Erik ten Hag was happy with how Donny van de Beek performed off the bench in Thursday night’s 3-0 win over FC Sheriff and believes the Dutch midfielder can force his way into the Manchester United line-up.
The manager welcomed three players back to his line-up during the week, including Harry Maguire, Van de Beek and Cristiano Ronaldo – all returning to first team action to give the squad a boost.
It gives Ten Hag with more to think about ahead of the weekend’s Premier League clash against West Ham.
“I was really happy to bring Harry and Donny [on], to give them minutes,” Ten Hag told reporters (via ManUtd.com), “because we need them in the coming weeks.
“He [Donny] is not even one week in training, the same as Harry Maguire… He was long out, so I was happy to give him some minutes because you need to get in the right form.
“But he’ll have to work himself back.
“When the analyse the season so far, then if he was available then he should get his chance.
“Because we need goals and I know Donny is really good in the position to score goals but also he is really good in defence transition.”
The manager also spoke about his selection on Sunday, adding: “Now I have to focus on West Ham United for Sunday, and then we will pick the team to start, but also to have plan B and plan C in the pocket to win that game.
“And that is what we need finally: to win games. And therefore we need not only 11 players, we need the whole squad.”
With five games left until the World Cup, we are asking this team to show a level of consistency that was non-existent last season, but it’s crucial if we want to get back into the top four.
I think that is Ten Hag’s ultimate aim this season… to get us back into Europe’s biggest competition and climbing up the table, closer to where we belong.
Will Ronaldo start against West Ham?
I think it is very unlikely that Ronaldo will start at the weekend. At 37, two games in one week is too much, and he should be rested for next week’s trip to Real Sociedad.
Marcus Rashford should lead the line while Anthony Martial is out recovering from injury.