Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer lauded Marcus Rashford after the Englishman’s brace led the Red Devils to a 2-1 win over Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham in the Premier League at Old Trafford on Thursday.
The ‘Special One’ returned to Old Trafford but it was an unhappy one as Rashford’s match-winning performance snapped the ex-United manager’s 100 percent win record since replacing Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham Hotspur.
Rashford opened the scoring in the sixth minute of the game before converting a 49th-minute penalty following Dele Alli’s equalizer moments before half-time.
The 22-year-old English forward Rashford took his Premier League tally to nine goals this season and 12 across all competitions earning praise from his Norwegian manager.
While speaking to reporters after the game the 46-year-old explained why he was so impressed with Rashford, “The boy is 22 and today he played like he was in a back yard or garden, a playground with his mates. Sometimes maybe the expectations and pressure on him… we do expect a lot from him because he’s showed it so many times. We want them to enjoy themselves, we want them to go out there and face players, take them on with no fear of losing it. I love to watch that and that’s what the Stretford End loves to watch. Man United fans love to watch wingers or forwards play with courage.”
Solskjaer also heaped praise on Scottish midfielder Scott McTominay who had missed United’s previous three matches due to injury. But the United boss had only positive words for the courage and leadership qualities of the midfielder, “We can almost say he’s undroppable at the moment, definitely, There’s no chance I wasn’t going to try and push him through for this game. The physical presence and leadership he gives us in midfield also release Fred. I thought Fred was excellent today, the one chance they had he blocked. I thought Fred was top class and they’re a good partnership. [McTominay] trained yesterday and that was just a light session with the reserves but he’s a tough boy. There’s no chance he’s going to say ‘no thanks’ if he felt okay. It’s the first time I’ve really pushed on players who haven’t had the foundation but he’s so fit anyway.”
