There was a reason behind Manchester United coach Erik Ten Hag’s decision to choose to play Rasmus Hojlund instead of Marcus Rashford when his team lost to Chelsea in the 2023-2024 Premier League match. According to Ten Hag’s explanation, the main reason was because he wanted to rotate players to face the Red Devils’ busy schedule.
Yes, Manchester United just suffered a dramatic defeat to Chelsea with a score of 3-4 in the 30th match of the 2023-2024 Premier League. The match took place at Stamford Bridge Stadium, Friday (5/3/2024).
Alejandro Garnacho (34′, 67′) and Bruno Fernandes (39′) were the Red Devils’ goal scorers. Meanwhile, Chelsea successfully won through goals from Conor Gallagher (4′), Cole Palmer (19’P, 90+10’P, 90+11′).
The defeat to Chelsea means Manchester United remains in sixth place in the standings with 48 points. They are nine points behind Tottenham Hotspur who are in fifth place.
In the defeat to Chelsea, Erik Ten Hag received the spotlight for making a quite strange strategy. Because he brought Marcus Rashford off the bench.
Meanwhile, after the match, Erik Ten Hag said he played Marcus Rashford from the bench because of rotation. The reason is, Manchester United has a busy match with two important matches in three days.
“Marcus is on the bench to rotate to keep him and the team fresh during a busy period, with another big game on Sunday,” said Erik Ten Hag quoted from Metro, Friday (5/4/2024).
“We have two big games in three days, we need all the players,” he said.
The Dutch coach said that Manchester United in the last few matches had players who were able to perform well from the bench. Apart from that, this also had a good impact on Marcus Rashford, who didn’t start the match from the first minute.
“We need (players from) the bench and lately we have had (players from) a strong bench. That is a big impact and it is a good impact to have Rashford on the bench,” he explained.
Meanwhile, after losing to Chelsea, Manchester United will face another difficult match. Manchester United will host Liverpool in the 31st Premier League match which will take place at Old Trafford Stadium, Sunday (7/4/2024).
