Erik Ten Hag explains the hidden reason why he substituted Mason Mount at half-time in Manchester United’s 2-1 Premier League defeat to Brighton on Saturday

Mason Mount was taken off at halftime of Man United’s 2-1 loss to Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday.

Mason Mount, a player for Manchester United, had to leave their 2-1 Premier League loss to Brighton because of an accident.

Mount started for the third straight game and played very well in the first half, but Joshua Zirkzee came on at halftime to take his place.

Erik ten Hag, the boss of United, doesn’t know how bad Mount’s problem is. “It was forced,” Ten Hag said. “He asked about a problem and said he had one. I didn’t want to take a chance.” Right now, I don’t know how much of a worry it is.

“But our bench is good.” If you can get rid of Zirkzee, do it right away. Then bring on a player who can make a difference, and we can see that Josh had a great game.

Mount missed a lot of games last season because of two big injuries. He only played 20 games in his first season with United. Eighteen were as starters.

Mount wants to get back on the England team. The last time he played for England was at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. In the Nations League next month, England will play the Republic of Ireland and Finland. Lee Carsley will be the interim boss.

Ten Hag kept the same team for the third straight game at Brighton, but next Sunday when Liverpool comes to town, things will have to change.

Marcus Rashford was taken off just after an hour, and he still hasn’t scored since March, when he tied the game against Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinal.

Danny Welbeck scored the first goal at Brighton, which was Harry Maguire’s fault. This means that Matthijs de Ligt could make his full start at Old Trafford. Alejandro Garnacho is also trying to get a starting spot after another great game coming off the bench.

“We’ve got a squad, and we’ll pick the best team from that,” Ten Hag said. “We have people who start and people who finish.”

“Today, too, the finishers made a big difference: Garna scored that (disallowed) goal, Scott did a great job, Zirkzee made a difference, and Matthijs de Ligt did too.” All of them played well, but we need more than 11 guys to win.