Manchester United Coach Erik Ten Hag has now revealed why he played Harry Maguire as a striker against Real Sociedad, MySportDab reports.
Erik ten Hag believes Manchester United took more risks in the second-half but still failed to secure the two-goal win needed to top their Europa League group.
In the 58th minute, The Dutch coach took off Donny van de Beek and Victor Lindelof for Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay.
He then brought on Fred and Harry Maguire to replace Christian Eriksen and Alejandro Garnacho with eight minutes to go.
Maguire immediately started playing upfront as an auxiliary striker as United resorted to aerial balls to score the second goal.
“First of all, Donny played for too long,” Ten Hag explained.
“He couldn’t finish 90 minutes, so we planned to make changes after 60 minutes and then we needed another goal so we played more offensive players, so we took more risks at that time.
“Lindelof is playing well with Martinez. He was ill before, and then Harry came on and performed well also. So I am happy we have the competition in various positions.
“With Varane Injured, it hurts because we miss his leadership, but still have three good centre-backs.
“We need a goal that is why Maguire went up front and then we went more opportunities. With Cristiano and Harry Maguire, you have two good ball headers and we tried the direct way several times but didn’t work out.”
Manchester United will now play a knockout match in February against a Champions League relegated team and remain nine games unbeaten.
