Speaking in his pre-match press conference in the immediate aftermath of United’s stunning comeback win over Manchester City in the 189th Manchester derby on Saturday, Erik ten Hag confirmed that Anthony Martial was substituted as a precaution.
Ten Hag revealed to the media ahead of the Palace game that the United number 9 “begged” the Dutchman to start him in the derby, even though he did not train as much as the manager would have liked.
“He begged to start because I knew the start would be so important in this game. Especially because he is really good with his pressing and he is a really big element in our pressing, and he did that really well before half-time” [via Man Utd].
The Frenchman was replaced at the start of the second half for Antony, and given that he only had one training session before the derby, Martial put in a good performance as he emphasised how important he is for the team to function as a collective, even if he is not scoring.
Ten Hag: "He [Martial] begged to start [against Man City] and I knew the start was so important in this game. He's especially really good in pressing, a really big element in our pressing – he did that really well before half-time."
— UtdDistrict (@UtdDistrict) January 17, 2023
After Martial went off, United struggled to get grips with the game as City controlled the game at the start of the second half and after the game, ten Hag conceded that Martial’s withdrawal had a negative impact on the team.
“But also you saw he was not capable to go 100 per cent and that’s what you need. Also, to avoid [him] getting injured, we took him off. But it also had an impact on our game, a negative impact after half-time” [via Man Utd].
United are in action tomorrow night against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park at 8pm UK time, and Martial will be hoping to feature against the Eagles in what is a really important game for United as they look to open up an eight point gap over Tottenham Hotspur in fifth place.
