Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford will not play from the start of his team’s game against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
When the line-up came out, Rashford’s name was surprisingly not included with Alejandro Garnacho coming on for English.
The decision was perplexing, to say the least, with Rashford currently in excellent form and enjoying his most productive period in recent memory.
Rashford scored in both of United’s games against Burnley and Nottingham Forest.
He also recorded an assist in the Forest game, for Anthony Martial’s second of the game.
Speaking to the press before the game, Ten Hag confirmed that Rashford was not named in the starting XI for reasons of “internal discipline”.
Ten Hag on why Marcus Rashford is on the bench: “Internal discipline”. [@btsportfootball]
— utdreport (@utdreport) December 31, 2022
The United boss offered no further explanation on those reasons, leaving much for speculation.
On starting Garnacho ahead of Rashford, Ten Hag said: “We have a good team and Alejandro [Garnacho] comes in.”
“He did very well in the last two games and made great progress.”
“I hope he will contribute and bring his skills.”
Ten Hag: “We have a good team and Alejandro [Garnacho] enters. He did very well in the last two games and made a lot of progress: I hope he will contribute and bring his skills.” [@btsportfootball]
— utdreport (@utdreport) December 31, 2022
Alongside Rashford, the other player conspicuously missing from the starting XI is Harry Maguire, with Ten Hag preferring to field Luke Shaw in the left-centre role for the second time in a row.
The Dutch coach reiterated that the United captain is still recovering from an illness that kept him out of the Carabao Cup match against Burnley.
However, Ten Hag added that Shaw’s inclusion is not just based on Maguire’s illness, but is also motivated by tactical reasons, as the full-back is a better fit against Wolves.
