Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes believes Erik ten Hag should have introduced Alejandro Garnacho from the bench earlier than he did during Sunday's 3-2 defeat by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
United's ten-game unbeaten run came to an end in dramatic fashion in North London, as Arsenal snatched all three points in the final minute of normal time, courtesy of Eddie Nketiah's second goal of the contest. The Gunners, who did fall behind to Marcus Rashford's 17th-minute opener and were then pegged back to 2-2 by Lisandro Martinez's first goal in United colours, dominated for long spells in the second half and piled on plenty of pressure.
With just under 20 minutes left on the clock, Ten Hag made a tactical tweak to try and stem Arsenal's attacking threat, introducing Fred in place of Antony. The former's introduction meant he added an extra body in midfield, particularly down the left side to try and deal with the threat of Bukayo Saka.
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That decision marked a juncture in the game where it was clear that United were happy to settle for a point, with Ten Hag not turning to any of his forward-thinking players to try and snatch a win on the counter-attack. Garnacho did not come on until the 92nd minute, when Nketiah had just scored Arsenal's winner.
And for former Reds ace Scholes, Ten Hag's reluctance to bring Garnacho on at an earlier point in the game did prove costly.
"United did try and play on the counter-attack a little bit but they never had that real goal threat that you would expect on the counter," Scholes told Premier League Productions. "Other than Marcus, I thought Garnacho would have been a bit more of a positive substitute, who would have shown [ambition] to win the game and it might have been a different story.
"But from an Arsenal point of view, where you're going for the league, winning those games at home against your rivals is massive."
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