Rashford wakes up right on time
Ten Hag’s gamble pays off as dropped striker comes on and scores winner
WHEN the teamsheets were released at Molineux in mid-morning, the positioning of one name took everyone by surprise. Marcus Rashford, who scored three goals at the World Cup in Qatar, who has been in scintillating form since his return and who scored one and set one up in Manchester United’s midweek victory over Nottingham Forest, was listed among the substitutes.
When he was asked about it before kick-off, United manager Erik ten Hag said Rashford had been left out of the starting line-up for the game against Wolves for ‘internal disciplinary’ reasons. He did not elaborate. Ten Hag has established a reputation for refusing to treat the club’s biggest stars differently. Cristiano Ronaldo found that out to his cost: he is about to sign for a club in Saudi Arabia.
Ten Hag saw the decision as a point of principle, a necessary sacrifice to preserve his insistence that team spirit is everything and that success can only come if everyone is treated equally and everyone works equally hard. It is so unusual that a manager asserts his authority in this way these days that it still came as a surprise. It may have been a point of principle but it looked like a gamble, too.
Wolves may be marooned in the relegation zone but they have a new manager, Julen Lopetegui, and this represented a chance for United to climb into the top four for the first time this season. Rashford is United’s best forward, their best avenue for goals, a forward who is looking world class again. It would have been easy for Ten Hag to turn the other way and overlook a small lapse but he refused to do it.
For 76 minutes, it looked as if his gamble might have failed. United missed a succession of gilt-edged chances in the first half. Rashford’s replacement, Alejandro Garnacho, spurned one of them when he failed to convert a one-on-one opportunity against Jose Sa. Anthony Martial made a mess of an easy header, too. It was tempting to think Rashford would have buried those.
The England striker was brought on at half-time and even though he looked sharp and dangerous, he struggled to find any openings. Then, as time was beginning to run out and Ten Hag was preparing for awkward questions about why he had omitted his leading forward, Rashford exploded into action.
Rashford, who admitted after the match that he had overslept and missed a team meeting, stepped up and scored the winner out of nothing. He took the ball on the left touchline and darted inside. He slid the ball to Bruno Fernandes and ran on to his reverse pass, holding off challenges from Nathan Collins, Jonny and Toti before rifling past Sa. On the touchline, Ten Hag leapt into the air in celebration.
It was a microcosm of the fine margins that exist in football. Rashford deserves plenty of credit, too. He accepted his punishment maturely and responded brilliantly. Rashford’s goal underlined his quality and his importance and vindicated Ten Hag’s decision to relegate him to the bench. Any other result, any suggestion that Ten Hag’s point of principle had cost United ground in the race for the top four, and the aftermath would have been very different.
Rashford’s star is rising and rising again. United may have been gazumped by Liverpool in the chase for Holland forward Cody Gakpo but with Rashford in this kind of form, frankly, who cares? Who needs Gakpo? Who needs Ronaldo? After a period when his talent was becalmed and some had started to doubt him, Rashford is proving again that he is one of the best and most coveted strikers in the land.
United’s 1-0 win left Wolves stuck in the relegation zone but they will hope that the continuing influence of Lopetegui and the signing of forward Matheus Cunha from Atletico Madrid, available to play in their next game, will help them move gradually up the table. For United, though, the signs of revival get better and better. They nearly took an early lead when Christian Eriksen swung over a corner from the right and it was met at the near post by Casemiro. The Brazil midfielder nodded it goalwards but it hit Matheus Nunes a couple of yards out and ballooned up over the crossbar. It was a lucky escape.
The visitors were given an even better opportunity midway through the half when Nelson Semedo was so nonchalant as he intercepted an attempted through ball from Eriksen to Garnacho that his attempted back pass towards Sa fell well short. Garnacho was on it in an instant but when he tried to curl his shot around Sa, the Wolves keeper got down superbly to his left and palmed the ball away. United should have been ahead.
Wolves carved out their first chance when Nunes robbed Bruno Fernandes deep in Wolves’ half and set off on a galloping run towards the United box. He fed the ball to Diego Costa, who stepped inside Raphael Varane but could only direct a weak shot at David de Gea.
Ten Hag held his head in his hands a few minutes before half time when Antony nodded the ball straight into the arms of Sa after a good run and cross by Tyrell Malacia. The theme of United’s profligacy in front of goal endured until the interval when a scuffed cross from Garnacho found Martial a few yards out but he could only make minimal contact and Sa saved his stooping header.
The game appeared to be petering out into a draw when Rashford broke the deadlock with his piece of solo brilliance and he thought he had scored a second a few minutes later when a brilliant turn took him away from Collins. When he tried to clip the ball over Sa, Sa blocked it but it rebounded on to Rashford and rolled into the net.
The story of his return seemed complete until VAR checked the footage and judged the ball had hit Rashford on the arm when he forced it into the net.
THE CRAZY DAY OF RASHFORD