Erik ten Hag has praised Marcus Rashford for the impact he made from the bench after he scored the winner from the bench in Manchester United's win over Wolves on Saturday afternoon.
The 25-year-old was dropped to the bench for the Red Devils' trip to Molineux due to "internal disciplinary" reasons, with Rashford later revealing he overslept and was late for a team meeting. Alejandro Garnacho came into the starting XI for the England international but failed to impress in the opening 45 minutes.
Ten Hag decided to make a change ahead of the second-half, however, with Rashford replacing Garnacho on the left-hand side. And the forward made an instant impact with his pace and trickery on the wing, but it took until the 76th minute until United took the lead through Rashford, who cut in from the left and slotted the ball beyond Jose Sa.
In his post-match interview, Ten Hag told BT Sport: "After the decision, he came in, he was bright, he scored a goal. That was the right reaction. Everyone has to follow rules and values and if you react like this, this was the right answer."
The Dutchman added: "We have seen today, it wasn't an easy game, you have to fight for the points. First-half, we weren't very good in the game, organisation was poor. Second-half, in my opinion was better. Also, Fred brought energy in the game, he was playing good balls, he was linking up, winning second balls."
Meanwhile, Rashford gave his side of the story: "Yeah it’s team rules, I think it’s a mistake that can happen but disappointed not to play but I understand the decision. Ultimately, I’m happy we managed to win the game anyway so we can draw a line under it and move on.
"I was a little bit late for a meeting, I overslept, it can happen," he added. "I’m in a good place, I’m just pleased with the way we’re progressing. In the past we can lose that game or definitely draw it, even with scoring one goal they put a lot of pressure on us.
"They stepped up to us and David had to make an important save at the end and a good save from a free-kick. We’ve always found it difficult here, win and we managed to do that today."
Come the final whistle, there was a long embrace between the striker and his manager Ten Hag - displaying the relationship between the two. Luke Shaw was full of praise for Rashford and is expecting more from him for the remainder of the campaign despite the issue ahead of kick-off at Molineux.
Speaking to BT Sport, Shaw said: "I think he’s in a good way at the moment, extremely confident, positive, happy and it’s nice to see. Everyone knows the quality he’s got, he’s class and he can be one of the best in the world if he keeps going."
