Marcus Rashford responded to Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag during a frank two-hour squad meeting prior to the side’s spirited defeat of Liverpool on Monday.
United had endured a nightmare start to the campaign with their Premier League opening-weekend defeat at the hands of Brighton preceding the humiliating four-goal loss at Brentford in the following game as Ten Hag lost both his opening matches in charge.
Last Thursday, a two-hour meeting was held between the coaching staff and United’s squad in which the Dutch boss addressed his players before giving every member of the squad the opportunity to speak up and air any grievances they had with the situation.
In doing this, Ten Hag asserted his authority by outlining how he had his own ideals and thoughts on how the situation could be turned around and that the United board were prepared to fully back him to help achieve these objectives.
Yet it also allowed players to feel like they had their say to speak openly and put to bed doubts that had been lingering in the back of their mind, with Rashford among those to make his voice heard.
As outlined in the Sun, the England international questioned why Ten Hag had not played him as a ‘nine’ – the central attacking position – as he had been promised during pre-season. Instead, the 24-year-old had played against Brighton and Brentford in more of a wide attacking role – despite the absence of Anthony Martial.
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Ten Hag responded to Rashford by pledging that he would be allowed a run of games in that position starting with the upcoming fixture against Liverpool, and the former Ajax boss was good to his word by playing the forward in a central attacking role.
Of course, one hallmark of Ten Hag’s preference is for fluidity in attack and this was again evident on Monday night as he substituted off Anthony Elanga – who had impressed on the left flank – to introduce Martial, with Rashford subsequently moving out left. However, the United youth graduate’s superbly timed run and finish shortly after the break justified this switch.
Rashford’s central attacking role was one of multiple changes by Ten Hag for the victory against Liverpool, with Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Fred and Cristiano Ronaldo all dropped from the starting line-up as Bruno Fernandes was named as captain with Tyrell Malacia starring in his first start for the club at left-back.
