Man United manager Erik ten Hag has blamed Manchester United star for Draw against Aston Villa
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has called Sky Sports commentator Jamie Redknapp “not acceptable” for claiming he dropped Marcus Rashford as a punishment.
Rashford was selected on the bench for United’s goalless draw with Crystal Palace, after starting the first six games of the season. Ten Hag said before kick-off that he was rotating Rashford, who had scored three goals in his previous two games, noting the form of fellow wingers Alejandro Garnacho and Amad.
Ten Hag discussed Rashford’s need to improve his discipline and professionalism at his pre-match news conference on Thursday. Redknapp, one of the analysts for Sky’s coverage of the game, remarked before kick-off: “It seems like something has gone wrong… Clearly, something has occurred.”
Ten Hag seems to respond to Redknapp’s false assertion during his post-match news conference, saying, “Already, the conjecture, certain commentators, that is absurd.” I would almost argue that as a human, you are not good bringing up such supposition if you are unaware of what is going on.
“It is merely rotation. We have many games to cover, and we have more than 11 starting players, but we must give all of them opportunities to perform, and we will eventually find out, of course, which guys perform better.
“But this has nothing to do with it; I am extremely pleased with Marcus in all aspects, including his defending and attacking play; he scores at this time, so he is doing well. It had nothing to do with him being on the bench; it was simply a rotation.
“I have to admit that Amad is playing extremely well, and Garnacho has had end product in all of his games so far, with the exception of Liverpool. We need to play them as well.”
Redknapp is the latest commentator Ten Hag has ripped into Rashford, three weeks after calling Alan Shearer’s judgment of the United striker on Match of the Day “dumb.”
United had multiple chances in the first half at Selhurst Park, hitting the crossbar twice and forcing six stops from man of the match Dean Henderson. The reprieves boosted Palace, who had perhaps the greatest opportunities of the game.
“We left them alive during the first half. “In and out of possession,” Ten Hag explained. “We played an excellent game. The only thing I can fault is that we were not clinical enough in the box, or decisive enough; we should have scored. We left them alive during the first half.
“It is fair to say the second half was more even, and both teams had chances.”
