Louis van Gaal says it is impressive how Marcus Rashford was able to improve from his debut to his second game for Manchester United.
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The Red Devils secured a morale-boosting 3-2 victory over bitter rivals Arsenal in the Premier League at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.
Should the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager continue with Rashford as the main striker, Martial can be deployed on the right wing in place of Jesse Lingard. “I don’t buy a third striker, so he [Rashford] has the possibility. When you are in front of his house and that kind of stuff, I don’t think that is beneficial for a boy of 18”. “When I have more players then I will rotate”.
“Too much attention is not always easy to deal with”, the United boss added. I’ve spoken to him a couple of times.
It was Martial’s injury, suffered during the warm-up before last week’s match against Midtjylland, that gave Rashford his chance, and Van Gaal is pleased with the way that the Manchester-born forward has responded.
It means that Van Gaal, whose side host Watford in the Premier League on Wednesday, will have a tough job leaving the teenager out, even as Anthony Martial nears a return to fitness after a recent hamstring injury.
Much of the talk after the win against Arsenal was about Van Gaal hitting the deck during a weird touchline spat with fourth official Mike Dean, when the United manager attempted to illustrate his frustration at Alexis Sanchez’s supposed diving. He’s known his family for a very long time and Marcus was coming through the ranks at United when I was playing in the first team and I would see him all of the time.
“That was my way of saying it, but it was too emotional”.
“That is why I have apologised but I don’t feel sorry for it because it is me”.
At that time, Van Gaal was furious that Milan midfielder Marcel Desailly had escaped unpunished after a head-high tackle on Ajax striker Jari Litmanen.
“You have to wait and see”, he said. I am a human being and a manager.
“The players have to think on the pitch and not the manager”.
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“I have experience that you can not influence the game – the players are influencing the game by themselves”.
