Fuming Erik ten Hag slammed talk of a bust-up with axed Marcus Rashord as ‘crazy’.
The Manchester United manager’s shock decision to drop the England striker to the bench at Crystal Palace yesterday left Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp speculating that ‘something must have gone on’.
But that unsubstantiated accusation sparked an angry reaction from Ten Hag following United’s goalless draw in South London. The Dutch coach rapped: ‘I have heard already speculation from some pundits. That is crazy.
READ MORE: Five things Erik ten Hag learned as Man Utd settle for draw against Crystal Palace
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“ I would almost say that, as a person, you are not OK when you bring such speculation if you don’t know. This is just rotation.
“We have so many games to cover. We have more than a starting 11 of players. If the players perform, we will give them their chances. Finally, we will find out and the players who perform better will play more.”
(Image: Chloe Knott – Danehouse/Getty Images)
Rashford upset Ten Hag several times last season with his off-field behaviour and the Reds supremo had spoken pre-match about the need for him to stay disciplined away from the game.
But he denied there is any problem between him and Rashford, who had scored three times in his previous two outings.
Ten Hag added: “I’m very happy with Marcus – with everything. With his defending part, with the offensive party – he scores in this moment and he performs very good.
“So this has nothing to do with why he was on the bench – it was just rotation.”
(Image: Ash Donelon/Getty Images)
Ten Hag admitted thing that the only missing against Palace was some ruthless finishing as Alejandro Garnacho, selected ahead of Rashford, missed a hat-trick of first-half chances.
“We let them off in the first half,” he groaned. In and out of possession, we played a really good game. The only thing I can criticise is we were not clinical enough in the box, not decisive enough.
And he also hailed keeper Andre Onana a hero for a second successive week following his late wonder double stop .
“Last week he was very important by saving a penalty. And double save here was brilliant – it was class.”
Palace boss Oliver Glasner echoed those sentiments but felt United defender Martinez should have been sent off for a two-footed stamp on Daichi Kamada.
Glasner said: “I was surprised. It looked a heavy challenge. Fortunately, he touched the ball otherwise he’d have broken his leg.
“But we made many more wrong decisions than the ref.”