Man Utd boss Ten Hag blasts Redknapp over ‘crazy’ comments as he explains Rashford drop
Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag has hit out at Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp over his claims that something “untoward” must have happened for Marcus Rashford to be dropped against Crystal Palace.
Rashford has come in for a lot of criticism over his performances during the last 12 months after he scored 30 goals for the Red Devils in the 2022/23 campaign.
The England international has struggled to hit those heights again since but Rashford has found a bit of form over the past couple of matches.
Man Utd forward Rashford scored against Southampton in the Premier League to quieten his critics before knocking in a brace against Barnsley to continue a mini run of good form.
But fans were shocked when Man Utd boss Ten Hag chose to leave him out his starting XI to face Crystal Palace on Saturday with the Red Devils being held to a goalless draw at Selhurst Park.
Speculating on why Rashford wasn’t starting, Redknapp insisted that the Man Utd manager must have been unhappy with the England international to drop him.
Redknapp said: “It feels like something has gone untoward. Obviously I don’t know the details, but you don’t drop a player that’s just scored two in midweek (against Barnsley) and scored against Southampton.
“It feels something has happened this week. It’s unusual for a manager to come out and almost out a player by talking about their lifestyle. Sir Alex Ferguson would never do it, whereas Ten Hag will do it on occasions and it’s not always beneficial to the player.”
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But, after the match, Ten Hag hit back at the former Liverpool and Tottenham midfielder, insisting that Redknapp’s claims were “crazy” and that dropping Rashford was simply squad “rotation”.
Ten Hag told reporters: “I heard already the speculation (from) some pundits. That’s crazy. I would almost say that you as a person you are not okay when you bring such speculation if you don’t know what’s (going) on.
“This is just rotation. We have many games to cover and more than 11 players, but we have to give all the players their chances if they perform. Finally we will find out and the players who perform better will play more.
“But this has nothing to do (with Rashford). I am very happy with Marcus with everything – his defending, his offensive part. He scores in this moment, he performs very good. So nothing to do with him being on the bench, just rotation.”
