Former Old Trafford favourite Patrice Evra has suggested that Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw should leave Manchester United after they were left out of Monday night's 2-1 win over Liverpool.
The high-profile trio were culled by Erik ten Hag, who headed into the seismic clash off the back of consecutive league defeats against Brighton and Brentford. And the Dutchman's decision was immediately vindicated as United produced a much-improved performance to stun their arch rivals.
Marcus Rashford scored the decisive goal after replacing Ronaldo down the middle, while Raphael Varane and Tyrell Malacia impressed in place of Maguire and Shaw respectively.
And Evra, who clocked up over 370 appearances for United, believes that Ten Hag deserves major credit for the bold selection stance that proved to be the catalyst for a priceless result.
Speaking in his role as a Betfair ambassador, Evra said: "We should give a lot of credit to Ten Hag because he's had a tough start to the season and coming into a game against Liverpool, to make changes, even in the game, you could see that he wanted the team to score that second goal to secure the win, was really important. He's here to stay. He needs the players and the right attitudes, but I believe in this manager.
"When you win against Liverpool you get the fans on side, and that will be a big boost for him. Now, Ten Hag will have to make decisions about the team and not think about individuality.
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"I'm convinced that the starting eleven made a big difference in that win. If we started with the same players that started against Brighton and Brentford we would have definitely lost. I think Ten Hag was selfish and he was thinking about himself, he would have been saying 'I don't want to lose my job and I should get rid of really important players and make changes,' and he did."
Even before they were dropped for the match against Liverpool, Ronaldo, Maguire and Shaw were all under intense scrutiny. Ronaldo has already outlined his desire to quit the club following their failure to qualify for the Champions League, while Maguire and Shaw have become maligned figures following a string of underwhelming performances.
And Evra is adamant that all three would stand to benefit from moving on from Manchester United after being axed for such a high-profile game.
He added: "Let's be clear, I can say people are too harsh on Harry Maguire, but he is paying the price for his transfer fee. From that day, I said he is going to have the most difficult season for United, because people only looked at the price. If we bought him for £5 million, people would say he's an amazing centre back. We all have bad games, but now we've got to a point where even if he has a good game people are not happy. So there's a negativity around him.
"The Cristiano Ronaldo saga is another issue. Is he staying? Is he leaving? It's created a lot of confusion with fans. He's still here, the transfer window isn't closed but I think, personally knowing Cristiano, if he doesn't play he would like to leave. I think this would be the best for him and for United.
"We've been playing Luke Shaw for so many years and I'm really careful when I talk about left-backs because I've been in this position and it's not an easy position. Luke Shaw has been here for so many years and he hasn't matched the standard set by Dennis Irwin or myself, and I think left-back is a really crucial position for United.
"Maybe it's time for those players to go."
