Home » A chance to rest key personnel and Wout Weghorst’s opening goal will please Erik ten Hag

A chance to rest key personnel and Wout Weghorst’s opening goal will please Erik ten Hag

by Ayantan Chowdhury


Manchester United overwhelmed Nottingham Forest 3-0 in the Carabao Cup semifinal first leg at the Forest ground on Wednesday.

It means Erik ten Hag can finally rest some key players in the second leg which is set to take place at Old Trafford on February 1.

The result will be a huge boost to Ten Hag and United’s silverware ambitions as they are now only a step away from reaching the final at Wembley.

ETH can afford to rest key personnel

With the fixture schedule set to get even more challenging with United the only Premier League team to be competing on all four fronts, this emphatic result will be music to the ears of the Dutch manager.

The likes of Marcus Rashford, Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes have been an ever-present part of the first team post the World Cup and the manager might get the chance to give them a rest.

The result was partly aided by Forest’s open game plan with manager Steve Cooper hinting that they would try and take the attack to the away side.

That suited the Red Devils to the T who nicked the ball in dangerous areas and went on the offensive time and time again.

United’s goals came from Rashford, who scored a splendid solo goal early on in the game. Wout Weghorst scored on the cusp of half-time before Fernandes settled the affair late on.

With Anthony Martial almost perennially injured, Weghorst’s role has become increasingly important and he has started the last three games in all competitions since arriving on loan.

Weghorst goal will boost his confidence

While his hold-up and general link-up play has been decent, a striker is ultimately paid to score goals and that was missing till tonight.

He was the first to pounce as Antony’s volley was parried away by Wayne Hennessey and smartly struck the net with an outside of the foot shot.

This will give him greater confidence going into far more difficult challenges. It is likely that he will be leading the line for the 20-time English league champions for some time now.

 



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