Erik ten Hag warned that Alejandro Garnacho still “has to learn a lot” despite netting in Manchester United's two-goal victory at Leeds on Sunday.
Garnacho produced a superbly timed run and finish to wrap up the points for Ten Hag’s side with five minutes remaining at Elland Road. The game had been meandering towards a scoreless draw before Marcus Rashford broke the deadlock in the 80th minute.
Rashford headed home expertly from Luke Shaw's cross and that opened up the game sufficiently for Garnacho to thrive, showing his awareness and link-up play to run on to Wout Weghorst's pass to add a second goal and settle the destination of the three points.
Ten Hag was unable to hide his delight with Garnacho’s goal as he was aware that it was the moment that wrapped up an important three points. The triumph took United to within five points of the summit of the Premier League, albeit with league leaders Arsenal having two games in hand.
Garnacho’s goal had vindicated Ten Hag’s decision to introduce him into the action just after an hour mark, as he replaced Jadon Sancho. The Argentine moved to the left of a front three with Weghorst dropping deeper and Rashford pushing into a more central attacking role.
Garnacho celebrated his goal, which put the game beyond the reach of Leeds, by shushing the home fans after coming in for some criticism. The wide-forward had been frustrated by Leeds just four days previously, as he was substituted after an hour before Ten Hag’s side came from two goals down to rescue a point.
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Discussing Garnacho’s impact in the reverse fixture and the criticism aimed at the teenager earlier in the week, Ten Hag said: “It’s normal. He’s a young player and he has to learn a lot.
“We saw on Wednesday he was making great actions but not finishing. I think he had to finish in that moment. It has to do with focus but also with preparation. Today it was the same. In the first minutes, he was not in the game and you have to be ready.
“After the first goal he improved and showed his great skills, his pace, his dribbles, his timing and it was a great finish too.”
Discussing his side’s victory, Ten Hag explained: “It was a hectic game, which you expect here.
“At the start, we were not calm enough, we made bad decisions on the ball and were not calm enough on the ball, too hectic, and after the subs, we were a little calmer, we dictated the game a bit more.
“Marcus is a great striker, he scores with left, right and head. It is about keeping focus for the whole game, and it is about the finishing and he has the capabilities to do that.”
