Rashford explains how Ten Hag lit "flame" inside him after Man Utd struggles
Marcus Rashford has thanked Erik ten Hag for relighting a “flame’ that had been missing from the England striker’s game before the Dutchman arrived at Old Trafford.
Rashford scored 30 goals in all club competitions and was voted the club’s Player of the Year by his team-mates.
And the 25-year-old striker is keen to stress the importance of Ten Hag’s contribution to his upsurge in form, explaining: “It is definitely the manager as well (as himself) because he came in and he wanted to win.
“I feel at times we have lacked that ambition and he wasn’t caring about getting into the top four, doing any of that, he just wanted to win trophies.
“When you strive for the best, sometimes you are going to fall short as we did in areas this season.
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“But we managed to win a trophy and get back in the Champions League spots, get to another final and it is definitely a progression from the previous year or a couple of years before.
“He just managed to motivate me and just relight the flame that was missing.”
That flame burned brightly in Qatar when Rashford scored three times in the group stages but did not make the starting lineup for the first knockout game against Senegal or for the quarter-final against France.
Many observers thought it was a serious mistake from Gareth Southgate to only bring on Rashford five minutes from the end of the agonising defeat to the French.
And the player himself admitted it was “disappointing.
Rashford has enjoyed playing under Ten Hag (PA)He said: “I think everyone is a bit frustrated when they are not playing but you are part of a squad and I am never going to be that person who disrupts a team, especially when preparing for a massive game.
“For me, it was disappointing but I just got on it with it.”
Rashford, though, did raise eyebrows when he was left out of Southgate’s squad for the first two games of Euro 2024 qualification - the wins over Italy in Naples and over Ukraine at Wembley - through injury but jetted off to New York on holiday.
And the criticism strengthened when Rashford started the first Premier League after the international break.
But Rashford brushed it off, saying: “I didn’t see it (the criticism), to be honest, until I got home.
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“I needed time to switch off and recover so I took a short trip - four days - and then went back to rehab and tried to get ready as soon as possible.
“You can’t predict when these injuries are going to happen.
“I know I am committed 100 percent so people are going to say what they want to say.”
Rashford also insists he is 100 percent committed to United, although he has yet to sign an extension to a contract that expires in the summer of 2024.
But after the disappointment of an FA Cup final loss to City, he is already setting his sights on next season, saying: “We don’t have time to dwell on the final because we can’t change it.
“We gave 100 percent on the pitch and that makes it is easier to move on from
“We had a short talk in the dressing room and we have to dust ourselves down and get ready for next season.”
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