Manchester United made four changes for their scoreless draw with Aston Villa on Sunday. The biggest change came at centre-back as Erik ten Hag switched Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt out for Jonny Evans and Harry Maguire to step in.
Erik ten Hag made a total of four changes to his side and admitted that he considered bringing Martinez on during the goalless battle with Villa, but ultimately decided against it just in case Evans would need to be replaced.
Evans went down in the first half after being forced to make a sliding attempt to win the ball (Christian Eriksen was guilty of letting his man run through midfield with the ball), so Ten Hag was mindful of that at least.
The decision to start Evans proved to be a masterstroke. In the heart of defence, the 36-year-old dealt with everything that came his way.
Evans’ performance led to the Northern Ireland defender winning the Sky Sports Man of the Match award.
However, Martinez was overlooked again when United replaced both the injured Noussair Mazraoui and Maguire at half-time.
Ten Hag was asked about making changes at the back against Villa. He told reporters (via ManUtd.com): “Rotation, we have loads of games. We have to rotate the team.
“The freshness, I think it was a good decision today. The performances from Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans, they were very solid. Matthijs de Ligt came in at half-time and was very solid.”
The manager was asked if he considered bringing on Martinez at left-back and moving Dalot to right-back instead.
“Of course, you take everything into consideration,” he added. “More reasons, you have to change the back four totally and Jonny Evans, I didn’t know if he could come to the end and if he would have to be subbed again. So I always consider, but for me, it was the best idea.”
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