Man Utd legend Schmeichel slams Ten Hag decision in Man City loss: ‘I don’t get that’

Man Utd legend Peter Schmeichel has hit out at Erik ten Hag’s substitutions in their 3-1 loss to Man City in the Manchester derby on Sunday.

The Red Devils put in a good defensive display for a large chunk of the match after Marcus Rashford gave them something to hang onto with the opening goal after eight minutes.

But Man City eventually got the equaliser through Phil Foden 11 minutes after the interval before the England international grabbed a second on 80 minutes to nudge the Citizens in front.

Man Utd never looked likely to come back into it from there and Erling Haaland added a third for Man City in stoppage time to secure bragging rights at the Etihad Stadium.

And Schmeichel was confused as to why Man Utd boss Ten Hag took off Kobbie Mainoo, Jonny Evans and Rashford during the second half.

The Man Utd legend said on talkSPORT: “I thought as the game progressed that the team fell in a little too deep. For my liking, I would have pushed them up a little bit.

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“And also then, when you need to change the game and they have equalised and scored again, the substitutions that you make.

“You take all your pace out, you take your driving force out of midfield off? You take your best defender off?

“I don’t get that. Are they being rested for the next game? I really don’t get the substitutions.

“When you look what Pep’s doing, he is only taking off two players. Generally, he doesn’t substitute a lot.”

However, Man Utd boss Ten Hag – who is under increasing pressure over his job – explained after the match that he had to take the trio off as they were either carrying injuries or tired.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Ten Hag said: “Yeah. I had to take them both off.

“They fought to be part of this game but after 60 or 70 minutes we had to take them off and sub them, Jonny was playing the backline brilliantly, and Rashy was a threat, not only goalscoring.

“I think he had three or four moments where he could’ve scored, and he scored the first one; he could’ve scored even more.”

Ahead of consecutive home matches against Everton and Sheffield United, Ten Hag added: “We’re working on players returning, and I think players will return in the coming weeks, especially after the international break.

“Hopefully Jonny Evans and Marcus Rashford is not too bad, that they recover, and we can use them in the next game against Everton.”