I JUST CAN’T LEAVE HIM WOUT

Ten Hag defends his decision to stick with Weghorst despite tall striker’s shortage of goals

ERIK TEN HAG is standing behind his decision to sign Wout Weghorst despite the giant striker scoring just once for Manchester United.

Weghorst joined on loan from Burnley until the end of the season to fill the void in attack left by Cristiano Ronaldo’s acrimonious departure before the World Cup.

The 6ft 6in Holland international has started all six games the Reds have played since he arrived on January 13 after cutting short a spell with Besiktas, but his only goal came in the Carabao Cup.

With Anthony Martial unavailable again through injury, Weghorst will lead the attack tonight when Leeds visit Old Trafford.

Boss Ten Hag is adamant he is happy with Weghorst’s contribution, and is backing him to be among the goals as United aim to keep the pressure on Arsenal and Manchester City.

“In many scenarios I can see us being very good with Wout and in other scenarios to be better with Martial,” said Ten Hag. “Martial has some capabilities he adds, he has some skills, he can be more variable, but what is definitely the case is Wout is doing a really good job for us in pressing.

“His offensive movements are very good and he’s the one who makes players around him play better, to create spaces and also he has had some contributions in the box.

“As a team, we have to work better to anticipate his movements, because his movements are good.

“Quite a lot of times he was close (to scoring), like the header against the post against Nottingham Forest and a penalty against them, which he didn’t get.

“He’s had many good actions and already a lot of good contributions to our results. Especially for strikers, it takes time. At the start of the season for Rashy [Marcus Rashford] we discussed it and every time, I said, ‘It will come’.

“We had to work on routines, the team around him had to act better, but I saw his potential – the same I see with Wout. He will score but, in the meantime, do the other stuff, do it well. It’s not about scoring individually, but scoring for the team – and the team has to win.

“He’s doing a very good job at this moment in several aspects of football.”

Tonight, as United go for a 14th successive win at home in all competitions, will be the 21st game Martial has missed through injury this season.

Ten Hag said the France striker is doing all he can to recover, but admitted it is frustrating not being able to rely on him to be fit for every game.

“He was never 100 percent this season, but he had a big impact every time he’s available, even when he’s at 80, 85, 90 percent,” said Ten Hag.

“So we do everything and Anthony is doing everything. I think Anthony is the player who has spent the most hours at Carrington this season, to recover and get back.

“It’s really a pity for him that he’s disappointed.

“He’s not always available and we want him to always be available, because that will improve our game and because routines can’t become routines when you’re not available.”