Marcus Rashford has admitted he was dropped to the bench for Manchester United’s 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers for lateness.
Rashford was a surprise absence from Erik ten Hag’s starting line-up before Saturday’s game, with the United manager saying it was for “internal disciplinary” reasons.
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Ten Hag brough Rashford on at half-time with the match goalless, and the England forward proved the matchwinner as scored in the 76th minute.
After the game, both Ten Hag and Rashford appeared to want to put the incident behind them.
“I was a little bit late in for a meeting,” Rashford told BT Sport after the match, “I just slept in, overslept — it’s something that can happen.
“Obviously it’s the team rules and I think it’s a mistake that can happen. I’m obviously disappointed not to play but I understand the decision.
“I’m happy we managed to win the game anyway and I think we can draw a line under it.”
Ten Hag added: “It is good, after the decision. He was bright, he was lively, scored a goal. The right reaction”.
Luke Shaw, meanwhile, also spoke about the incident with Rashford and how he feels a club like Manchester United should be run.
“At a top club like this it has to be like that (disciplined),” Shaw said. “People can’t do whatever they want.
“Maybe that’s been part of the problem in the past, where people (are) getting away with silly little things.
“The manager takes all of that into consideration and like you’ve seen today, if you’re not keeping the standards high then you won’t play.”
Shaw, though, was quick to heap praise on Rashford, who scored his 11th goal of the season against Wolves at Molineux.
“When you’ve got someone like Marcus Rashford coming on in the second half, you know there’s a goal coming.
“I think he’s in a really good way at the moment, extremely confident, very positive, very happy. It’s nice to see. Everyone knows the quality he’s got, he’s world class. He can be one of the best in the world if he keeps going and hopefully he does do that.”
The win over Wolves sees United move up to fourth in the Premier League. They are back in action on Tuesday with a home fixture against Bournemouth.
(Photo: Getty Images)
