Manchester United played a 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace at the weekend.
After two wins in their previous two matches, one in the Premier League against Southampton and the other in the Carabao Cup against Barnsley, United failed to win for the third consecutive game.
The Red Devils created a lot of chances to win the game but their poor finishing was responsible for them not winning the match, despite playing well.
The surprise in the team selection was the omission of Marcus Rashford, who had scored for the Red Devils in their previous two wins.
After a slow start to the season, Rashford scored against Southampton and then followed that goal with a brace against Barnsley.
Erik ten Hag still decided to bench the attacker against Palace and only introduced him in the final 30 minutes of the match.
Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer discussed Ten Hag’s team selection in the match against Palace.
On the Rest Is Football podcast, Lineker said:
“It looks like, reading between the lines, it might be some disciplinary issues because he (Ten Hag) kind of mooted that in his press conference that ‘Marcus has got to be professional’.”
Shearer added:
“Why else would you leave him out? When things have been criticised, and I was one of them, for performances, but then you get your goal last weekend.
“You get another couple in midweek. Why would you actually even contemplate leaving him out? My guess is, and it is a guess, it has to be something different.”
Marcus Rashford needs a long run in the Man United team
It is surprising to see Rashford get benched just when he had scored in the previous two matches.
The English attacker is finally regaining his long lost form and momentum, something that was missing last season from his game.
The Man United manager needs to support him now as he has the potential to lead the club’s goal scoring charts, just like he did two seasons ago.
It will be interesting to see what decision Ten Hag makes next weekend when Man United will come up against Tottenham.
The Red Devils are currently in 11th position in the league, one position below Tottenham.