Forson his full Premier League debut.

If that wasn’t a message to the Brazilian, who has been underwhelming since his mega-money transfer from Ajax, it became even clearer as Ten Hag resisted the temptation to bring him on until the 99th minute.

“It was nothing to do with fitness,” Ten Hag said when asked why he left it so late to bring on Antony, as quoted by The Metro.

“He is fit but we have many options on the right side where we lack in other positions due to injuries.

“The form in Antony we all have seen and he has to step up. I see it in training but also other Omari and Amad Diallo and Garnacho deserve to play.”

The message is pretty clear from where I’m standing. Antony may have a big price tag, but he must work his way into the team – just like our youth team graduates.

Ten Hag added: “We struggled with their influence and their impact on our left side. But we reacted well and how to deal with it, how to step up from the back and once we had that we got more from the game and took control to create the chances.

“With the squad we had today we should have won this game. Both halves were slow starts and we should be ready from the first whistle.

“That’s a point of criticism but the team showed big character in both halves.”

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