Alejandro Garnacho was withdrawn in the final stages of Man United’s 2-1 win over Crystal Palace, despite earlier coming on as a substitute himself.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag told Alejandro Garnacho that he was withdrawn against Crystal Palace – having less than half-an-hour earlier come on as a substitute – for the good of the team.
The Argentine, 18, was taken off with just three minutes of normal time left on the clock and replaced by Harry Maguire, just 28 minutes after stepping off the bench himself. Garnacho had come on in the 59th minute to replace Wout Weghorst.
United were 1-0 up at the time and doubled their advantage just three minutes later, courtesy of Marcus Rashford’s 19th goal of the season. However, Casemiro’s 70th-minute red card changed the landscape of the contest, offering Palace hope of getting back into the match, which they did six minutes later through Jeffrey Schlupp’s clever finish.
Patrick Vieira’s side turned the screw in the latter stages and were knocking on the door in pursuit of an equaliser, and Ten Hag responded by introducing Maguire and Victor Lindelof as United saw out the game with four centre-backs on the pitch.
On how he adapted to Casemiro’s red card and the subsequent Palace onslaught, Ten Hag said: “First we had to see how they changed, then you have to anticipate and see how we can close, how to be compact, how we close the gaps, how we get away from our goal but also still have a threat in attack. I think we had to change something.
“It’s not always nice bringing off a player who we brought on but it’s in the interests of the team and the player has to accept that.”
Explaining why he had earlier brought Garnacho on in place of Weghorst, the United boss added: “He [Weghorst] played excellently. He was strong in putting pressure, in being a point of contact. We were able to continue playing through him. Only at a certain point do you switch tactically.
“To put an opponent who has focused on Weghorst against a different type of player…. I think it had an immediate effect.”
SOURCE: manchestereveningnews.co.uk
