Ole Gunnar Solskjaer explains why Bruno Fernandes selection decision v Liverpool
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revealed the need for ‘fresh legs’ swayed his decision to make five changes to his side for Sunday’s FA Cup fourth round glamour tie against Liverpool.
Manchester United cemented their place at the top of the Premier League with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Fulham in midweek and with fixtures coming thick and fast, the Norwegian felt it was only right to rotate his squad.
The most eye-catching change saw Bruno Fernandes dropped to the bench with Donny van de Beek, last summer’s headline summer signing from Ajax, handed a rare opportunity, while Dean Henderson was selected in goal instead of David de Gea.
Explaining the changes, Solskjaer said: ‘They [Henderson & Van de Beek] impress every day in training anyway. Of course they work hard to get their opportunity in a game. It’s a big game against the best team in England the past few seasons.
‘It’s about keeping players on their toes really. We know know it’s a long season and we need to have fresh legs every game we play really.’
Defender Eric Bailly, whose influence has grown rapidly over the course of the last few weeks, did not even make the bench, meanwhile, but Solskjaer is hopeful the Ivory Coast international will have recovered in time for Wednesday’s game against Sheffield United.
He added: ‘Eric [Bailly] is fine. Just a little bit of…. He will be fine for midweek. It’s just in these times you don’t want to take risks at all.’
There were five changes also for Liverpool, who brought Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino back into the starting XI after they sat out the 1-0 home loss to Burnley. Divock Origi and Sadio Mane dropped out.
In midfield, Curtis Jones and James Milner started, in place of Xherdan Shaqiri and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. In defence, Joel Matip was replaced by Rhys Williams.
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