3 Players who should be getting more game time for Manchester United

Manchester United survived a scare against Brentford last Saturday to win 2-1. Both their goals were scored during injury time. United are now 10th in the league table with 12 points from eight matches, but a loss against Brentford would have jeopardized their position further. Still, their performance has left a lot to be desired and it has to improve if they are to move to a respectable position in the table.

United have a challenging fixture against Manchester City coming up in a few weeks, aside from having their UEFA Champions League matches. Hence, Erik ten Hag’s focus will be on improving his team’s performance.

There have been a few players who have performed in patches for the United but have not featured regularly in their starting XI. Some of those players might improve the performance of the club considerably if given a chance on a regular basis.

On that note, let us take a look at three Manchester United players who deserve more game time:

#1. Scott McTominay

The Scottish midfielder’s brace earned his team a win over Brentford last weekend. Ten Hag should strengthen his attack by giving McTominay more game time. The match against Brentford was his sixth of the season.

McTominay can do for Manchester United what Frank Lampard used to do for Chelsea, at least to a certain extent. His runs into the opposition's penalty box and ability to find the net might prove to be an asset for his team.

McTominay has been one of the most prolific goal-scorers in international football this year as well. However, the challenge for Ten Hag will be to accommodate him in the playing eleven. He has played McTominay as a defensive midfielder and as a right-sided midfielder against Brighton. However, it will be difficult to include McTominay in the starting eleven with his current 4-2-3-1 formation.

#2. Harry Maguire

Maguire has been impressive in the last few matches

30-year-old Maguire has appeared in four matches for United this season. Much has been discussed about his below-par performance for his club and country, but the center-back seems to have got his act together. He has performed well in the past few matches for the Red Devils and it remains to be seen whether he gets more game time in the upcoming ones.

Ten Hag has not used a three-man defense yet, but doing so would have enabled him to start with Maguire as one of the three center-backs. Raphael Varane has had some injury issues and Lisandro Martinez has not had the best of the seasons so far. This means that Maguire can fancy his chances of making it to the playing eleven more often.

With a veteran like Johnny Evans also in the side, Maguire can help the Red Devils with his experience. However, if both Varave and Martinez are fit and United decide to stick to a four-man defense, Maguire will find it difficult to get game time.

#3. Alejandro Garnacho

Garnacho continues to make an impact as a substitute

Garnacho has been an enigma of sorts. He has performed really well as a substitute but struggled whenever given a place in the starting XI. He was yet again impressive as a substitute against Brentford, playing an active role in the first goal of his team.

However, playing Garnacho from the start will mean that Marcus Rashford will have to be benched. It will be a big call for Ten Hag to make as Rashford is one of the key players on his team.

Still, the 26-year-old English forward has not been in the best of forms and has scored only one goal in 10 matches this season. Hence, it might be worth taking the risk for United to give Garnacho more playing time.