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Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has revealed that he snubbed Amad Diallo in a bid to reward Antony for his good performances in training.
United were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Fenerbahce in their third match of the Europa League.
Against the run of play, the Red Devils took the lead through Christian Eriksen. United failed to hold on to their lead, with Fenerbahce restoring parity mere moments after the restart. Youssef En-Nesyri took full advantage of some pitiful defending by Erik ten Hag’s men to ensure the spoils were shared.
The result – a third straight draw in this competition – leaves United in 21st position in the playoff standings, between Viktoria Pilzen and Elfsborg.
In yet another game, Ten Hag left Amad out of his starting XI – a decision that was made to look even stranger considering he deployed Noussair Mazraoui in an unusual attacking role.
Amad has previously played in the number 10 and understandably, a few eyebrows were raised when Ten Hag elected to go with Mazraoui ahead of the Ivorian.
As if to add salt to injury, Ten Hag brought on Antony from the bench ahead of Amad, possibly indicating that the latter is now bizarrely at the bottom of the pecking order despite his brilliant start to the season.
Amad was substituted in the 89th minute after Antony got hurt.
After the final whistle, Ten Hag spoke to reporters and was asked about Amad. The United boss said, “Amad, he is doing well. But I must also reward the performances of Antony in training, he is a threat almost every training, so I felt in that moment to bring him, to decide the game.”
“The Dutchman remarked about the result, “From two tough away games, Porto and Fenerbahce, we take two points, this is a result.”
“Point in Porto, point in Fenerbahce, that’s not bad, but of course we want to win. We want to win every game.”
Ten Hag added, “Away from home in Europe, hectic ambience, to start with four attackers is too much. Nous [Mazraoui] is very capable to play that position.”
“I made him a full-back, when he played No 10. He was helping midfield, supporting Zirkzee in pressing, big part of goal for Eriksen.”
United’s next assignment will see them travel to the London Stadium to take on West Ham on Sunday.
Featured image Octavio Passos via Getty Images
