Erik ten Hag has been asked whether he regretted the one big decision he made at half-time of Manchester United’s defeat to Nottingham Forest.
During the interval of a rather poor encounter, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag decided to bring off Kobbie Mainoo and replace the teenager with Scott McTominay.
Mainoo was struggling in the middle of the park but replacing the 18-year-old for McTominay, who has been pushed further forward recently to try and get the best out of his goalscoring antics, was a poor decision.
It’s this lack of joined-up thinking that is seemingly starting to irk the United fanbase and taking off one of the Red Devils’ best players over these past few weeks was certainly bizarre.
Ten Hag on decision
As quoted by the Manchester Evening News, the Dutchman told reporters that he did not regret his substitution and confirmed the change was a tactical one.
When asked if the substitution was injury-related, he said: “No, but he played a third game in a row in this week and that’s tough, where he’s coming from.
“I thought the energy was a little bit lower than the other two games this week, therefore we brought some new energy in. I don’t regret it.
“I thought Scott brought energy, I thought second half was much better our side. The first goal, when you analyse it good, we were downsized. Nothing to do with the central midfield there.”
This is certainly concerning. Mainoo wasn’t at his best but you could say that about pretty much any player in the United team so taking off the 18-year-old midfielder was certainly a strange decision.
Replacing him for McTominay, who was nowhere to be seen when Nicolas Dominguez swept home a cut-back past Andre Onana, was an incredibly naive move.
The Scottish midfielder looked rather lost being played in a deeper position and it is another case of Ten Hag bringing on players in positions they’re not used to and it hasn’t worked again.
Mainoo has to keep his place
The worry is that the teenage midfielder could well be ousted from the team after he was taken off at half-time which would be a disaster of epic proportions.
Mainoo is the only midfielder who can pick the ball up from the back four, dictate the tempo of the game, and protect the ball when he is pressed.
Dropping him from the team would be unforgivable and you can imagine the United fanbase would have a few strong opinions about that potential decision from the Dutchman.
Mainoo simply has to remain in the squad, otherwise United will be in trouble.
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