Rash: Just keep doing what you’re doing Mason
STRIKER FULL OF PRAISE FOR ACE GREENWOOD
MARCUS Rashford clarified United players decide at the time who takes a penalty after he converted his seventh of the season against Bournemouth.
The Reds won their 17th spot kick of the campaign with the scoreline 1-1 against Bournemouth and the striker stepped up rather than Bruno Fernandes, who has scored all three of his spotkicks for United.
The Portuguese levelled at Tottenham from 12 yards last month but when they received another penalty in stoppagetime, Rashford took hold of the ball until VAR overruled the referee.
The 22-year-old England ace hit the post with a penalty against Crystal Palace and was foiled by Norwich keeper Tim Krul earlier this term, but most infamously allowed Paul Pogba to take the penalty at Wolves with the game deadlocked at 1-1.
Rashford had a 100 per cent record from penalties at the time and had scored one against Chelsea in United’s previous game, yet Pogba - who failed with three penalties last season - stepped up and was denied by Rui Patricio and the game ended in a draw.
“The penalties are just penalties,” Rashford said. “We just decide at that moment who’s going to take them. As long as the penalty goes [in], it’s no worries for me.”
Rashford’s successful side-footer against Bournemouth was his first goal since January and his 20th of the campaign on a day Anthony Martial also hit the 20-goal mark.
Rashford missed eight weeks of the season with a double stress fracture to his back and is now just grateful to be part of United’s run-in.
He said: “I want to say how blessed I feel to be back healthy. I’ve had this injury before in the past but this time it was quite a bit worse than the ones I’ve had before. It was definitely difficult news to hear.
“It’s a nice feeling to be back scoring goals, but you know for forwards you just take it one game at a time. Whether you score or you don’t score, the next game is always about scoring.
“That’s what I’ll continue to do, like I’ve done for the whole season, really. We want to win games and just keep competing for the trophies we’re still in.”
Mason Greenwood is now up to 15 goals for the season and if he also breaks the 20-goal barrier it will be the first time
three United players have done so in a single season since 1964-65, when Denis Law, David Herd and John Connelly helped them to their first championship after the Munich air disaster.
Greenwood, 18, struck with each foot against Bournemouth and Rashford is not surprised by his ascension into the first XI.
He said: “He’s a fantastic player. I’ve watched him before he got to the first-team.
“It was never a matter of if he was going to play with us, it was just when. When can we get him involved? Ole has done a terrific job with him.
“First of all, he put him in the squad and brought him on against PSG and that for a player, as a first step, it’s huge and it shows that the manager had confidence in him.
“You’ve got no reason not to have confidence in a player like Mason.
“But, for me, I just tell him to keep
doing what he’s doing because what he does is score goals, he doesn’t need to do anything else – forget everything whatever people are doing outside, whether it’s praise or negativity.
“He’s done very well for the whole season. It’s not just these bits he’s been scoring goals.
“He’s been working hard for the team and doing the dirty work, you know, the unseen work. He does it so he deserves all the credit that he gets.
“I enjoy playing with those two players (Martial and Greenwood).”
After helping to make it 16 games unbeaten, Rashford says life in the dressing room is pretty good right now. He said: “I just think there’s a massive flood of positivity right now and momentum. For us, we want to keep that going. “All three of us (Rashford, Martial and Greenwood) scored against Bournemouth. Mason scored two. That’s the type of momentum we want to keep going.”
Against Bournemouth, United netted five goals in a domestic home match for the first time since Boxing Day in 2011 against the same opposition and have scored at least five in four of their 16 matches unbeaten.
“I remember doing a few interviews at the beginning of the season and I was saying then that progress has been made and we’re continuing to make progress,” Rashford recalled. “But it’s easy for me to see progress because I train with the lads every day.
“I see us getting better day in, day out. For the fans, sometimes the only time they get to see it is on matchday.
“100 per cent this team has been progressing since the start of the season.
“The manager has helped us a lot. He’s stuck with us in difficult times and we’ve listened and tried to take on board what he’s saying and what he wants us to deliver on the pitch.
“Where we are now, it’s getting closer to what we picture but there’s still a lot more work to do to be back challenging for the Premier League. It’s definitely exciting.”
There’s still a lot more work to do to be back challenging for the title - it’s definitely exciting
Marcus Rashford