Why Manchester United took Alejandro Garnacho off at half-time of Bournemouth draw plus Harry Maguire update

Erik ten Hag says Manchester United had to ‘repair the right side’ of their attack at half-time of their 2-2 draw with Bournemouth in the Premier League.

United went into the break 2-1 down at the Vitality Stadium after goals from Dominic Solanke and Justin Kluivert came either side of a strike from Bruno Fernandes. The home side were by far the better side and could quite have easily scored more goals when Milos Kerkez fired straight at Andre Onana and Kluivert fired a low effort just wide of the far-post.

Ten Hag made a half-time change when Amad came on for Alejandro Garnacho and United were slightly improved in the second-half, though that is not saying much in itself.

Speaking after the draw, Ten Hag was quizzed on why he had decided to withdraw Garnacho midway through the match. “I think we had to repair over the right side,” he told reporters.

“We didn't play well, the spaces were there. In possession, we had to bring a sub there. Garnacho was during the week not training. Only yesterday. We thought bring some energy and bring some more quality, quality in the sense of cooperation and togetherness on that right-hand side.”

Ten Hag also says that an early injury concern for Harry Maguire had impacted their performance, and says that his recovery improved they way they played after the break. He added: “There were some points, one thing was Harry Maguire had an issue first half and luckily for us he overcame and recovered from it. You can see the second half he was up there and then he can express his leadership, he can express his defensive qualities and rest on the ball, we especially needed that in this back four.

“We lost some balls in areas we shouldn't lose them. If you see the first goal, the set-up was good but in that area you should neve lose the ball but it's still not a goal. On the right side defending we had some problems in the first half. At half-time we repaired it, in the second half, Harry was better, we repaired it on the right side and we took more control of the game and if we would have been more calm and composed we could have had a win. First-half they were better, they created chances but the good thing is we returned twice from losing positions so this team, the spirit is good, the resilience is good, they showed some character.”