Erik ten Hag claims that Manchester United star “begged” for a starting place against Man City

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Erik ten Hag has claimed that Manchester United forward Anthony Martial “begged” for a place in the starting eleven against rivals Manchester City.

Manchester United face their rivals Manchester City at the weekend, with the former looking to gain ground on the latter in the Premier League.

City have shown vulnerability at times this season, and that was certainly the case against United. Ten Hag’s men came from behind to beat Manchester City after an impressive attacking display.

Ten Hag has now revealed how desperate Martial was to start for Manchester United and explained why he brought him off at half-time.

“We decided, and he decided as well, to start. He begged to start. I knew the start would be so important in this game and he is really good at pressing and he is a really big element in our pressing. 

But I needed to re-evaluate at half-time as you saw he was not capable to go 100 per cent and this is what you need. And also to avoid him getting injured so we took him off but it also had a negative impact on our game after half-time,” said Ten Hag, as relayed by 90min.

It will be difficult for Martial to argue against the substitution after Manchester United went on to win the massive game against their rivals.

It should be a huge positive for Manchester United fans knowing how desperate Martial is to play for the club, particularly in such a big game.

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