RASHFORD ON THE TRAIL OF LEGENDS
AN hour after r adding a seventh W to his record as s Manchester united d manager, ole Gunnar r Solskjaer was discussing g the three rs.
It is a measure of his confidence e in Marcus rashford that united’s s caretaker boss felt comfortable e comparing old Trafford’s rising g star with Wayne rooney and d Cristiano ronaldo after seeing the e youngster celebrate his latest t career milestone in style.
‘If you look at the stats, I was s told that he is younger than n ronaldo and rooney to reach 150 0 appearances for Manchester r united,’ said Solskjaer.
‘Not bad, is it? The 150th game is s a feat in itself, being 21, but with h the level of his performance, the e maturity in his finishing and his s work-rate, it’s a dream to have e players like him in the team.’
So, does rashford belong in the e same bracket as rooney and d ronaldo?
‘ Definitely,’ said Solskjaer r without hesitation. ‘he can be e absolutely top-class.
‘he’s playing the best football of f his career. he’s got a great future.’
Solskjaer had just seen the 21-year-old England forward score his second winning goal in a week — and his seventh in the last 10 games — after Paul Pogba had fired united ahead from the spot against Brighton.
It also happened to be a wonderfully well-taken effort that demonstrated rashford’s sky-high confidence — flicking the ball inside Pascal Gross and curling his shot beyond goalkeeper David Button.
Solskjaer’s influence and striker’s eye for goal have clearly rubbed off on rashford in the short time they have worked together.
No other player has benefited more from the Norwegian’s arrival last month and contract talks that were in danger of stalling, while Jose Mourinho remained in charge at the club, are now expected to progress more smoothly. ‘ You’re on the training pitch with him, but it’s more talking to him and getting inside his head,’ said Solskjaer.
‘That’s what I like the most, to find out what he’s thinking.
‘he’d missed a couple of chances before I arrived and the first thing I said to him when I met him was, “No, problem, you’ll be all right as long as you settle down a little bit”.’
The united boss had to pick his words carefully but he was clearly impressed by the way rashford stood up for himself after needing treatment for a foul by Martin Montoya, scything the Spaniard down to earn the only booking of the game moments before he was substituted in added time.
‘ he’s a proper Manc,’ said Solskjaer. ‘You can’t kick him and keep him down. he will stand up for a fight.
‘But we spoke about it and he knew not to give stupid fouls away against Brighton, because they have quality delivery and physical attributes in the box.
‘he could have done it right in the middle of the centre circle instead!’
Chris hughton’s side were pushing for an equaliser after Gross had reduced the deficit with Brighton’s first goal at old Trafford since March 1983, but united held out to give Solskjaer a club-record seventh successive win since taking over.
While he can look forward to
Friday’s FA Cup fourth-round trip to Arsenal, Brighton prepare for a home tie against West Brom with one eye on Premier League survival. Their next three opponents in the league are Fulham, Watford and Burnley, and Hughton knows his side will be expected to pick up points.
‘If you’d asked me at this stage if I would be happy, on the back of two positive performances against United and Liverpool, to be seven points clear of the relegation zone, then I would say yes,’ said Hughton.
‘But we’re going into a series of games now where the pressure will be on us to make sure that we get points.’