Erik ten Hag applauded his replacements after Marcus Rashford scored twice and helped Anthony Martial score after coming on in the Europa League match at Omonia Nicosia.
The Red Devils who were still reeling from Sunday’s 6-3 derby loss at Manchester City were hurt in Cyprus after making a strong start as the hosts took advantage of sloppy defending to go ahead through Karim Ansarifard, but ultimately won 3-2.
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At halftime, with his team looking down the barrel of an embarrassing loss, Rashford came off the bench to lead them to a tenacious victory that left them within striking distance of first place in Group E of the Europa League.
In addition to his two goals against Omonia Nicosia on Thursday, which were his fourth and fifth of the season, he also provided his third assist of the season, a fantastic flick that set up Anthony Martial’s goal.
The academy graduate’s five goals were spread out across just three games, his goals gave Manchester United six extra points in those contests.
The first goal Rashford has scored this year came in Man Utd’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool which was Ten Hag’s first win of the season while his second two came in a 3-1 victory over another big-six opponent, Arsenal.
The Red Devils 3-2 victory in Cyprus was the fifth time Cristiano Ronaldo has played in this competition, it was a perfect example of how he has excelled at the top of European football for so long.
To be fair to Ronaldo, he didn’t snub the chance to increase his staggering 700th career goal total against Omonia.
He actually gave it his all to score for just the second time this torturous season, but no matter what he tried, the ball would not go in.
After the game, Man United manager Erik ten Hag spoke to BT Sport:
“I think we started well, a couple of chances, and then unnecessarily down.”
“The mistake cannot happen, we have to take responsibility there. But then a really bad 10 minutes and we have to learn from that.”
The former Ajax boss was asked what he changed at half-time, he said: ‘A couple of things, especially more runs.
‘We were too static and we have to make the opposite movement to get behind. That’s why also we make two subs in that time and they had really an impact.”
‘I think Luke and Marcus definitely (helped with that) but also Anthony Martial, of course, with 2-1.
‘I think the subs really had an impact today and that is really good. That makes the team stronger.’
Ten Hag on Anthony Martial who scored two off the bench as he returned from injury in Sunday’s 6-3 loss at City.
‘We have already seen that (he can be important) in pre-season,’
‘It was really a big disappointment for this team, for me, when he got injured in the last 10 minutes against Atletico Madrid (in the final friendly).
‘So, we missed him in the first couple of weeks and that also had an effect on our team performance.’
‘Listen, we rode our luck a lot of times,’ Cypriot side’s manager said.
‘It was a great game, we kept ourselves in the game, whether it be good goalkeeping or United missing good chances.
‘And to score two goals against them was probably more than I could have imagined… I didn’t think until we scored we believed in ourselves, really, and then it gave us something to hold on to.
‘They got two quickfire goals but we had chances at 2-1 to get level.
‘The third goal has killed us but, you know, on the balance of play United thoroughly deserved the win.’
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