Erik ten Hag 'had to repair the right side' by taking off Alejandro Garnacho in Manchester United's Bournemouth draw

A mixture of tactical and fitness concerns led to Alejandro Garnacho's half-time substitution against Bournemouth, according to Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.

United drew 2-2 at Vitality Stadium on Saturday evening, twice going behind to strikes from Dominic Solanke and Justin Kluivert. Bruno Fernandes equalised on both occasions, with the first against the run of play.

Bournemouth had a last-gasp penalty taken from them by VAR, and felt hard done by to only take a point from Ten Hag's men. The Cherries fired 20 shots at goal to the visitors' eight.

Garnacho was taken off in the interval, having registered the assist for the United opener, drawing ire from many fans. Garnacho's account on X was seen liking tweets criticising Ten Hag's call after the game.

Though the Argentina international has remained one of his team's brightest sparks, he has scored in just one of his last 11 games across all competitions - a brace in the recent 4-3 loss to Chelsea.

Reflecting on the substitution, Ten Hag told his post-match press conference that United required surgery on Garnacho's flank due to the defensive struggles.

"I think we had to repair the right side," Ten Hag said. "We didn’t play well, the spaces were there in possession and we had to bring a sub there.

"Garnacho was, during the week, also not training. Only yesterday [he trained]. So, we thought bring some energy and bring some more quality, quality in the sense of cooperation, togetherness on that right side."

Elsewhere, one man to complete the 90 minutes despite physical worries was Harry Maguire. The former captain played through the pain barrier, according to the Dutch coach.

He continued: "Harry Maguire had an issue in the first half and for us he overcame [it]. During the game, he recovered from it and you see in the second half, he was up there and then he can express his leadership, he can express his defending qualities and his [ability] on the ball.

"We needed that in this back four. We lost some balls in areas we shouldn’t lose them. For instance, the first goal, the setup was good, but in that area, you should never lose the ball."

United have won just one of their last seven Premier League outings, falling to seventh place with this latest setback. They now have a week-long break before an FA Cup semi-final against Coventry City at Wembley.

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