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Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has expressed his disbelief at Eric ten Hag’s decision to replace Marcus Rashford at the break during the club’s 3-3 Europa League draw with FC Porto.
Rashford was easily United’s best player in the first half, with a goal and an assist by the time the two teams went down the tunnel.
However, to everyone’s shock, the winger was withdrawn during the break and replaced by Alejandro Garnacho. As a result of these personnel changes, United lost their main source of threat and gave the Porto defense an easier time.
After the final whistle, Ten Hag shockingly claimed Rashford had left for rotation reasons.
A recent report by The Peoples Person suggests some United players are confused by Ten Hag’s mysterious rotation policy.
Now Rooney has criticized Ten Hag’s decision, claiming it was a “crazy” choice not to keep Rashford on the pitch for the second period.
Rooney said on the Stick to Football podcast: “Some of the changes he’s making… I’ve never seen top teams change their centre-backs or back four during a game. That happens on a regular basis.”
“Rashford… that was the best I’ve seen him play against Porto in a long time, and to take him away at half-time and say there’s another game at the weekend is crazy.”
“I guarantee you will see footage of him leaving the training ground and training with his coach during this international break, so if he can’t play two games a week, he should have rested.”
Roy Keane delved deeper into Ten Hag’s preference for replacing centre-backs. Lisandro Martinez and Matthias de Ligt started together against Porto but were left out for the next game at Villa Park. For the meeting with Unai Emery’s men, the United manager deployed Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans at the heart of the team’s defence.
Keane said of this: “He’s been cutting and changing (centre back combinations) during games, but that seems to be the norm now. He doesn’t stick to a settled back four.”
“He might say behind the scenes that they have had a tough game in Europe, but one of the requirements at any big club is certainly to be able to play two or three games a week and cope.”
When asked about Ten Hag’s use of fringe players, Keane stressed: “We can’t keep going back to Eriksen and Maguire.”
“Maguire and Eriksen have been back in the team in the last few weeks, so you go back to the players who are part of the problem – not themselves, of course.”
“New players need a chance. They need a few games and a few months to build relationships and get sued by each other.”
United’s next task is to face Brentford at Old Trafford on Saturday 19 October.
Featured Image Octavio Passos via Getty Images
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