A smile can often be seen on Marcus Rashford’s face around Manchester United’s Carrington training ground since Erik Ten Hag took over as manager.
A player’s fortunes can change drastically between one manager and the next and Ten Hag has spotted in Rashford a player he believes have lead Manchester United’s front line. When links to Paris Saint-Germain, among other clubs, surrounded the player in the summer, the Dutchman was quick to shut down talk of the player leaving.
In recent months, Ten Hag and his staff have worked Rashford hard in training, setting up specific, tailored sessions to improve aspects of the 24-year-old’s game he hopes will transform him into a 20-goal-a-season striker. Three goals and two assists in United’s opening six games and a deeper dig into his other numbers offer a glimmer of what’s ahead.
Rashford is already closing in on his shots, shots on target and chances created totals for last season and has been one of Ten Hag’s most used players. It’s quite the transformation for a player who scored five and set up two in the entirety of last season, under first Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and then Ralf Rangnick in a dismally disappointing season for the club which saw him drop out of the England squad.
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EFL and WSL return, Arsenal vs PSV off and three Premier League games postponed12 September, 2022Gareth Southgate’s final camp, beginning next week, before the team flies to Qatar for the World Cup in late November is the last chance for the England manager to finesse his plans, and it’s becoming harder to justify leaving Rashford, previously a regular pick, out of his squad.
In Qatar, Southgate’s front three is more than likely to be Harry Kane between Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden — possibly Bukayo Saka, if a more defensive-minded approach is required for the opponents faced. But can Southgate honestly say that Jarrod Bowen or even Jack Grealish offer more potential than Rashford? Do they provide more around the squad off-the-pitch, an important facet of an England player for Southgate, or on it?
Bowen has no major tournament experience and has only one decent season for West Ham in the Premier League to his name. Grealish may have won the title at Manchester City but he is seemingly on the periphery of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City plans and it’s hard to argue his £100m move has been a glowing success.
When England are trailing late in a game in Qatar, who offers more to change the course of events? Grealish, who has a tendency to slow down play? Bowen, who will be in entirely unfamiliar territory? Or Rashford, with his experience, rapid turn of pace and sharp finish?
Which Manchester United players will go to the World Cup?
Very likely: Ronaldo, Fernandes (Portugal), Lindelof, Elanga (Sweden), Maguire (England), Varane (France), Martinez (Argentina), Eriksen (Denmark), Malacia (Netherlands), Pellistri (Uruguay), Fred (Brazil)
Possibility: Rashford, Sancho, Shaw (England), De Gea (Spain), Dalot (Portugal)
Ten Hag has a clear track record of improving and developing players, young and older. Honing his recent signing Antony, the 22-year-old Brazilian, at Ajax, where he also reinvigorated Dusan Tadic when the forward’s career appeared to be dwindling in the latter stages of his time at Southampton.
If whatever Ten Hag is doing continues to work with Rashford he could be flying by the time the World Cup begins.
And let’s not forget, the player delayed shoulder surgery last summer to make himself available for Southgate at the European Championship, when he could easily have seen that the stars were aligning against him and had the operation during a tournament in which he played little.
Sometimes, when it comes to the big decisions, that kind of loyalty deserves rewarding.
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Jaap Stam: 'Harry Maguire needs to prove he's No 1 if he wants to play for Man Utd'08 September, 2022What a mess at Eton
If you want to find yet another example of one rule for them, and another for us, look no further than Eton’s decision to continue with two matches arranged with Rossall School on Saturday, after the Football Association had called for all football to be suspended over the weekend out of respect for the Queen’s death.
Whether you agreed with the decision or not — and I, as well as many across the country, thought it was a painfully out-of-touch decision — leagues up and down the country postponed fixtures, from the Premier League to grass roots. Fans reported turning up to park pitches with their children and finding goalposts chained together, to stop them being used.
Meanwhile, over at Eton, the private school that has produced 20 of the country’s 56 prime ministers, it was decided that the same rules did not apply. And it was only discovered because their opponents happened to tweet about it, in posts that were swiftly deleted when the inevitable backlash again.
“Two friendly football games were played with Rossall School on Saturday,” Eton said in a statement. “A minute’s silence was observed by players and spectators beforehand. These trial games formed part of the school’s pre-season training programme and it was understood that they were not covered by the FA postponement as they were not FA fixtures.”
That explains it then. How silly the rest of us are for believing that when the FA released a statement saying, “As a mark of respect, following the passing of Her Majesty the Queen, English football has united to postpone all football fixtures between 9-11 September” it applied to everyone.
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