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Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has said that he was pleased with certain elements of Marcus Rashford’s performance against Manchester City, despite the player missing multiple clear-cut goalscoring opportunities.
Ten Hag spoke to the press after United’s loss on penalties against Manchester City in the Community Shield.
United took a late lead courtesy of Alejandro Garnacho but their advantage was cancelled out soon after as Bernardo Silva headed in a cross from Oscar Bobb.
It may have been a different story for the Red Devils had they made the chances they created stick. Two of the side’s best opportunities to punish City fell to Rashford in either half.
For the first, the Englishman tried to bury the ball into the bottom corner but it went wide. The other miss came about after Garnacho produced a brilliant cross to him but the 26-year-old failed to get a clean-enough connection to hit the target.
After the final whistle, Ten Hag was asked whether Rashford was lacking in confidence. The United boss replied, “No, I think he was several times in very good positions, I am very pleased he is getting in those positions. Keep going, keep making those movements…the team will make those movements and he will score goals.”
Ten Hag insisted that Rashford is experienced enough to deal with rustiness and once he scores one, the floodgates are sure to open.
When questioned about whether Casemiro’s improved performance was due to the change in system and formation, Ten Hag responded, “I don’t think it’s about the system. Since a long time he has pre-season, he is very fit at this moment; the team work together, which makes it easier for Case. Then he brings his skills and then you see he is very important for the game and the team.”
Against City, United were severely lacking in the full-back areas, with the likes of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia all absent. Ten Hag turned to Facundo Pellistri and Lisandro Martinez to play in the right-back and left-back positions respectively.
Given the lack of squad depth, Ten Hag admitted that it’s an option he could employ again.
“You need squad depth, you need players who can play in multi-functional positions and when there is an emergency you have to have the option to play players to play in different positions.”
“They are both capable, that is not their best positions but maybe it can grow into their best position for the team.”
On why Harry Amass didn’t get a taste of minutes, the 54-year-old coach remarked, “I think we had some seniority there. To start, I think that was the idea, we had a plan how to deal with it and I think also that went how we thought.”
“I think all the full-backs, although not all were full-backs, like Licha, he did good as a full-back. Diogo [Dalot] is the full-back and Facundo did well as the full-back. We are pleased with those performances.”
When put to the task about the imminent arrivals of Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt from Bayern Munich, Ten Hag explained, “No, I can’t. When we have some news, we will announce it. Until that point, we will work with the squad that is available.”
“It’s clear we have the problems and we have to work, the players have to work to be available and the staff have to work, together it should be a good collaboration with the players who are available.”
United return to action on Friday, when they open their 2024/25 Premier League campaign with a home fixture against Marco Silva’s Fulham.
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