The crowd wasn’t best pleased with that decision. However, the manager explained the reason behind those changes.
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Manchester United dropped points from a winning position once again at the weekend after Burnley scored a late equaliser. There was not much to separate these two sides, with both teams having their moments to take the lead in the first half. Poor finishing and good saves meant the game ended goalless at the break. With the crowd on their side, United kept pushing and got the breakthrough via Antony with little more than ten minutes left.
However, Manchester United were unable to hold on to it, as Zeki Amdouni equalised from the spot for Burnley following an Andre Onana foul late on in the game. There were several talking points from the Premier League game. One of the most notable ones happened when Erik ten Hag withdrew young sensations Kobbie Mainoo and Rasmus Hojlund just past the hour mark with the score remaining goalless at that point. The crowd wasn’t best pleased with that decision. However, the manager explained the reason behind those changes.
“What the crowd doesn’t understand is it’s a 19-year-old boy [Mainoo] in his first Premier League season. It was a third game in a week and we have to manage the game load. We don’t want him to be injured. Last year, he had two bad injuries. You can see he gets tired. I want to protect him. Of course, by bringing Scott on, the game was really open, really intense with one-on-ones all over the pitch. Kobbie got tired and Scott had fresh legs and is very good, making movements and attacks down the middle,” ten Hag, quoted on the club’s website, said after the match.
He added in his post-match press conference: “I have to manage the team and I have to, of course, be winning games. That’s first of all and see what the game needs. By that time, we needed some freshness, first of all. But also tactical wise, brining a player up who can keep the ball and who is creative in Amad. So they were subbed and it was the right decision.”
The manager also felt those changes had an impact, as his side took the lead in the game shortly afterwards. Ten Hag also reminded everyone of the injuries these two players suffered already this season, thereby justifying the reasons for those changes. “You see, after, we took some benefit from it, by bringing in the fresh legs and Scott in the position where it’s so open. He’s very good in such situations and he can make penetrations from there. That also happened. We put ourselves in a winning position,” he explained.
Ten Hag added: “We had three games and Burnley have had days off and it’s totally logical to bring players off who are very young, who are in the first year in the Premier League and then don’t even talk about the injury risk. Rasmus Hojlund had more injuries already in the course of this season. Kobbie also had some injuries. So I don’t want them to get injured. I protected them as well. So there are more reasons to make the subs but I understand that the fans, they want to see the skills those players are bringing and contribute to the team. I understand that but I have to do my job and that is the right decision.”
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