Marcus Rashford was furious after he was substituted during Manchester United’s draw with Tottenham (Reuters)
Peter Schmeichel praised Marcus Rashford after the Manchester United forward reacted angrily to Erik ten Hag’s substitution decision during the 2-2 draw with Tottenham on Sunday.
Rashford, who scored United’s second goal at Old Trafford, looked furious on the substitutes’ bench after he was replaced by Antony in the 88th minute of the game.
Premier League Productions broadcast a clip of Rashford looking visibly annoyed after he was substituted and Schmeichel, who was working as a pundit for the game, believes the 26-year-old was well within his right to vent his frustration.
‘The substitution doesn’t make sense to me whatsoever and I was very, very happy to see that reaction,’ Schmeichel told Premier League Productions.
‘I know it sounds a bit silly that I’m saying that, but I was very, very happy because like to many people who care for Manchester United we’ve started to question his desire, does he really want to be there? We’ve seen games where his body language has been so bad.
‘For him, in a game I thought he played okay today. There was something different about him today, I think the little link-up with [Rasmus] Hojlund was brilliant, it created to goals.
‘For him to have that reaction after being taken off was brilliant, it was nice to see a little bit of, ‘why has he taken me off?’. I like that.’
Marcus Rashford was replaced by Antony as Manchester United pushed for a winner against Spurs (Reuters)
Former Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood, who was working as a pundit alongside Schmeichel, also backs Rashford’s reaction and says he has sympathy for the United forward due to the amount of defensive responsibility given to him by Ten Hag.
‘It was strange he bought Rashford off because he is a threat on the counter attack,’ Sherwood said.
‘I think it’s even more depressing for Marcus that Antony comes on for him, I think that was the one what really hurt him.
‘But he wasn’t happy with it, you can tell, normally you get the hand over the mouth [to cover what he says] but it was quite clear he wanted to show his discontent.
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‘I felt for him, really. I felt for him during the whole game, I said it at half time, the way he’s deployed out there, they’re almost full-backs, they’re getting tracked, Pedro Porro and Ugogie are just pushing them back and they’re saying, ‘surely you’re not going to follow me back there are you?’. Yes, they absolutely are.
‘Tottenham are doing all their defending by sending their [United’s] attacking players back when they have the ball. They’re just marching them back, they’re following them back. Sooner or later, the manager [Ten Hag] has to say, ‘Marcus just stay up there, Garnacho stay up there, give them something to worry about’.
‘At the moment, it’s Tottenham who are playing all the cards and Man United are just trying to stop them.
‘They’ve not got a game next week, he’s got every right to knock on the door and ask the manager, ‘why are you making that decision’.
‘He’s not a boy any more, he’s not getting patted on the head, he needs to start turning into a man who is a leader of that group, I think we’re going to see that from Marcus, I hope we do, he needs some help up there.’
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