Ten Hag said he opted to play Maguire as a makeshift striker late on against Sociedad because he wanted to exploit his aerial prowess
By Kehinde Okeowo
Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag has explained why opted to play Harry Maguire, who is a defender as a striker against Real Sociedad in the Europa League game played on Thursday night.
Alejandro Garnacho’s goal in the 15th minute gave the Red Devils the lead in the first half and ultimately became the winning goal.
Manchester United needed to beat the La Liga side by two clear goals in order to finish top of Group E and avoid a playoff against big teams relegated to the Europa League from the Champions League.
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But Ten Hag’s team, after taking the lead in the first half, were unable to add to their tally as the home side took control of the game for large parts of the second half and the visitors had to defend bravely.
Dutch tactician, Ten Hag, later decided to introduce Harry Maguire as a makeshift striker late on, in his quest for a crucial second goal.
The change, however, proved unsuccessful as Man United were unable to get that crucial second goal and ended up second in their group behind Real Sociedad despite their victory.
Ten Hag told BT Sport after the game said he used Maguire as a striker before he was a good leader of the ball.
He said, “It’s clear, we needed the goal, then we went more opportune.
“With Cristiano and Harry Maguire, you have two good headers and we tried to go more direct into the box and I think we did several times, quicker to get into the box for the opponent,”