Erik ten Hag said he risked looking like a "cow's ass" with his decision to remove Bruno Fernandes and Antony in Manchester United's Europa League draw with Sevilla.
Ten Hag said he withdrew Fernandes on the hour and Antony in the 81st minute as he had been warned by the referee Felix Zwayer that both were on a booking and at risk of being sent off.
Fernandes had tossed the ball away and Antony engaged in an onrunning spat with Argentine Marcos Acuna. United were 2-0 up when both changes were made yet drew 2-2 and ended the quarter-final first leg with 10 men as Lisandro Martinez had to be carried off injured.
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Ten Hag harked back to his homeland to provide a unique analogy to legislate for his dubious decisions to remove Fernandes and Antony.
"Because the next Bruno was throwing a ball away," Ten Hag explained, "so the next he is off. He saved him because Sevilla did the same in the first half and the player from Seville got booked for it.
"Antony, finally, he saw it out but don't come in such circumstances, everything is going our way. Two-nil up, we're playing a good game, so don't go into individual battles with your opponents, it's not necessary, you're heating up the opponent and the risk to get sent off. I don't want to take the risk.
"It's easily... so afterwards we call it where I'm coming from, you're looking a cow in the ass. Yeah, a cow in the ass. So we call it in my region from the Netherlands, that is easy.
"But when he got sent off you tell me, 'why don't you get him off? Why don't you go for the risk?'" Figures at United clarified Ten Hag used the homeland analogy to refer to the benefit of hindsight.
United's last Dutch manager, Louis van Gaal, memorably said he "twitched my ass", referring to the discomfort he felt watching United's goalless draw with Cambridge in the FA Cup.
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