Man Utd: Romano reveals reason Garnacho was dropped amid Ronaldo claims; ETH says Rashford will ‘fly’

Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag has chosen to drop Alejandro Garnacho for “tactical” reasons, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.

The Red Devils have not had the best start to the new Premier League season with Ten Hag’s side losing back-to-back matches against Brighton and Liverpool after winning their opening weekend clash with Fulham.

Pressure is already piling up on Ten Hag with the Man Utd boss reportedly close to losing his job in the summer before a lack of suitable replacements saw him keep his position.

But some pundits and former players think a defeat against Southampton on Saturday afternoon would really turn up the heat on the Dutchman.

And Ten Hag made a couple of surprising choices in his starting XI to face the Saints with Garnacho starting on the bench and Christian Eriksen replacing Casemiro in the line-up.

In the end Garnacho scored from the bench along with Marcus Rashford as individual moments vindicated his decisions .

Garnacho was seen liking Ronaldo’s comments about Ten Hag during the week on social media and there have been rumours that this is the reason the Man Utd boss has decided to drop him.

But Romano has rejected those claims and insisted that sources have told him that it was a “technical/tactical decision” by the Man Utd manager.

Romano wrote on X : ‘Man United sources guarantee that Alejandro Garnacho has not been dropped today due to his social media activity after liking Cristiano Ronaldo comments on ten Hag. It’s described as a technical/tactical decision by Erik ten Hag.’

Marcus Rashford has been struggling so far this season with the England international failing to contribute a goal or assist in their first three matches.

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However, Ten Hag has stuck with Rashford in the starting XI against Southampton and is backing the academy graduate to come good once again for Man Utd.

Ten Hag told TNT Sports pre-match: “Not only today, but he’s in a good place and he needs a goal or an assist. Last game he had very good crosses. That moment will come, we will wait for that momentum and then he will fly.

“All strikers want to score and from my experience once a striker starts scoring they are going to fly.”

On the performance needed against Southampton on Saturday, Ten Hag added: “A must-win. Every game is a must-win. Never change the approach to a game we always have to win.”

On Manuel Ugarte being on the bench, Ten Hag replied: “Manuel, we have to integrate into the team. He has only had two sessions, we have to integrate and that takes time.”

On Casemiro playing a role at Man Utd, the Dutchman continued: “We have a squad and we offer a lot of games, he will play I am convinced of this.”