Erik ten Hag reacts to Anthony Martial performance, explains two half-time subs vs Omonia

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag was pleased with Anthony Martial’s performance and  explained the reason behind his two half-time substitutions against Omonia.

Man United controlled the game in the first half but struggled to bury any of their chances, which eventually inspired the home side to get the breakthrough following a howler from Tyrell Malacia.

Erik ten Hag thought his players were too static in the first half, which obviously explained the reason they didn’t create too many chances, and reacted by making two half-time substitutions.

Tyrell Malacia and Jadon Sancho, who were both poor against the Cyprus side, were replaced by Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford respectively and both players wasted no time to make an instant impact.

Marcus Rashford scored twice and set up Anthony Martial’s goal to help Manchester United complete their comeback to beat Omonia 3-2.

On what he told his players at half-time, Ten Hag said: “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.

Ten Hag: "It [Omonia's first goal] was not what I was 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."

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Speaking about the Manchester United first half performance, the Dutchman added: “We started well, then an unnecessary mistake and a really bad 10 minutes. We have to learn from it. You let the crowd get alive, you have to avoid that.

“It [Omonia’s first goal] was not what I was happy with, it was the movement with our ball. The width on the left side, for me, was not good first-half. The movement from behind the defending line.

“So I hoped with Luke [Shaw] and Marcus [Rashford] we get more effect from that and so in my opinion that happens.”

Anthony Martial came off the bench and got on the score sheet two minutes later after he replaced struggling Bruno Fernandes. The goal was his third goal in three substitute appearances.

“We have already seen in pre-season, it was really disappointing when he [Anthony Martial] got injured, it had an impact on our team’s performance,” Ten Hag said of the Frenchman’s performance.