Ten Hag stunned: Rashford ‘warns’ boss, ‘obvious solution’ rejects striker role after Man Utd ‘shock’
Marcus Rashford has ‘warned’ Erik ten Hag as the Man Utd manager’s striker options continue to dwindle following a ‘shock’ pre-season friendly defeat.
Under shock and key
Fair play to The Sun website for just deciding to go for it in calling Man Utd’s friendly loss to Wrexham a ‘shock defeat’, even though everyone else has been boring enough to describe it as anything but.
A look at that Man Utd starting XI, for reference: Bishop; Jurado, Fish, Evans, Fernandez, Collyer, Gore; Shoretire, Mejbri, Hansen-Aaroen; Hugill.
Introduced from the bench were Radek Vitek, Willy Kambwala, Charlie McNeill, Mateo Mejia, Maxi Oyedele and Sonny Aljofree.
It truly was a ‘shock’ to see that team – called a ‘second string’ and ‘largely under-21 team’ by Neil Custis and managed by Academy leader Travis Binnion as Erik ten Hag watched from the sidelines – get beat.
Wiki mouse
Mediawatch did enjoy Custis’ description of that side, mind:
The fact that the name ‘Jonny Evans’ got the biggest cheer tells you everything about the line-up.
The rest had everyone reaching for Wikipedia.
Does he think it’s an actual physical book?
Rash call
After recovering from the ‘shock’ of watching Man Utd’s kids and Jonny Evans lose to a very good Wrexham side, Ten Hag has another surprise in store.
Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag dealt fresh striker headache as Marcus Rashford insists he is NOT the answer
Custis is here again with the scoop:
ERIK TEN HAG’S desperate striker hunt rumbles on as Marcus Rashford admitted: I’m NOT the answer.
You mean Rashford, who played 19 of his 56 club games last season as a centre-forward, and was used even more sparingly in the position after actual striker Wout Weghorst joined on loan, does not consider himself to be a long-term regular centre-forward?
READ MORE: Mystery PL club thwarted after Man Utd reach ‘agreement in principle’ with Marcus Rashford
Rashford apparently ‘appears an obvious solution to Ten Hag’s problem position,’ which takes into account the fact he scored a fair few goals when deployed in the role last campaign, but not the slight caveat that Rashford’s best performances and output by far is produced when playing on the left.
Also, saying the 25-year-old ‘told The Overlap podcast’ anything when those words in the article link directly to the YouTube video is an underrated stitch-up. Get with the times, Neil.
Has Rashford really ‘warned’ Ten Hag that he doesn’t want to be used as a centre-forward permanently? Or did he discuss the virtues of both attacking positions with Gary Neville before saying of playing centrally that “I feel like as I’ve got older I’m starting to enjoy it a little bit more when I do play there”?
Rashford will continue to play predominantly on the left but be used as a centre-forward when the situation calls for it. Ten Hag will keep pushing for the club to sign a striker who can start there more regularly. In terms of ‘headaches’ induced by footballers speaking to Neville, it’s somehow even worse than Harry Kane in 2021.
Bishop bashing
One of the bigger stories from Man Utd’s ‘shock’ defeat to Wrexham was the injury sustained by Paul Mullin, who suffered a punctured lung after a collision with goalkeeper Nathan Bishop.
Lovely work from the Daily Express website in describing Bishop as a ‘Man Utd ace’ (zero appearances and named on the bench just three times for competitive first-team games), then explaining how the 23-year-old ‘broke his silence’ with this tweet…
Just wanted to share my sincerest apologies to @PMullin7 A complete misjudgement and a genuine accident with 0 malicious intent at all!
Wishing you the speediest recovery and hope to see you back scoring goals as soon as possible!— nath (@natthb13) July 26, 2023
…published about an hour and a half after the full-time whistle.
Plan sailing
Bishop hitting the headlines has been timed perfectly, considering this typically cryptic story in the Daily Mirror website:
Man Utd decision suggests Ten Hag disagrees with Solskjaer transfer plan
That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you make people click to discover Bishop is probably joining Sunderland permanently when he is back from America.
The idea that this is the ‘decision’ which ‘suggests Ten Hag disagrees with Solskjaer transfer plan’ is very funny though. Pretty much everything Ten Hag has done since being appointed suggests he quite justifiably disagrees with most Solskjaer transfer plans.
READ MORE: De Gea targeted by European giant as Man Utd are told they have made goalkeeping downgrade
In great Nic
‘Pepe works out alone in rival club’s shorts after being frozen out of Arsenal’ – The Sun website.
Wearing Spurs merchandise is one way of forcing a move. Or is it Manchester City? Chelsea, maybe?
Instead, Pepe donned an Ivory Coast shirt and shorts that featured the badge of Ligue 1 side Angers.
That would be the same Angers Pepe played was with for four years before joining Lille.
Silly Mediawatch for not realising The Sun website were talking about Nantes, Angers’ closest opponents, when they said Pepe was wearing ‘rival club’s shorts’. How embarrassing.
At home with the Braithwaites
‘FORMER Premier League star Martin Braithwaite has reportedly gone AWOL to force an exit from Espanyol’ – The Sun website.
A reminder that former Premier League star Martin Braithwaite has literally never played for a Premier League club.
Nothing compares to you
It does rather feel as though the following headline from the MailOnline…
Are Man United signing the next Erling Haaland? Ten Hag is chasing his own young, blond, Scandinavian striker cut from a similar cloth to City’s star… here’s how Rasmus Hojlund compares
…could be answered with a single word: ‘poorly’.
