Ralf Rangnick explains decision to bench Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford

Ralf Rangnick benched Pogba and Rashford for Man United’s clash with Brighton.

Manchester United interim boss Ralf Rangnick has explained his decision to bench Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford for Tuesday’s clash with Brighton.

The fixture, which was initially scheduled to take place in December, was delayed due to a Covid-19 outbreak at United.

Brighton travelled to Old Trafford on Tuesday for the clash with the Red Devils looking to get back to winning ways against Graham Potter’s side.

Rangnick had hinted in his pre-match press conference that he might shuffle his starting XI, and the German delivered with two changes – Pogba and Rashford were benched for Fred and Anthony Elanga.

“It’s a bit about fresh legs after both Paul and Marcus played in the last couple of games,” Rangnick told MUTV.

“Paul coming back from a long-term injury. That was the idea behind that.”

Rangnick: “(The changes) was about fresh legs, Anthony Elanga did well until the last two games he did not start in.
"Paul Pogba came back after his long term injury and Fred is fully back in training so I decided to go with that." #MUFC
— Shamoon Hafez (@ShamoonHafez) February 15, 2022

Rangnick also insisted he wants to see an improvement from his side, and added: “It’s important to show our nice face, our beautiful face, it’s a bit like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

“Today we have to show for the whole game our beautiful face, the nice side of what we did for the last three games.”

United have won just two of their last five league games, but have a chance to move back into the top four if they gain a point against Brighton.