Man Utd star exposed Erik ten Hag mistake with his ‘first touch’, he was excellent vs Liverpool

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Manchester United winger Amad was the unfortunate player to drop out against Liverpool in the 3-0 defeat.

Alejandro Garnacho was brought into Manchester United’s starting line-up, and while Erik ten Hag was urged to drop Marcus Rashford, it was Amad who was left out of the team.

This was an unpopular decision, with Amad winning Manchester United’s player of the month award just days earlier.

Amad had scored in the recent game against Brighton and should have started against Liverpool – no matter who he replaced.

Amad improved United

Amad came off the bench in the 69th minute with Manchester United already 3-0 down. The game was already lost.

What he did do, was improve United’s overall play, Amad offered a lot more than Alejandro Garnacho, who failed to justify his own inclusion in the side.

It was a big call from Erik ten Hag to drop Amad, and the Ivorian winger showed what an error it was when he came on.

David May told MUTV’s Matchday Review: “Amad made a big difference down right hand side attacking the full-back, creating chances.”

Phil Bardsley was in agreement, noting that Amad made an immediate impact after being introduced.

He said: “He always does, I’m a huge fan of him. he looks like he enjoys his football. He always looks like he’s going to create something, or score a goal.

“He gets fans on the edge of their seats, his first touch when he came on, he backed Robertson onto the edge of the box and forced a corner.”

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Amad touches in Liverpool box

Amad’s impact was highlighted by an impressive statistic, which demonstrated how he changed the game and was more threatening than any other Manchester United player.

Touches in the Liverpool penalty box…

• Amad: 8
• Joshua Zirkzee: 6
• Marcus Rashford: 4
• Noussair Mazraoui: 4
• Alejandro Garnacho: 3
• Bruno Fernandes: 1

In just 29 minutes on the pitch, Amad managed more touches in the Liverpool penalty box than any Manchester United player, and more than Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho had combined.

Amad completed 91 per cent of his passes, and managed to created two goalscoring chances too.

His 24 total touches in 29 minutes were almost as many as Garnacho managed in 69 minutes and Rashford in 90 – both 32.

It was clearly a mistake from Erik ten Hag not to select Amad from the start. This was a topic of conversation even before kick-off, and was crystal clear at full-time.