Man United Will Want Marcus Rashford Back ASAP!

Marcus Rashford had yet another fine game for Manchester United last night in the Champions League.

The nineteen year old tormented the Benfica defence as the Red Devils secured a 1-0 win in Portugal. It was the England international forward who claimed the game’s winner, when his whipped in free-kick was misjudged by the opposing goalkeeper who couldn’t keep the ball from crossing the line.

Unfortunately Rashford had to leave the field due to an injury. Debate surrounded the knock with some suggesting it was just cramp, while others were stating it’s a problem with his knee.

Man Utd boss Jose Mourinho cleared up the situation after the game:

“Marcus Rashford, I thought was cramps because he was running so much that I thought it was about muscular fatigue,”  

“But, no, he told me he was feeling something in his knee. It didn’t look for me a big thing but you never know.”

The good news is that it doesn’t seem to be serious. Man United can ill afford anymore serious injury concerns especially in that area of the park.

Rashford has scored six times so far this season and also has three assists to his name. He often finds himself working hard out on the attacking left flank. He’s a player who takes his responsibilities for the team seriously and has a great work-ethic, those are qualities his manager Mourinho loves to see in his players.

Marcus also has a great instinct in front of goal, awareness to find space in dangerous positions and the pace to cause havoc when he’s running directly at opposition defences.

Mourinho also has a great thing going between Rashford and Anthony Martial. He’ll rarely start the two in the same team but will instead start one of them and bring that player off for the other in the second half. That scares tired defences and both have done really well coming off of the bench and making an impact.

If one gets injured then United might miss that sting for the bench. Jesse Lingard doesn’t offer the same direct threat from the wide areas.

Another reason for United wanting to keep Rashford fit is that Jose trusts him to play centrally up-top if Romelu Lukaku gets injured. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is still out with his knee injury and while Martial can play through the middle, Mourinho likes that Rashford works harder for the team in that position. When Zlatan picked up his knock last term it was Marcus that the Portuguese boss turned to and the youngster repaid the faith with goals and inspired performances.

While the diagnosis of the problem is still to be determined, it looks as though the striker might not be on the sidelines for long. He may even play against Huddersfield Town this weekend but I doubt Jose will start him and will instead give Martial another chance to shine from the start. If Manchester United are cruising to victory in that fixture, then maybe Mourinho will prolong Rashford’s rest. if they need a goal then I am sure he’ll get the call.

What’s great for Marcus Rashford is that his ability and his form now make him essential to the squad and that the fans and the management team will worry every time he picks up a knock or a strain. He really has become that important.

 

 

Leave a Reply