says he feared youngster Omari Forson could have been sent off against so elected to sub the teen before half-time.
The 19-year-old – one of just a few academy players to travel with the first-team squad to the USA – was handed a surprise start against the Bundesliga side in Las Vegas on Sunday night, lining up on the right wing.
However, he only lasted just over half-an-hour before being withdrawn in the 37th minute and was replaced by .
Moments earlier, Forson had been booked after clashing with Dortmund striker Karim Adeyemi, with the two players exchanging heated words before the referee brandished a yellow card to each of them.
Antony was immediately sent to warm up and Forson was withdrawn shortly afterwards, with Ten Hag putting an arm around the teenager on the touchline as he explained his decision for roughly a minute.
Forson looked hugely disappointed to be hauled off so early in the match but Ten Hag says he could not risk having the youngster sent off and encouraged him to keep his cool in the future.
Asked about Forson’s short-lived outing after the match, Ten Hag told MUTV: ‘When there’s VAR, he could be sent off.
‘He played a good game. The opponent got annoyed at him.
‘But don’t take it into your own hands, you can’t be the judge. You have to play football. You have to beat your opponent and that’s the best way to react.’
United were beaten 3-2 by Dortmund in the end despite opening the scoring, with Donyell Malen netting two quick-fire goals just a few minutes after Forson had been withdrawn.
Antony levelled the scores after the restart but poor play at the back presented Youssoufa Moukoko with the opportunity to grab a winning goal in the 71st minute.
with his side’s performance, saying: ‘The first hour was good, performed well, playing as a team, a lot of dynamism, good pressing, so it was really enjoyable to see and that is what I wanted to say to the team at half-time.
‘And then all of sudden they gave away two goals – and they were really giveaways! So that was already annoying.
‘But the last half-an-hour, that was bad. That was a poor performance. Didn’t follow the rules at all. Not in pressing, not in building up and not in attacking. So there were 11 individuals finally on the pitch and that wasn’t good at all.’
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