Marcus Rashford, who was the star of last season, praised ten Hag’s mentality and spoke about what he expects from his players.
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Manchester United players enjoyed a positive first season under Erik ten Hag’s management during 2022-23 campaign. The Red Devils defied all odds to finish third in the Premier League table and followed it up by ending their long-awaited trophy drought with the Carabao Cup triumph. They also went deep in other cup competitions. Notably, in the FA Cup, United reached the final before losing out to local rivals Manchester City.
Despite the setback, the mentality of the manager was pretty clear. Erik ten Hag wanted to win every trophy the team played. He never sacrificed one tournament for another. It was evident with the way Manchester United kept pushing on all fronts and played more matches than many sides in the division. Marcus Rashford, who was the star of last season, praised ten Hag’s mentality and spoke about what he expects from his players.
“When he came in, I didn’t hear him speak about getting in the top four once, he just wanted to win trophies. If you’ve got that mentality, I’ve always been around people that have that mentality. He said it doesn’t matter what we’re playing in, the Europa League or Premier League, any of the cup trophies. He wanted to try to win everything,” he told former United full-back Gary Neville on the newest episode of The Overlap.
“Listen, the players, we give it everything required. We let ourselves down definitely in the Europa League and I feel like, in the league, there was a period where we weren’t defending as well and we stopped scoring as many goals as we were scoring. So that’s something that I’ll definitely want to correct for this season.”
It was not all good, as there were some disappointing away results. The heavy losses to Manchester City and Liverpool away from home in the Premier League was hard to take for the supporters and the players. However, Rashford said how the manager would help them bounce back from those setbacks. “It’s sometimes not easy to recover but, here, throughout whatever time we had after a bad result, he [Erik] would give us confidence again,” he stated.
“He would remind us sometimes that, listen, you are down, but you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t good players. I’m not one to need that all the time. But there are times after games like that, just a reminder like this next game, you’re going to do it and he always give us that full confidence and support.”
Rashford also spoke about the importance of getting a trophy last season. Manchester United had defeated Newcastle United 2-0 in the final to win the EFL trophy. “We managed to get a trophy over the line, which is always important, not only for the players but for the fans and the culture of Man United. It’s always been about winning trophies and it’s good to get back to that because it’s been a few years since we have,” he added.
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