Erik ten Hag has furiously hit out at ‘speculation’ over why he dropped Marcus Rashford against Crystal Palace – after Jamie Redknapp guessed ‘something has happened’ this week.
Rashford had scored three goals in his last two games but was forced to settle for half an hour off the bench as Manchester United drew 0-0 at Selhurst Park.
This week, Ten Hag warned the £300,000-per-week forward that he must ‘set his life right’ if he is to rediscover his best form of 2022-23 when he scored 30 goals.
Ten Hag said: ‘I heard already speculation from pundits, it’s crazy, as a person you are not ok when you bring such speculation when you don’t know. It was just rotation.
‘I am very happy with Marcus in everything he is doing.’
Redknapp had fired a bee in Ten Hag’s bonnet by saying: ‘It feels there’s maybe something that has happened this week. I don’t know, the manager’s frustration.’
And Redknapp came back biting after full time, with United having gained a point at the ground they lost 4-0 at last season.
He said: ‘It is a fascinating one today with Marcus Rashford, we thought he was turning a corner scoring a couple of goals, getting a couple in midweek and one at the weekend.
‘I thought momentum is starting to build and getting that confidence and he gets left out today. There is that little bit of a cloud over him. I don’t that that is ideal for the club because the manager – every single press conference he is having is going to be about Marcus Rashford.
‘That is something that has to be nipped in the bud and get him back in form and the confidence he was beginning to show.’
‘I can only imagine when he woke up to those headlines, it probably wasn’t enjoyable for him wondering why has the manager bringing that up. I read it initially like we have figured it out and almost like, this is why he wasn’t doing as well this year because he wasn’t living like a professional athlete should.
‘Obviously it has been taken slightly differently, because he gets left out today. I don’t know what has happened this week, it might come out, it might not.
‘He can say that [rotation]. He played 63 minutes in midweek and got two goals. You don’t take a player who has got two goals; do you think they would do that with Salah at Liverpool if he scored three goals in two games? It is not going to happen.
‘Something has gone on that we don’t know. If there is something that is a little untoward and he is not living his life right, that is something only he can take control of.
‘You have got to make sure you are on it all the time. I liked a night out, we all did. You have to make sure you live your life right more so than ever. In my day, pretty much everyone else was doing it. But not now, you have got to live your life right every single day, you have to dedicate your life to football. He needs to go to the player of two years ago.
‘It doesn’t make sense you could have that high standard and drop to where he was last year. It was hard to watch. Certain games he would trot around and plod.’