Showboating: Why I substituted Anthony at halftime – Ten Hag

Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag has explained why he substituted Brazilian forward, Anthony at half time in the Europa league match against FC Sheriff.

With the scores still 0-0, Antony pulled out his trademark double 360 degree drag-back spin skill, before over-hitting a pass straight out of play.

Ten Hag has now explained that it wasn’t because Anthony was showboating in the match.

The Red Devils won 3-0 at Old Trafford on Thursday night to confirm their place in the knockout stages.

They would avoid a play-off against a Champions League drop-out if they beat Real Sociedad next week.

However,

Ten Hag replaced Antony with Marcus Rashford before the teams came out for the second half.

But the United boss insists his decision was pre-planned.

“It was more or less planned. If we were [winning], I wanted to see Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford close together, that was one of the reasons.

“Also to bring another dynamic over to the right side.

“I thought over the left side Alejandro Garnacho was playing quite well and he had a real threat in his actions, really good tempo dribbles, so that was good to see. So it [Antony’s withdrawal] was more or less planned,” Ten Hag told BT Sport.