Manchester United secured yet another important Premier League victory yesterday as they beat rivals Liverpool 2-1 at Old Trafford.

United now enjoy a five point cushion ahead of their Merseyside foes but a couple of incidents still irked the home support.

The Man Utd support didn’t enjoy seeing two goal hero Marcus Rashford being subbed off after seventy minutes and they jeered young midfielder Scott McTominay, when he decided to play the ball back when the fans wanted to see the side build an attack.

Jose Mourinho is the United manager and he ultimately decided to bring Rashford off and after the game he criticised the support for having a go at McTominay:

“I am upset with the reaction they had with Scott McTominay, a kid who was making all the right decisions on the pitch, and they want him to make the wrong decisions.”

I have to agree with Jose on both incidents.

Marcus scored two great goals, and really took his opportunity when recalled into the starting eleven. The young forward works extremely hard; making regular forward runs, creating chances, tracking back and making challenges. But yesterday, as well as getting his brace, Rashford also received a booking in the first half.

In a derby game, you’re naturally playing in a volatile atmosphere and arguments could be made for the youngster receiving a second yellow for some of his other challenges. I believe that would have been harsh but Mourinho clearly realised that the forward was one poor tackle away from seeing a second yellow.

With twenty minutes to go and with United trying to protect their advantage, that leads to niggling fouls to hold up play and Rashford couldn’t make any of those. So in terms of protecting the lead, I honestly think Jose made the rational call, that the team benefitted from.

You know also have a striker coming into the Sevilla game full of confidence.

Obviously supporters of the Red Devils want to see the local lad score a derby hat-trick and want to keep attacking but ultimately you can’t do that in every game and you have to see out the victory.

In terms of the McTominay situation, fans always seem to think that players that have came through the club’s youth ranks are easier to criticise. I have never understood that, as these are young men who are still learning and developing.

Why risk that with unwarranted criticism?

If you look at the move, he actually did the right thing. Liverpool were in the ascendency and piling on the pressure. A more experienced teammate played it back to Scott and the youngster then made sure his side kept the ball and took some of the sting out of the game. It was fine game management.

Plus let’s not forget that the midfielder had a superb match. He put his foot in and won the ball, which he then kept with smart passes. He showed a maturity beyond his years and has done that in previous big games too. The support need to remember that and not pile on pointless pressure at this stage of his career, especially when he’s doing so much right.

At the end of the day, both Jose Mourinho and Manchester United fans will be delighted with yesterday’s win. That’s the most important thing and they will all appreciate that they have two fine young footballers in Scott McTominay and Marcus Rashford.

Posted on March 11th, 2018 by scott
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