With Marcus Rashford on the point of a 30-goal season for the primary time in his profession, Manchester United supervisor Erik ten Hag allowed himself a second of satisfaction.
“I think I said it in the summer. The question came several times if I believe Rashford or (Anthony) Martial, one of them could score 20 plus goals and I said yes,” the Dutchman recalled on Friday.
Ten Hag is just not the primary United supervisor to place his religion in Rashford discovering his scoring contact.
The England striker has had sizzling streaks underneath Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, however his inconsistency raised questions over his capacity to be a objective scorer of the very best stage.
That was till this season.
His winner in opposition to Real Betis within the Europa League on Thursday was his twenty eighth of a career-best season that’s getting higher by the week.
His earlier finest was in 2019-20 when he scored 22 targets. Last season he managed simply 5 in your complete marketing campaign, a run that noticed him dropped from the England squad, and raised doubts about his United future.
Rashford has been remodeled underneath Ten Hag, who appointed former Blackburn ahead Benni McCarthy as United’s striker coach final summer time.
Ten Hag has additionally given Rashford a constant position in his favored place on the left of assault after years of being moved round by earlier managers.
Then there may be the extra attacking model of soccer performed by the previous Ajax coach, which has already seen United win a primary trophy in six years within the League Cup, whereas the crew remains to be in competition for the FA Cup and Europa League.
“I think the most important (thing) is the way of playing. That gives him a base, gives him a structure, the way of play is in his favor because I knew his skills,” Ten Hag stated at a information convention forward of United’s FA Cup quarterfinal in opposition to Fulham on Sunday.
“Then you also need staff around who can make it better and make it progress. I thought we needed one on the staff who is specific and responsible for strikers. Benni is doing a good job.” Ten Hag added: “It’s a total package, and it’s not about one person.” Rashford is actually flourishing underneath his new supervisor.
He has now scored 19 targets in his final 24 matches since coming back from the World Cup in December.
To put that in context, Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has scored 16 in his final 18 video games, together with 5 in opposition to RB Leipzig within the Champions League on Tuesday.
Ten Hag believes Rashford’s file might have been even higher.
“He progressed during the season, he was also not in the best shape when he started the season,” he stated.