Ten Hag faces Man Utd inquest over Rashford

Tom Weber

Updated: 23 Sept 2024 18:44 BST
4 min read

Rio Ferdinand has questioned Erik ten Hag's decision to drop Marcus Rashford at the weekend.

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The Man Utd boss raised eyebrows when he axed in-form Rashford for the Red Devils' clash with Crystal Palace on Saturday, which ultimately ended in a 0-0 draw.

Prior to the game, Ten Hag had urged the 26-year-old to be 'disciplined' in his day-to-day life after last season's off-field escapades, which inevitably gave rise to speculation that the Dutchman decided to drop the winger for more than just workload reasons.

When quizzed on the matter, Ten Hag reacted furiously, slamming the media for fabricating stories to create controversy and insisting that the decision to only use Rashford as a substitute was purely due to a need to rotate and give Alejandro Garnacho some minutes.

Now, Man Utd legend Rio Ferdinand has given his thoughts on the matter and questioned Ten Hag's handling of the situation.

Ten Hag doing Rashford no favours

Speaking on Rio Ferdinand Presents, the former defender said: "For a player who I think the club deem, in terms of an investment, as their most lucrative player, their star man or actually one of at least, and you see him come into some form and you're thinking, 'you know what, he's been searching for some form for like over a year probably and he starts to get into a little rhythm and then you take him out?'

"Maybe handle the situation [better]. I think the media side of it, if [Ten Hag] had come out and said rotation in the press conference on Friday, you might have quashed any rumours to bring into a kind of negative area. But I think the media probably wasn't handled as well as it could have been.

"Following the game against Palace, Man Utd are third in terms of xG, only bettered by City and Liverpool, so they're creating the chances, they're just not scoring the goals.

"And when you got a man in form like Marcus Rashford, who's come into a bit of form, a bit of momentum, which is always key with any player on [low] confidence, and I'm thinking, 'is it the right time now to rotate when if chances are coming our way and we're creating them, we've got someone actually in the team starting to score and you take him out?'

"I think him as a player, he will be sitting there going, 'I just hit a bit of form and they took me out? Wow, it confuses me.' But one of the most productive players, a person who causes havoc when he comes on the pitch, is Garnacho and Amad Diallo has played really well this season. It's a hard one, isn't it?"