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1 month ago
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Jamie Carragher has suggested Erik ten Hag has lied about his reasons for bringing Marcus Rashford off at half-time of Thursday’s Europa League match to ‘protect’ the player.
Rashford enjoyed a highly productive first half, scoring after seven minutes and setting up Rasmus Hojlund 13 minutes later to fire United into a 2-0 lead away at Porto.
By half-time, the hosts had pulled it back to 2-2 and as the two sides emerged for the second half, Rashford was a notable absentee, replaced by Alejandro Garnacho.
Speaking after the match, Ten Hag insisted Rashford’s substitution was purely rotational in order to give Garnacho ample minutes.
“He is okay,” the Dutchman told MUTV. “But also Alejandro Garnacho, he is, in the season, our attacking threat in this moment, and we brought him from the bench. We need fresh players also for Sunday so, yes, it was all in the plan.”
In a later interview, Ten Hag added: “We have to rotate. Garnacho, we didn’t start him. He had a great game, not only on Sunday, but I think in the whole season.
“We sub them because on Sunday we have another hard game, a good game, so we need players to be available and be fit and be fresh. It’s a quick turnaround to Villa. They have a day longer [to recover] and we have an away game, so we want fresh players on the pitch.”
Carragher accuses ETH of lying to ‘protect’ Marcus Rashford
Carragher isn’t buying Ten Hag’s excuse, instead hinting that the Man Utd manager lied to the media to try and protect Rashford’s mentality.
The former Liverpool defender told Sky Sports (via BBC Sport) during Sunday’s clash with Aston Villa: “You don’t substitute a player at half-time during a major European game because of rotation. Erik ten Hag said that to protect the player.
Top photo by Michael Regan/Getty Imagesz
