Ten Hag’s Wisdom: Dropping Marcus Rashford Comes with a Lesson in McTominay and Maguire
Marcus Rashford has been advised by manager Erik ten Hag that he must impose himself on the Manchester United team, citing the examples set by Harry Maguire and Scott McTominay.
In Wednesday’s 2-1 victory over Chelsea at Old Trafford, Rashford was benched; Antony, who took his position on the right wing, looked impressive. Although Alejandro Garnacho is playing well there and his cross set up McTominay’s winning goal against Chelsea, Rashford still prefers to operate as a wide left attacker. Rashford has made 19 appearances this season, contributing four assists and two goals.
Ten Hag mentioned that McTominay and Maguire, who were previously out of favour, had prevailed in “internal competition” to be chosen, which suggested how challenging it would be for Rashford to get back into the starting lineup.
As I mentioned earlier, it’s up to Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire. The finest players who make up the best team will always start for the team. Thus, Rashford is a really talented player. He can’t play every game, thus you can’t accomplish it with eleven people. He’s not the same person as he was a year ago right now, but I have no doubt that he will improve.
McTominay is the team’s top scorer with six goals, while Maguire was named November’s Premier League player of the month due to his improved play. Garnacho won goal of the month for his overhead volley in the 3-0 victory at Everton, while Ten Hag was chosen as the manager of the month.
Ten Hag commented, “From the first moment I saw [him], I could see he has a very good smell to make it in the box and is a very good finisher,” in reference to McTominay’s goal total. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that he will finish once the team passes the ball to him.
Knowing that a victory would tie them on points with Manchester City—who are at Luton on Sunday—United plays Bournemouth on Saturday. “We know where we are going,” Ten Hag remarked. We experienced some setbacks, particularly early in the season. We had setbacks due to injuries and poor decisions, and occasionally you end up in situations like these.
You then get to glimpse the team’s personality. We’ve improved both physically and mentally. We are giving more and more performances, both as a group and as individuals. But in every game, you have to be acute. This week’s results demonstrate how fiercely contested this league is. Everybody murders every other person.