Ralf Rangnick has defended his decision not to play Jesse Lingard in Manchester United's final home game of the season.
Lingard is out of contract next month and set to leave United, but was denied the chance to come off the bench in Monday's 3-0 win over Brentford. The 29-year-old was left on the bench by interim boss Ralf Rangnick, which prompted his brother, Louie Scott, to launch a scathing attack on Instagram, branding United “classless”.
Other players leaving, including Juan Mata and Nemanja Matic, started the game, while Edinson Cavani, who is going, and Phil Jones, who is likely to depart, came off the bench. But Rangnick defended his decision today and said: “To start with, in the last couple of weeks under my tenure, Jesse has played far more games than he used to.
“Secondly, on game day against Chelsea, he asked me to release him from the game and training the following day for personal family reasons. With only three subs against Brentford, I had to make a decision between Edinson Cavani and Jesse, or the young Alejandro Garnacho, who I would have loved to have brought on and given a chance to play.
“I took the decision to bring on Edinson. Had I not brought on him, someone might have asked if it was classless not to bring on Cavani or Garnahco. After two subs, you have to make a decision, and this will not be to the liking of everybody, but this is part of the game.
“To be honest, I'm not reading a lot [on social media]. I've not had the time in the last six months to read. I'm not on Instagram, I'm not on Facebook, I'm not engaged in those areas. My focus has been to develop the team. In these days, with social media, there's always somebody posting something and it's important not to take too much notice of that."
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Posting on Instagram, Lingard's brother wrote: “20 years of blood sweat and tears, 4 domestic trophies, 3 cup final goals, not even a farewell. No wonder it's the Conference League next year,” wrote Scott. “Attacking players for celebrations when the club's being sold to the super league ok.
"Class of 92, Busby Babes, you're ran by people who don't even know the offside trap. Classless and the fans need to realise. Goodnight, godbless! Been there since nine years of age and didn't even get a send off!!! Well done bro your family are proud.”
Meanwhile, Marcus Rashford is out of United's trip to Brighton on Saturday with a chest infection. Interim United boss Rangnick revealed United striker Rashford is suffering from bronchitis and will not be part of his travelling squad. United skipper Harry Maguire, who has missed the last few games through injury, is back in training and will be available for selection.
Rangnick said: “Marcus will be missing. He has got bronchitis, with a high temperature, so he won't be able to be part of the group. We also have a question over Eric Bailly. He has some problems with his back but is being checked. Harry is back in training, he trained the whole week, since the second day after the Brentford game, so he will be available for tomorrow.”
