I’VE BEEN SO RASH
Marcus sorry for red card in United win
MARCUS RASHFoRD said sorry to his Manchester United team-mates last night after he was sent off for the first time in his career in the 2-0 win at Burnley.
United boss Jose Mourinho said Rashford was a ‘naive boy’ for reacting angrily to a challenge from Phil Bardsley and thrusting his forehead into the defender’s face.
the incident sparked an ugly melee (right) before Jon Moss booked Bardsley and showed Rashford a straight red card just 10 minutes after he had come off the bench.
‘ emotions got the better of me,’ tweeted Rashford, who faces a three-match ban. ‘I shouldn’t have reacted like that.’
NO MATTER how high a manager’s opinion of himself, the only thing that really speaks for him is what his team do on the field.
So, three points at Burnley counted for an awful lot more than the three Premier League titles Jose Mourinho boasted of last week. Those titles point only to Mourinho’s glorious past, whereas the two goals scored here by Romelu Lukaku may point to a more settled future for the Manchester United manager and his team. In the short term, at least.
Mourinho’s name was sung to the rafters of the old away stand at the Cricket Field End before and after this one- sided game. That was no surprise.
Mourinho had quite cleverly courted the approval of United’s rank and file from the moment the whistle blew on his team’s 3-0 home defeat by Tottenham on Monday night and it appears it is not as difficult to win over your average football fan as you may think.
Tell them you love them and you may just be OK.
But what Mourinho needed now was a victory to back up the rhetoric and that came comfortably enough against a Burnley side who were already looking leggy after six weeks of Thursday night Europa League football.
Yes, this was Burnley, remember, a team without a win of any kind over 90 minutes since April, a team who had not scored a goal on their own ground against United since 2009.
So, Mourinho and United should not be fooled into thinking their search for renewed credibility is mission accomplished. But this was an important start and, overall, an impressive one.
Burnley have been unusually meek so far this season and presumably it won’t last. But after United’s troubles against Tottenham and Brighton, this game was still a tricky hurdle to negotiate, a test of commitment and mental toughness as much as footballing ability.
To their credit, they passed it easily, starting with a flurry of chances and scoring twice through the Belgium forward Lukaku to pretty much end the contest before half-time.
There was, perhaps for the first time this season, a semblance of control and genuine pattern about United’s play. They looked, for once, like an expensive team of international footballers.
The game did eventually come alive but only because Paul Pogba missed a penalty — saved well by Joe Hart — midway through the second half and substitute Marcus Rashford was sent off for pushing his head into the face of Phil Bardsley a minute or so later.
That impetuous act could have been costly. Had Burnley striker Sam Vokes not headed over from six yards as United wobbled with 15 minutes to go, we may have belatedly had a game.
At least, briefly, we had an atmosphere as the locals saw glimpses of a Burnley spirit that they could recognise.
But with Alexis Sanchez enjoying an excellent hour and even the recalled centre back Victor Lindelof looking vaguely competent, this was a good afternoon for United and Mourinho, one meaning they can draw breath and head into the international break with a little more calm.
The start of the game was always going to be important. United’s second-half capitulation against Tottenham did not tell us that they are a bad team, just one lacking confidence. They had begun well against Tottenham but did not score and fell apart.
Here in Lancashire, they started well and they did score. It is a crucial difference.
From the very first moment, United’s attacking players looked to have the measure of Burnley, and even though Jesse Lingard was off target three times in the first 10 minutes, the signs were good for the visiting team.
So, it was no surprise when Lukaku found space off Ben Mee’s shoulder to head in Sanchez’s neatly clipped cross in the 27th minute.
Already it was tough to see a way back for Burnley. They could not impose themselves on a United defence that they knew to be vulnerable and the most they could have hoped for was to get to the latter stages with the deficit still at one and then throw the kitchen sink at it.
But United disabused them of that notion just before half-time with their second goal. Sanchez put Luke Shaw in space with a cute back-heel and, when Lingard’s shot from 18 yards struck Burnley’s Charlie Taylor in the stomach and Ashley Westwood on the head, it dropped to Lukaku who scored from nine yards.
From this point, it should have been a case of how many United could score but they threatened to lose their way when Pogba fluffed a penalty won by Rashford — fouled by Aaron Lennon — and then almost immediately Rashford was sent off for his stupid assault on Bardsley.
Two goals to the good, United had a cushion and there were only 20 minutes left. But suddenly there was some heat in the game and, as Lukaku missed two chances to score his third, Burnley at least lived in hope until the dying moments.
At the end, Mourinho — a man who claims never to really celebrate victory — handed his coat
and his club water bottle to someone in the away end.
Those items will probably be on eBay already for a sizeable sum, but of much greater value were these three league points earned by United. When you win — however you win — you never really have to do or say anything else.