Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has defended his use of Marcus Rashford at Old Trafford since arriving in 2016.
Rashford, 20, broke into the first team at United in 2016 under Louis van Gaal, having initially been called up for a Europa League game in which in scored twice followed by another two in his next appearance against Arsenal.
Under Mourinho, however, Rashford’s playing time has come into question with some believing the Portuguese is failing in developing the youngster which gained more traction as he scored twice in two games for England over the international break.
But now Mourinho has hit back at his critics, turning up to a pre-match press conference armed with statistics over Rashford’s playing time.
“Speaking about Marcus, I think I can expect that Sunday I’m going to be highly criticised for not playing him tomorrow,” he told reporters ahead of United’s game against Watford (via the Manchester Evening News).
“Because some of the boys are really obsessed with me and some of them have, I think a problem with some compulsive lies, so I can expect that Sunday some of them will wake up in the morning and always the first thing they think that comes to their mind is Jose Mourinho.
“So I can imagine on Sunday I am going to be criticised for not playing Marcus but is not my fault, he’s suspended, so probably you should remind them he is suspended and cannot play.
“Performances with England, of course I’m happy, he played well, competed well, he score and especially in a period where he comes with some sadness after his suspension and it was very good that he did that.
Marcus Rashford has been directly involved in 21 goals this season; Romelu Lukaku (36) is the only Man Utd player with more.
13 goals ⚽️
8 assists️ pic.twitter.com/M1GYd3Gl8n
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) May 13, 2018
“If you don’t mind to lose a couple of minutes, I’m going to do something not for you but the United fans and I think I hold myself to the United fans and for them I am going to spend two minutes with you.
“2016/17: Marcus Rashford played 32 Premier League matches, 11 Europa League matches, including the final, three FA Cup matches, six League Cup matches, including the final, and the Community Shield. He had 53 appearances but if you want to take to the minutes of play, he played 3068 and if you want to divide that by 90 minute matches, he played 34.2 matches of 90 minute matches in 2016-17.
“In 2017/18, 35 Premier League matches, eight in Champions League, five in FA Cup, three League Cup matches and the European Super Cup final. He played a total of 52 matches with 2,676 minutes, if you divide that by 90, gives 29.7 matches, so with me, in two seasons, he had 105 appearances, 5,774 minutes, 63.7 matches of 90 minutes, including five finals, so the people that is speaking about these minutes, I think they are a bit confused.”
Marcus Rashford has made 29 Premier League appearances this season, 15 coming from the bench.
Mourinho then went on to compare Rashford to some of the young English players at other Premier League clubs who are struggling for game time this season.
He added: “Marcus Rashford is not Dominic Solanke [of Liverpool], not [Chelsea’s] Ruben Loftus-Cheek, not Dominic Calvert-Lewin [at Everton], is Marcus Rashford, Manchester United player, with an incredible number of appearances and an incredible number of minutes played at the highest level in the best possible competitions, so Manchester United supporters, for you and just for you, to know what we are doing with Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Jesse Lingard, Scott McTominay, that’s what we are doing here.”
United will be looking to win their third game of the season when they travel to Watford on Saturday evening, with the Hornets boasting a perfect record in their four matches so far.
Mourinho’s past with young players
Comments on Mourinho’s use of Rashford have stemmed from the manager’s previous failures to push through young players, especially at Chelsea, who have one of the best academies in England which has won the past five FA Youth Cups.
Two of the players Mourinho mentioned in his defence of Rashford, Solanke and Loftus-Cheek, had previously failed to break into the first team at Chelsea during the Portuguese’s second stewardship at Stamford Bridge.
Though this comes as a result of Chelsea’s previous focus on immediate success rather than developing their own talent, Mourinho must also take some blame with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah initially failing to make it in the Premier League at a young age while managed by the Portuguese.
The post Jose Mourinho launches 276-second statistical defence of Rashford treatment appeared first on Squawka News.
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