Substitutes' impact pleasing Ten Hag
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has praised his substitutes for their continued impact from the bench.
The Reds' replacements in games have now scored 10 goals so far this season, which are evenly split between the Europa League and the Premier League.
The latest of these substitute strikes came from Fred, when the Brazilian midfielder came on to score against Nottingham Forest in Tuesday night's 3-0 win.
Ten Hag certainly seems to have taken full advantage of the Premier League rule change which allows managers to bring on fibve substitutes.
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Speaking in his press conference to preview this weekend's game away to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Erik expressed his pride at the way players who are not named in his starting line-up can still influence the proceedings.
“We need impact from the bench,” said Ten Hag. “And I am happy once again it was a player who came from the bench, Fred, who is scoring a goal. I think all the subs who came on [against Forest] did really well.
“In the offensive department, you need players coming from the bench who will have an impact on the game, whether you need a goal or, if you are leading, [someone] that can go for a counter attack and keep the win on your side.”
The players who have scored the majority of our 10 goals from the bench this season are Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, with three apiece. Fred, Scott McTominay, Alejandro Garnacho and Cristiano Ronaldo make up the remainder of the tally.
Rashford and Martial have now moved up to second and fourth place respectively in United’s all-time top scoring substitutes. In his 94 appearances as a sub, Marcus has scored 21 goals - only eight fewer than first-placed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on 29. Martial currently has 15 strikes to his name in 76 games when he came on.
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Wolves provide the next test for Ten Hag’s side, with kick-off at Molineux set for 12:30 GMT on Saturday.
The last substitute to score a goal between the clubs did so in the 2010/11 season, when Mexican legend Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez came off the bench to net in the 90th minute and clinch a dramatic 3-2 win in the League Cup at Old Trafford.