Rashford lighting up United
Teenager earns high accolades from Mourinho
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said Marcus Rashford is proving his value to the side after the 18-year-old striker notched the only goal in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Hull City.
Rashford fired eight goals in 18 matches for United last season after breaking into the starting lineup in February and went on to win a spot on England’s Euro 2016 squad.
However, Rashford has been named as a substitute for all three of United’s Premier League matches so far this season, with Mourinho preferring new signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic in attack.
Rashford has also dropped down to the England Under-21 squad, for which he has been selected for a Euro 2017 qualifier against Norway on Sept 6.
In his pre-match news conference on Friday, Mourinho was quick to state the teenager will get chances to play across all competitions this season.
The manager was full of praise of Rashford once more after he converted Wayne Rooney’s cross two minutes into stoppage time to vanquish Hull in torrential rain at KCOM Stadium.
“Marcus has a lot of chances waiting for him,” Mourinho said after the youngster came on for Juan Mata in the 71st minute to make the difference.
“When the team was chasing the ball against Leicester in the Community Shield and again tonight, he made a dif- ference for us.
“He gives new problems to the opposition, so I am really happy with him and the team. Even defensively, we controlled their counter attack.”
‘Amazing mentality’
While Mourinho gave his side full marks for the victory, he said it took too long to get going.
“I was telling them at halftime that they were more intensive and aggressive in training on Wednesday than they were in the first half,” the manager said.
“The boys were very strong after the break and the second half was like going to fight against a wall.
“We had an amazing men- tality. We were very strong and tried to create problems for the opposition. We tried and we accomplished it.
“We deserved to get the victory in a more comfortable way, but it is a great feeling when you win the points in the last minute.
“I tell the boys every day we have to go into every match to win. We must not be happy with less than a win.
“We know we will draw some matches and lose some matches, but the mentality has to be go to win. Today they showed that.”
One setback for United was a back injury to midfielder Marouane Fellaini, which makes him doubtful for Belgium’s World Cup qualifier in Cyprus on Sept 6.
Hull caretaker-manager Mike Phelan praised the efforts of his players, and called for a quick conclusion to the club’s takeover saga.
Ehab Allam, one of Hull’s owners, indicated in the match program that a deal has been struck to sell the club, without confirming the buyer — believed to be a Chinese consortium led by commercial property investors Dai Yongge and Dai Xiu Li.
Phelan’s future remains uncertain, as the new owners might want to appoint someone else as a permanent replacement for Steve Bruce, who resigned as manager in July.
“It’s important now that some decisions are made,” Phelan said.
“There seems to be not just one group, but two groups interested.
“My future will be decided after the transfer deadline. There’s a lot of effort to get this takeover over the line.
“Credit to my players tonight, they performed heroically. I feel for them.
“This United team is on a roll and there are some teams you take on and some teams you need to be careful with. We tried to get at them a bit and we just ran out of steam.”
Phelan added that midfielder Robert Snodgrass, who went off injured early in the second half, had sustained a calf problem.