Marcus Rashford was replaced by Antony with 15 minutes remaining of the derby (Picture: Getty)
Manchester United great Peter Schmeichel says he was baffled by Erik ten Hag’s substitutions in the side’s 3-1 defeat to Manchester City, especially the removal of goalscorer Marcus Rashford for Antony.
Rashford got the Red Devils off to the perfect start in the 192nd Manchester derby as he found the top corner of Ederson’s goal from 25 yards to give the visitors an eighth-minute lead.
But an inspired Phil Foden completed a stunning second-half double to put Pep Guardiola’s Premier League champions in front before Erling Haaland added a third at the death to consign United to their 11th loss of the top-flight campaign.
The result moved last year’s treble winners to within a point of top-of-the-table Liverpool, while United remain down in sixth, 11 points worse off than fourth-placed Aston Villa.
Ten Hag made four substitutions after the break, with Jonny Evans, Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo all removed at the Etihad as City took control in the second half.
Any momentum United gained after Rashford’s opener appeared to dissipate and Sunday’s hosts never looked under any serious threat as the clock ticked closer to the full-time whistle.
Discussing Ten Hag’s cautious approach in the derby, club legend Schmeichel told talkSPORT: ‘You’ve got to have pace up front… really, really, really quick players because what they have at the back is they’ve got experience, they’ve got cleverness and they’ve got pace.
Foden and Haaland fired City to victory over their bitter rivals (Picture: Getty)
‘Kyle Walker… [Nathan] Ake yesterday, he was running with Garnacho and catching him up. He surprised me with the pace that he’s got.
‘You’ve got to have that to give yourself a chance. I think that’s just a general thing.
‘Now, when you’ve chosen to play like that, there is a limit to how deep you can fall when you play Manchester City and I thought, as the game progressed, the team fell in a little bit too deep for my liking. I would have pushed them up a bit.
Schmeichel was stunned by Ten Hag’s substitutions at the Etihad (Picture: Getty)
‘And also then, when you need to change the game at the moment they’ve equalised, they’ve scored again, the substitutions that you make… you take all your pace off, you take your driving force in midfield off, you take your best defender off. I don’t get that.
‘Are they being rested for the next game? I really, really don’t get the substitutions. When you look at what Pep’s doing, Pep is only substituting two players. Generally, he doesn’t substitute a lot.
‘Yesterday, those substitutions, from that moment on, I just don’t get it.’
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Schmeichel, a treble winner with United in 1999, could not believe Ten Hag brought Rashford off for Antony with 15 minutes remaining, given the Brazilian is without a goal in the league since last April.
‘Rashford scores a really, really good goal but he is a threat on his own. We’ve seen that in the game,’ the legendary ex-United goalkeeper added.
‘He only needs one pass and he’s through. Why take him off? Why put somebody on who hasn’t made an assist since April? He hasn’t scored a goal since April.
‘Why bring somebody like that on instead of Rashford? Why take Garnacho off? I don’t get it.’
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