Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag explains why Wout Weghorst went straight into the starting XI against Crystal Palace 

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag decided to throw Wout Weghorst directly into the team's starting lineup against Crystal Palace. The Burnley loanee has just joined the club and will be looking to make his mark for the Red Devils.

Weghorst, is a player with a completely different profile than Ten Hag's first-choice striker Anthony Martial. Given the towering center forward's height of 6'6", one might expect United players to whip more crosses into the box.

Ten Hag, however, insisted that the former Besiktas star's arrival changes nothing in terms of his team's style of play. He told Sky Sports ahead of the away clash against Crystal Palace:

"It changes nothing, A different profile but he is a typical number nine. It fits good with Antony, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford."

When quizzed about whether his team would like to use the new signing's aerial threat a lot, Ten Hag said:

"No, I don’t think Weghorst is a player only for crosses."

Anthony Martial, meanwhile, came off at halftime during Manchester United's come-from-behind home win against Manchester City on January 14. Ten Hag revealed that the player was begging to start against Palace. However, he decided against it as it might compromise the team. Ten Hag said:

"I hoped to avoid [him] getting injured, ‘He was complaining, so that’s why he also didn’t train in the week and why he was a question mark. We decided, and he decided. He begged to start because I knew the start would be so important in this game."

The Dutch manager added:

"He [Martial] is really good with his pressing and he is a really big element in our pressing, and he did that really well before half-time [vs Man City]. But also you saw he was not capable to go 100 per cent and that’s what you need."

United are currently leading the game against Crystal Palace by a scoreline of 1-0 at the time of writing this piece. Bruno Fernandes has scored the only goal of the match in the 43rd minute.

Wout Weghorst is yet to register a shot on target as a Manchester United player

Crystal Palace v Manchester United - Premier League

During the first half of the clash against Crystal Palace, Wout Weghorst didn't manage to take a shot on target. The Manchester United no. 27, however, has made one key pass during the game.

The player has also completed 10 out of his 15 attempted passes with a 67% accuracy rate.