Erik ten Hag explains decision to substitute Jadon Sancho in Omonia victory
By Tom Gott
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has confessed that he was unimpressed with the left side of his team in the first half of Thursday's 3-2 victory over Omonia Nicosia, leading to him substituting both Jadon Sancho and Tyrell Malacia at half-time.
United were woeful in the first half and trailed at the break after Sancho and Malacia conspired to give away the ball for the cheapest of counter-attack goals, and both were hooked at the interval.
Sancho was replaced by Marcus Rashford, who went on to bag a goal and an assist, while fellow substitute Anthony Martial also scored just moments after being introduced on the hour mark.
Asked to explain his logic behind removing Sancho while his team were losing, Ten Hag said: "It [the goal] was not what I wasn't happy with, it was the movement with our ball.
"The width on the left side, for me, was no good first-half - the movement from behind the defending line.
"So I hoped with Luke [Shaw] and Marcus we get more effect from that and so in my opinion that happens."
Asked what he told Rashford and the rest of the team at the break to inspire a comeback, Ten Hag told BT Sport: "More runs, we are too static, we have to make the opposition move to get behind – that is why we made two subs.
“The subs really had an impact today.”
The boss added: "I would call it stay composed. It can always happen, football is a game of mistakes. I agree with you, first 30 or 35 minutes, we played quite well, the only thing we didn't do was score a goal.
"When you score a goal you make your life easy, we didn't. Then we concede a goal and it was the worst 10 minutes from the game from us. After half-time, we dealt well with the setback."