sport news Alejandro Garnacho liking posts criticising Erik ten Hag will not have gone ... trends now

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It is never a good sign for a manager when stories start to emerge that a player is ‘liking’ social media posts about how nasty he is, but that was the supplementary headache for Erik ten Hag after Manchester United’s sleepy showing in Bournemouth.

There is always the Joleon Lescott defence – he once claimed it was not him but his pocket that tweeted a picture of a £121,000 Mercedes while driving after Aston Villa were humiliated 6-0 by Liverpool – as Alejandro Garnacho faced accusations of a public response to Ten Hag substituting him at half-time during Saturday’s disappointing draw followed by his post-match explanation for that tweak.

Screenshots were shared of Garnacho apparently showing his appreciation for messages written by a YouTuber called Mark Goldbridge, among them mentioning how Ten Hag was ‘throwing a 19-year-old under the bus who has actually delivered for you this season’ and that he is ‘scared of upsetting the bigger earners’ in the dressing room.

Those in the room for Ten Hag’s press conference heard the full reasoning behind why he made that half-time change. It would be a stretch to say he explicitly blamed the teenager, as United’s manager explained he saw the need to tactically repair the right-hand side that Bournemouth had been targeting and that Garnacho had missed most of the training week through illness.

Sensationalist though the response may have been, it is never nice for a footballer to be hooked at half-time, even if Garnacho had already put in a performance which had Bournemouth fans booing because of his antics in trying to buy fouls and cards.