Erik ten Hag explains why he substituted Manchester United players Tyrell Malacia and Jadon Sancho

Erik ten Hag said Tyrell Malacia and Jadon Sancho were substituted for their lack of movement on the ball rather than their roles in Omonia Nicosia's opening goal.

Omonia took a surprising lead when Sancho's careless pass was met with an errant touch by Malacia, who was dispossessed midway through the Omonia half to spark a breakway that Karim Ansarifard finished in the 34th minute.

Malacia was withdrawn at half-time in the second game running, along with Sancho, for Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford. Rashford scored United's equaliser and eventual winner in a dicey 3-2 victory.

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"It (the goal) was not what I was happy with, it was the movement with our ball," Ten Hag explained of his interval changes. "The width on the left side, for me, was no good first-half. The movement from behind the defending line.

"So I hoped with Luke and Marcus we get more effect from that and so in my opinion that happens."

Anthony Martial, another arrival off the bench put United 2-1 up before Rashford tapped in for 3-1, only for Nikolas Panayiotou to strike a minute later in the 84th minute.

United had a staggering 28 attempts at the Omonia goal but wasted umpteen opportunities on what should have been a more comfortable night.

Ten Hag agreed United were thrown by Omonia's goal and the Cypriot side's manager Neil Lennon felt half-time came at an ideal time for United.

"I would call it stay composed," Ten Hag added of United's reaction to trailing. "It can always happen, football is a game of mistakes. I agree with you, first 30 or 35 minutes, we played quite well, the only thing we didn't do was score a goal.

"When you score a goal you make your life easy, we didn't. Then we concede a goal and