Owen Hargreaves believes Erik ten Hag is ‘worried’ about Rasmus Hojlund’s workload after he was benched for Manchester United’s Europa League clash against Fenerbahce.
Hojlund scored a superb goal in United’s comeback win over Brentford in the Premier League last weekend so it was a surprise to see Joshua Zirkzee start ahead of him in Istanbul.
While Zirkzee played a part in Christian Eriksen’s first-half opener, the move did not bring much success for Manchester United and Ten Hag opted to introduce Hojlund in place of the Dutchman shortly after half-time.
By then Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce had already scored a deserved equaliser through Youssef En-Nesyri and his 49th-minute header ended up being the last goal as the match finished 1-1.
‘I know there’s games coming up but Erik ten Hag needs to win games now so play your best players.’
Hargreaves added: ‘I think I’d have to agree. He [Ten Hag] is worried about Hojlund and his minutes, he knows he needs him for West Ham at the weekend.
‘I definitely would have played Casemiro. [Manuel] Ugarte played really well, he looked good, but offensively United didn’t show much.
‘It was a fair result in the end. I don’t think United can expect to go there and win right now, given their form. But three points after three [Europa League] games isn’t good enough, clearly.’
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