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Manchester United demolished League One side Barnsley 7-0 at Old Trafford on Tuesday to book their place in Round Four of the Carabao Cup.
Three players — Alejandro Garnacho, Marcus Rashford and Christian Eriksen all struck a brace apiece while Antony also scored from a penalty in the first half.
The Dane started back-to-back games after a long time and was played in an advanced role in the cup tie with Erik ten Hag choosing to give Bruno Fernandes a well-deserved break.
He pulled the strings with elan, and his passing was crisp as usual and served as a timely reminder to his manager of his talents.
Eriksen was on fire vs Barnsley
There was considerable talk of the Red Devils letting the former Tottenham Hotspur star go in the summer with multiple clubs interested. But no concrete bids arrived.
The Denmark international has time and again spoken out about his lack of minutes since last season with the manager attributing it to Kobbie Mainoo’s emergence.
The 32-year-old does not have the legs to play for the full 90 minutes against the top sides in the English top-flight but he can sure do a job against teams which sit deep or in cup competitions.
Eriksen’s passing ability is probably second to none in the squad and the player has spoken out about his future after the Barnsley game.
He revealed that the club never pushed him out and he is happy in Manchester and is ready to give his all for United in his final year at the club.
“I feel very good being at United. If they told me to leave, I would leave, but I didn’t hear that. I’m also a guy who likes being in a place where my family is settled and at the same time being in a place where I can benefit and play, that’s always going to be my aim,” he was quoted as saying.
Eriksen wants to give his all
“It’s difficult to ask the manager in the off-season how many minutes I’m going to get in a season. If he starts promising minutes to players, we’re going to have a long season.
“There was no speaking in that sense, just head down, work hard and focus on each game. There’s one year left on my contract, so my focus is going to be on this year, going full out and seeing what happens afterwards.”
The former Inter Milan star’s two starts have yielded two big wins and with a match against Crystal Palace coming up, where the team lost 0-4 last term, the midfielder urged his teammates to try and carry forward this momentum.
“It’s something we should have and I hope we will take it with us. It’s only two games and two wins, but it’s our aim now to keep this consistency.
“It’s not just about scoring [lots] of goals a game, although that would be nice, just winning the games and getting a good feeling going into each game. I hope this weekend we continue that.”
Just like Ten Hag mentioned last night, Eriksen also said that the players have not given much notice to the outside noise with several sections of the media attacking the boss and asking for his sacking.
Outside noise not affecting players
United had lost two in a row including a heartbreaking late loss against Brighton followed by a poor display against fierce rivals Liverpool.
“We were on an international break, so we don’t see that much of what is going on at your club. When you’re away with your international team, your focus is going to be on that.
You’re in that environment, so you’re going to read about your national team, the games and the opponents you’re playing, not so much United. But when you’re at United, it’s always up and down in some weird way, with people talking from the outside.”
It is clear that Eriksen still has a huge role to play this season, especially with United’s midfield depth not looking too good. Hopefully, he can end his United stint on a high with another trophy under his belt come the end of the season.
Feature image Stu Forster via Getty Images
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