December 30th 2023.
Kobbie Mainoo's substitution at half-time in Manchester United's loss to Nottingham Forest has been a highly controversial decision for manager Erik ten Hag. The match was goalless at the break after a tedious first half, and Ten Hag decided to replace Mainoo with Scott McTominay.
Nicolas Dominguez opened the scoring for Forest, and Marcus Rashford equalised before Morgan Gibbs-White scored the winner shortly after. This has caused Red Devils legend Peter Schmeichel to question Ten Hag's decision to take Mainoo off, as Schmeichel believed other players were 'doing absolutely nothing', and that both Forest goals were shots a defensive midfielder should have stopped.
Ten Hag has denied that the substitution was due to injury, and instead argued that Mainoo had played three games in a row, and that he believed Scott McTominay would bring 'new energy' to the team. He also said that the first goal was due to the team being 'downsized' and that the second goal was the result of a 'miscommunication'.
In response to Ten Hag's decision, Schmeichel stated that Mainoo was having a good game and was controlling his part of the pitch well. He suggested that the substitution was only made to give the team three breaks in the second half, and questioned the signal it sent to the rest of the team. Schmeichel believes that Ten Hag should have left impact players on the pitch if he wanted to make an impact.
Erik ten Hag's decision to substitute Kobbie Mainoo has been met with criticism. With Manchester United struggling of late, Ten Hag will have to make sure that his decisions are the right ones in order to get the best out of his team.
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