ERIK TEN HAG has admitted he was scared to risk starting “fragile” Anthony Martial against Brentford.
Manchester United edged a 1-0 win at home to the Bees with Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Antony starting in attack.
ReutersErik ten Hag has revealed Anthony Martial didn’t start against Brentford as he fears the forward is ‘fragile’[/caption]
Rashford scored yet again to secure all three points to keep their top-four dreams alive.
United haven’t won a match where the England man hasn’t scored since the 2-1 victory at Fulham on November 13.
Martial, 27, has missed much of the season with hip, back, Achilles and hamstring injuries – playing just 11 Premier League games this term.
He was forced to watch the first 70 minutes of the Brentford clash from the bench before he replaced Sancho.
And Ten Hag has now revealed the worrying reason why.
When asked why Martial didn’t start, Ten Hag replied: “He was an option but I don’t think he was fit enough.
“Also it’s prevention. Obviously, when you see his record over the last years you have to be really careful to plan it.
“Even then still he can be fragile physically.
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“So I don’t want to take that risk because I know when he is on the pitch he has a great impact on our performance.”
But Ten Hag claimed he is “happy” Martial is back and, once he’s back to full fitness, is excited at his attacking options.
The Dutchman claimed: “We have a very good frontline… a lot of creativity, a lot of intelligence, a lot of pace, a lot of togetherness…
“I think we can create more and then we will have more of a threat.
“And the balance of that frontline will be good.
“But obviously you have to play more together. So happy it looks like (Martial)’s back and hopefully he stays fit until the end of the season and we can play him.
“But we have seen with other players we have got results, we proved that… Martial is often not available but still we are there.”