The incident involving Mathijs de Ligt in the win over Brentford should see some of the Manchester United medical team sacked.
That’s according to Dutch journalist Valentijn Driessen, via FC Update, who is having none of the excuses offered up by Erik ten Hag either.
Manchester United were 2-1 winners over Brentford on Saturday, securing a much-needed win for their under-fire manager.
The hard-fought victory eased the growing pressure on the Dutch coach but, as has been the case with Manchester United in recent times, did not come without controversy.
This time it centred around De Ligt, who suffered a blow to the head in the tenth minute of the game. He was forced off thanks to him visibly bleeding after a clash with Kevin Schade.
He returned but was forced off again just before half-time as the heavy bleeding continued. While he was off the pitch, Brentford scored the opening goal from a corner.
De Ligt was furious on the sidelines, clearly believing he could have stayed on the pitch and stopped the Brentford goal. Ten Hag later explained the decision was made against them because of dried blood on the defender, something neither Driessen nor Verweij are having.
“You always think why are you heading so low,” Driessen said.
“But ten minutes later (after his first treatment) it started bleeding again. Then you think: come on with that bandage, we’ll see what happens at half-time. The blood gushed out again a little later, just before half-time. Ten against eleven again. Then the Brentford player was completely free.
“You can almost fire that medical staff, it almost costs you the match. After that (after half-time) they (United) did a really great job. But it was so unnecessary to play with ten against eleven three times. Really.”
“His (Ten Hag’s) version was that it was dry blood,” added Mike Verweij.
“What nonsense man,” responded Driessen.
“Blood was pouring down his ears and his head. It was in his shirt. It wasn’t clotted blood at all.”
