Rashford scored a brace as a depleted United side stunned Premier League title hopeful Arsenal 3-2 at Old Trafford on Monday (AEDT).
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The 18-year-old’s current deal is worth around £500-a-week plus bonuses and he is in line for a significant pay rise. We know how quickly things can turn around in this topsy-turvy season but for there to any chance of that happening again we need to keep the pressure on. I thought today they would come here with an opportunity to put a marker on the wall and say, ‘we’re back in this race.’ And they’ve come back here today and been so insipid, so weak and pussyfooted.
The United manager has given a host of the club’s academy graduates at chance at United in recent months, as he has turned to untested performers to solve his ongoing injury crisis, with Rashford the latest star to emerge from his pack.
Although Guillermo Varela has recovered fitness and has played impressively at right-back recently for United’s first team, an absence for Love would further weaken Van Gaal’s already slim options.
But the loss at Old Trafford, against an under-strength United side that enjoyed another stunning two-goal display from teenage forward Marcus Rashford, has left serious question marks over Arsenal’s ability to capture the title.
Van Gaal threw himself to the floor in front of the fourth official during Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Arsenal yesterday, to insinuate that Arsenal striker Alexis Sanchez had dived rather than been fouled. But all in all, van Gaal was all praise to his players on being able to surpass a tough match and showing a lot of confidence in their game.
“And they’ve all looked comfortable, they’ve all settled in really well, and I think everyone else responds to that”.
“I was a little bit emotional, too much I think”, Van Gaal told MUTV.
But he had them laughing out loud on Sunday and cheering a team selection in the best traditions of the squads of yesteryear known as the Busby Babes and Fergie’s Fledglings. “Mathematically, what it means, we will only know at the end of the season”.
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“I don’t regret it because it’s an emotion and in sport, it’s good to show your emotion sometimes”.
