Skip to main content

 Manchester United are just a point outside of the top four after Marcus Rashford's 100th goal for the club beat a battling West Ham.

Rashford, who had an earlier header saved by Lukasz Fabianski, rose to brilliantly power home Christian Eriksen's superb cross seven minutes before half-time for the game's only goal.

West Ham were threatening throughout the game though, and after Said Benrahma came close in the first half, David de Gea superbly saved from Kurt Zouma's header in the second.

Substitute Fred later hit a post for United but, thanks to more fine De Gea saves, the hosts held on to move a point behind Newcastle in the table.

Here are the game's talking points.

We may still not have seen Marcus Rashford's full array of gifts

He's quick, he's better cutting in from wide areas and he is a very, very kind man. We know all this about Marcus Rashford.

But given how United have been coached in the past few years, there may still be more to know.

From Jose Mourinho's static approach to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's fun supply teacher vibe, you've never quite been sure just what it is United's players do in training, particularly the attacking ones.

Then after Ralf Rangnick's hands-off, scarcely bothered approach comes Erik ten Hag, clearly a committed coach who has specific ideas in mind for his players.

It may well be that Rashford's main position ends up being through the middle as a roving attacking menace, but coming in off the left here he was able to showcase an ability we didn't quite know he had.

That early low header which was saved by Lukasz Fabianski proved to be his sighter, as he followed that up with his superb, Cristiano Ronaldo-style thumping header that went high into the net past the Pole.

Where did that come from? And what else is to come?

In Ten Hag, Rashford might just have found the right manager at the right time.

Christian Eriksen's extra second



If anyone knows the value of time it is Eriksen, and it will have been that desire to make the most of the rest of his career that saw him make the decision to join United on a free transfer at the age of 30.

He'd have done so without any assurances of a first-team place, but with the hope that he could show his vast array of gifts on the grandest of stages.

Eriksen is a player who, at his best, looks to be playing the game a second ahead of the majority of players around him, seeing things that others don't see.

It was a superb cross for Rashford's goal, and a reminder that he could have a huge, if short-term impact on this Ten Hag revolution.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sexiest woman alive' Paige Spiranac almost suffers wardrobe malfunction on golf course

 Golf   sensation   Paige Spiranac   risked a wardrobe malfunction while placing a ball on her tee before   unleashing a huge drive   she perfected as a professional. The social media personality and golf instructor, who was named as the Sexiest Woman Alive in Maxim's 2022 Hot 100 list, uploaded the clip to Instagram where she has 3.6million followers. The 29-year-old's latest upload has brought in 122,000 likes in under 24 hours, with some viewers noting that her short skirt almost rose than she might've bargained for during the placing of the ball. READ MORE:  Paige Spiranac net worth as fortune rockets thanks to sexy calendar and Instagram posts One follower wrote in response: "I see what you did there." With a second added: "Beautiful swing." A third said: "I think I need to start golfing again!" And a fourth agreed: "That swing and outfit is on fire!"   Earlier in the week Spiranac admitted that she felt under pressure to look go...

SUNDERLAND SHOULD LOOK TO STRIKE PERMANENT TRANSFER AGREEMENT WITH EVERTON IN JANUARY: OPINION

SEARC SHARE TWEET BeyondWords Sunderland have been struggling without a recognised striker since mid-September, but head coach Tony Mowbray was bolstered last weekend with the return of Ellis Simms from injury. The Black Cats suffered two doses of cruel misfortune two months ago – firstly with talisman Ross Stewart pulling up in the warm-up before facing Middlesbrough with a quad injury, and then just a over a week later it was Simms’ turn to be struck down. The toe injury that Simms suffered was only supposed to keep him out for a few weeks, but it ended up being much longer than that – over six weeks of action was missed and in that time, Sunderland won just one league match and started to slide down the table as a result. Most Read on Football League World “There was interest“ - Virgil van Dijk opens up on possible transfer move to Sunderland "It would certainly be on-brand" – Sunderland eye 22-year-old ahead of January: The verdict "Has got amazing talent" - ...

PNG thump Wales to set up Rugby League World Cup quarterfinal clash with England

0 GARETH COPLEY/GETTY IMAGES Kumuls barely got out of second gear as they ran in six tries in front of 6968 fans to round out the group stages of the tournament. The victory, which guarantees Stanley Tepend's side a spot in the 2025 edition in France, sets up a rematch of the 2017 quarterfinal with the English on Saturday (Sunday NZT) in Wigan. PNG were comfortably beaten when the two sides met in Melbourne five years ago. But in the intervening period they have knocked off the Great Britain Lions and pushed Tonga to the wire. Under the guidance of Tepend and his assistant coach Shane Flanagan the Kumuls have a new-found defensive steel. Along with their attacking panache and the form of Melbourne centre Justin Olam, who delivered his most impressive showing of the tournament so far, they will give England plenty to think about. Crafty five-eighth Kyle Laybutt put the Kumuls ahead after just eight minutes and the Kumuls followed up with tries to back-row pair Dan Russell and Nixon ...