Louise Taylor’s match report has landed, which is my cue to go and sidle up to the nearest radiator. Thanks for your company, correspondence and diverse views on Ten Hag, or as one reader called him, Van Gaal.
Human nature being what it is, I didn’t get any mail about Eddie Howe, who continues to do a phenomenal job at Newcastle. I’ll be back on Wednesday to see if Man United can bounce back against Chelsea. Do join my colleagues tomorrow for the 2pm GMT games, followed by Man City v Spurs at 4.30, plus West Indies v England in Antigua from 1.30 till about 9.30. For now, it’s goodnight from me and over to Louise.
Ten Hag wasn’t asked about one incident, though I can’t talk as I missed it myself. Just before half-time he appeared to have a frank exchange of views with Anthony Martial, who is not usually outspoken. There was clearly something Martial and Marcus Rashford were not happy about.
It may have been the fact that Bruno Fernandes was playing deeper than usual, next to Kobbie Mainoo, with Scott McTominay acting as more of a No 10. McTominay is a handy second striker but not much of a passer. This meant that there was little or no service for Martial and only a bit more for Rashford, who did at least stage a couple of promising counters in the first half.
That said, neither Martial nor Rashford was doing much tracking back. The players nearest to them – Fabian Schär for Martial, Tino Lovramento for Rashford – were both able to enjoy a walk in the Park.
