This was a bumpy, disconcerting ride for Erik ten Hag and long after the Manchester United manager negotiated more questions about Marcus Rashford’s apparent indiscipline. Rashford was conspicuous by his absence, not in the United squad that flew into Cardiff because, Ten Hag said, of an internal matter, days after the forward reported ill for training, hours after allegedly being pictured in a Belfast nightclub.
On the pitch, a United side assembled at a cost of more than £400m survived an almighty scare at a gutsy and defiant Newport County, a team 76 places below them in the pyramid made up of largely waifs and strays.
