Lukaku and Rashford make sure Solskjaer equals Busby’s record
OLE Gunnar Solskjaer’s dream start to life in the Manchester United hotseat continued at Newcastle as the caretaker manager emulated Sir Matt Busby’s record feat of winning his first four league matches in charge.
The encouraging postJose Mourinho era continued at St James’ Park, where the Norwegian’s side emerged from their toughest test to date with another three points and a clean sheet to boot.
Solskjaer’s Reds rode their luck at times as Christian Atsu proved a thorn in their side, but substitute Romelu Lukaku scored with his first touch of the game before Marcus Rashford wrapped up a 2-0 win at Rafael Benitez’s struggling Newcastle.
It was a dogged display that showed flashes of exciting attacking football at a ground where United had fallen to defeat in February, thanks in no small part to a man-of-thematch display by Martin Dubravka.
Newcastle’s goalkeeper was in the headlines for the wrong reasons this time as he spilled a stinging Rashford free-kick, allowing sub Lukaku to turn home just 38 seconds after coming on.
Rashford joined in on the act by completing a fine counter-attack as the visitors took their goal tally to 14 goals in four matches.
Rashford felt “hard work” and “patience” were key to his side’s victory.
He added on Sky Sports: “They were difficult to break down. When we tried to counter on them that’s when they were open and we had to make the right decisions. It took a bit longer than we would have liked to but we got there in the end.”
Both Rashford and Lukaku revealed they are relishing the input of Solskjaer, who has spoken publicly about his desire to work with the pair.
“We’ve not had the chance to do proper work on it yet but just having those words around you it makes a difference. I just want to keep improving on that,” Rashford said.
Lukaku added: “It’s totally different. Marcus and I and Anthony [Martial] and all the rest are learning a lot from him.”
LFA