Ten Hag's Rashford rotation claim rubbished as Man Utd face 'CONFLICT'

Robin Bairner

• 4 Oct 2024 08:30 BST
• 4 min read

Marcus Rashford was taken off at half-time as Manchester United were held to a 3-3 draw against Porto in the Europa League, sparking injury fears for the winger, but one pundit believes there could be a darker motivation behind Erik ten Hag’s surprise move.

Rashford had opened the scoring for the Red Devils with a terrific solo goal, but a strong individual display ended when he was replaced by Alejandro Garnacho in a surprise move with the game level.

Ten Hag dismissed these claims after the game, but TNT Sports pundit Don Hutchison says he believes there has been behind-the-scenes drama involving the forward.

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“I’m not buying it,” the former Liverpool and West Ham player said in response to the Man Utd manager’s rotation claims.

“I’ve been in dressing rooms at half-times, full-times, before games and it’s one of those where Erik ten Hag – and I’m not questioning him, because he knows his players and what went on, whereas I’m surmising from an ex-player’s point of view…

“Marcus Rashford in the first half was playing really well. He looked really sharp. At 2-2, are you going to tell me that Rashford was taken off because Ten Hag’s got an eye on the Aston Villa game?

“If you’re winning 2-0 or 3-0 and you take him off because you’re trying to give him less minutes going into the Villa game, it’s totally understandable. While the game’s in the balance at 2-2, in a big game, I don’t buy rotation.

“I just wonder if there’s been some sort of conflict or argument at half-time, and that can happen. That’s what I’m leaning to, and I might be wrong.”

Rashford in hot water again?

Rashford has already been at the heart of disciplinary controversy at Man Utd this season, with his absence from the starting XI in the recent Premier League clash against Crystal Palace put down to that reason by iconic Premier League boss Sam Allardyce.

Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Allardyce said: “Speculatively, on recent activities by Marcus Rashford, you wonder whether it’s a discipline scenario again and whether something’s happened behind the scenes.

“Ten Hag is apparently extremely old school when it comes to discipline.

“You’ve got to turn up on time, no mobile phones, rightly so in my opinion. Over the years, I have relaxed on that situation, but I think in his world, that’s the way he runs a football club.”

What did Ten Hag say about Rashford?

Publicly, Ten Hag has said Rashford’s substitution in Porto was simply to give him a break.

“We have to rotate. We go quickly with a turnaround to Villa and they have had a day longer to recover and we have an away game,” the Dutchman claimed.

Ten Hag has been told that he’s got multiple issues to solve at Man Utd in double-quick time because the midweek display was simply not good enough.