Maguire was dropped in favor of the Frenchman for Monday’s 2-1 win over Liverpool and Varane impressed in central defense alongside Lisandro Martinez. United are at Southampton for Saturday’s early kick-off and Ten Haag was asked if the captain’s absence was uncomfortable. “Yes, but I think that doesn’t mean that when you’re captain you’re set to play all the time,” he said. Especially when you have Varane in your team. We have options. Varane: His height is huge and in preparation we made the decision to build him up naturally, so he had a bit of a slow start. He was fit in the first few games, but in the first period of pre-season he wasn’t always, so we’re happy to build him up that way.” Varane has won the World Cup with France and four Champions Leagues and two La Liga titles with Real Madrid. “You see when the team needed him, he was really there [against Liverpool] and his profile, his stature and what he has already won in the past shows that he can really contribute to his team,” said Ten Haag. “For the team there is competition and we need that. We have to cover so many games and we can do that in several builds. We can see from game to game what we need.” Bruno Fernandes captained United against Liverpool. Ten Haag shrugged off whether he can make the Portuguese his official leader if Maguire continues to be sidelined. “I’m not looking so far – we’re only one game away [like this],” he said. “We have a leadership group and Harry is one of them, Bruno is one of them. Bruno has done very well as a captain. He has led by example and brings so much energy to the team in and out of possession.” . United’s goals against Liverpool were scored by Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford. Ten Haag said: “I was really happy that they scored because hopefully it will give them a boost so they can do the hard work and contribute in defending and pressing but also creating and taking chances and that’s it. really good at. It’s when they think they’re going to do it.” Start your evenings with the Guardian’s view of the world of football Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Ten Hag can hand Casemiro his Southampton debut. The Brazilian’s transfer from Madrid was a surprise, particularly as it was completed quickly. “We have a list — he’s always been on it, but we didn’t know he was going to become available,” Ten Hag said. “Once we got signals, we were proactive and got it done and we’re really happy about it. The intention must always be for Man United to look for better. So good is not good enough, always go for better.”
