Manchester United’s Erik ten Hag has addressed Alejandro Garnacho’s controversial social media actions after the team’s stalemate with Bournemouth.
Despite falling behind to goals from Dominic Solanke and Justin Kluivert, captain Bruno Fernandes equalized on both occasions.
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However, the draw contributes to United’s recent slump, with only one victory in their past seven league matches, leaving them in seventh place and 13 points shy of the final direct Champions League qualification spot.
Garnacho, who had an underwhelming first half, was replaced at the interval and later engaged with social media posts criticizing Ten Hag’s decision to sub him off.
Prominent United YouTuber Mark Goldbridge criticized Garnacho’s substitution as nonsensical and questioned Ten Hag’s comments on the young Argentine’s involvement in Bournemouth’s scoring opportunities.
‘Garnacho has been one of our best players this season,’ wrote Goldbridge while the game was still going on.
‘Poor first half but taking him off at half-time and holding him up as the problem is a joke. Many have done much worse week in week out and are still out there.’
Goldbridge followed up with a second post after the game which read: ‘Ten Hag subtly blaming Garnacho in the post-match press conference… not a good look throwing a 19-year-old under the bus who has actually delivered for you this season. But then again he’s clearly scared of upsetting the bigger earners.’
Garnacho’s engagement with controversial content on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, has been reversed, with the young player removing his ‘likes’ from the posts in question.
The Manchester United spokesperson has confirmed to the Manchester Evening News that the situation has been resolved behind closed doors. However, details regarding any formal disciplinary action against Garnacho remain undisclosed.
It is understood that Erik ten Hag has personally discussed the issue with Garnacho, who promptly retracted his ‘likes’ from the contentious posts.
Ten Hag’s reputation as a firm manager precedes him, evidenced by past actions such as the exclusion of Jadon Sancho from team activities and his subsequent loan to Borussia Dortmund following Sancho’s public criticism of Ten Hag, which went unapologized.
Explaining why he felt Garnacho had to be substituted off against Bournemouth, Ten Hag said: ‘I think we had to repair over the right side. We didn’t play well, the spaces were there. In possession, we had to bring a sub there.
‘Garnacho was during the week not training. Only yesterday. We thought bring some energy and bring some more quality, quality in the sense of cooperation and togetherness on that right-hand side.’
