Erik ten Hag praised Christian Eriksen after Manchester United’s 2-0 win at Nottingham Forest and explained Harry Maguire’s positional change.
Eriksen made his first start in nearly three months after Marcel Sabitzer picked up a groin injury in the warm-up at the City Ground.
The Denmark international has missed a large portion of the season through an ankle problem but returned in the win over Everton last week.
‘I think Christian Eriksen is not really a disadvantage when he’s coming in! He played a brilliant game,’ Ten Hag told Sky Sports after the victory at Forest.
‘Both full-backs are important in that, to work together, to come inside, go outside and the co-operation and then we created space and the timing was good to pass the ball into the central areas.
‘Then we progress and when we come to wide areas we have to change and we did that quite well.’
Quizzed why Maguire played to the right of Victor Lindelof, having previously played on the left side of the centre-back partnership, Ten Hag added: ‘Not with me [he didn’t play on the left].
‘Not in this season. Because the angles are not good if Harry is playing on the left side. It’s difficult for him.
‘He’s more capable on the right and Victor can use very good both feet. He also did a brilliant job in defence. That’s why we prefer to do it with them in this way.’
Ten Hag also told the BBC: ‘[The defence was] very good, a really solid performance from all on the pitch today.
‘Centre backs had great cooperation, full backs were brilliant in and out of possession. Harry [Maguire] and Victor [Lindelof] dominated their opponents.
‘Last week I had nine fit top defenders, now I have four. We need all our players, we are still in three competitions, we need all the players to form a top team.’
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