Erik ten Hag raves about Manchester United star and his connection with teammate

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Erik ten Hag was full of praise for Raphael Varane’s performance at Anfield as Manchester United picked up a point against Liverpool.

Raphael Varane had been limited to just 18 minutes of Premier League football since September as the Frenchman’s apparent inability to play as a left-sided centre-back, meant he was on the bench.

As a result of the Frenchman’s absence from the starting 11, the former Real Madrid defender looked to be asking for a move away from the club with Thomas Tuchel’s Bayern Munich believed to be interested.

However, Varane came back into the starting 11 against Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and the Frenchman was magnificent.

Ten Hag on Varane

It looks like the former Ajax boss has been proven wrong about Varane’s ability to play from the left side and the Dutchman was full of praise for the defender after the game.

“Absolutely, but we know what he is capable of and he has many such performances,” Ten Hag told the United website after the victory.

“I think he did very well, as the whole team did, [and] in the partnership with Jonny Evans, they were both leading the team from the back.”

Whatever Varane’s issues are with playing from the left side, the Frenchman has proven once and for all that he has to be the starting defender for the foreseeable future.

When Harry Maguire returns, playing the Englishman as the left-side centre-back, which he did for Leicester City and United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, would be the best decision for the Red Devils.

Ten Hag was wrong

The Dutchman must now surely see he was wrong about his stance on Varane, the Frenchman was superb and remains United’s best defender when it comes to actually defending in the penalty box.

Playing out from the back is of course important but, even then, he completed 80% of the passes he attempted for the Red Devils and in a hostile atmosphere like Anfield, the defender did really well.

When United travel to the London Stadium next weekend, Varane has to be in the starting lineup for the game, at all costs.