Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag has been advised to drop Marcus Rashford for the match against Liverpool this weekend. Instead, the Red Devils should start Alejandro Garnacho.
Manchester United started the 2024/2025 season with a narrow 1-0 win over Fulham. However, the Red Devils lost 1-2 when they visited Brighton last weekend.
Next, Manchester United will face a tough test this weekend. They will face Liverpool who have won two consecutive Premier League games.
Meanwhile, Rashford has not shown satisfactory performance throughout this season. He played for 65 minutes against Brighton before being replaced by Alejandro Garnacho.
Manchester United will face Liverpool who are in top form. For that, Bent advised the Red Devils to drop Rashford and play Garnacho from the start.
“Garnacho has to start. He has to start,” former Premier League star Darren Bent told talkSPORT.
“If that means Marcus Rashford has to be benched, so be it. He has to start. I would play Garnacho, Diallo and Zirkzee as a front three.
Bent sees Garnacho’s performances as good as they have been this season and believes the Argentine should be a starter for Manchester United ahead of Rashford.
“Erik ten Hag can only protect Rashford for a short time. He gives him every chance to succeed even though he hasn’t played well for a long time,” he added.
“Garnacho changed the game in the Community Shield final, he was outstanding. His energy against Fulham was great. He scored a goal against Brighton that was ruled out for offside.
“He’s ready to play now. As a manager, I understand he’s trying to be loyal and give Rashford a chance to rediscover his form. But you risk losing part of Garnacho if you keep ignoring him.”
Gary Neville gave Erik Ten Hag a suggestion. He wanted the Manchester United manager to change his game plan when facing Liverpool.
Neville assessed that Ten Hag had to change his tactics when facing Liverpool. “The balance of the team was not good in the match,” Neville told Sky Sports.
According to Neville, Ten Hag’s decision to play a false nine had a bad impact. So he assessed that Ten Hag had to change his game plan.
“I actually have no problem with the 4-2-2-2 scheme implemented by Ten Hag. But we can see, both Rashford and Amad play too wide and they rarely penetrate inside,” continued Neville.
“Ten Hag fixed that aspect in the middle of the match, where he also did that when facing Fulham. So I think he will change his game plan when facing Liverpool.”
According to Neville, Ten Hag must play a scheme with a center forward when facing Liverpool. Otherwise they will face the same obstacles later.
“I thought they struggled a lot without a centre-forward. They kind of let the first half go,” Neville added.
“They weren’t bad, but they weren’t sharp. United only came alive in the second half and they can’t keep doing that,” he concluded.
Manchester United have one striker who could be plotted as a centre-forward when they face Liverpool.
That player is Joshua Zirkzee, where the Dutch bomber has the potential to be played as a starter for the first time in the Red Devils squad.
