Former Manchester United coach Rene Meulensteen has explained that Sir Alex Ferguson would have taken a different approach to Erik ten Hag in handling Marcus Rashford.
In Rashford’s first season under the Dutchman, he scored 30 goals in all competitions, but struggled to hit those heights ever since. Ten Hag has questioned the England international’s attitude at times, even this season insisting that Rashford “has to set his life right”.
But Meulensteen, who spent 11 years at United across two spells including six years as a coach under Ferguson, believes that the legendary Scottish boss instead would have been kinder to Rashford to get the best out of him.
“When it comes to players like Marcus Rashford, he would have some good and serious conversations with Marcus and first of all, put an arm around him,” Meulensteen explained to BoyleSports.
“He would reiterate what a good player he is, reiterate the fact that he is a Man United player through and through and tell him what the expectations and what his responsibilities are. It all comes down to confidence. That’s what you need to try to get back in those players and that comes from training to be taken into matches.
“You want to see players enjoying their football and playing with a smile, at the moment you have to wonder if these players are enjoying themselves and Rashford is a great example of that not being the case at the moment.”
Ten Hag has decided against a softer approach and instead brutally brought Rashford off at half-time of United’s 3-3 draw in Porto. He scored the opener but the Red Devils were 3-2 down at the break, with the 26-year-old dropped for “rotation” despite an upturn in form.
Another collapse in Portugal has ramped up the pressure even further on Ten Hag, who has been unable to get the best out of a host of players including Rashford, prompting speculation that he could lose his job.
While Ten Hag has struggled to contain all that comes with being United head coach, Meulensteen feels that there is another manager out there who can – Thomas Tuchel.
“Thomas Tuchel is a strong character and a strong personality, I think he has a clear idea of how he wants to play and I think he could deal with managing a huge club like Manchester United,” he added.
“Messages from managers need to be conveyed to the team very, very loud and very, very clearly and he is the sort of person and character that could handle a club the size of Manchester United.
“He has managed huge clubs and he knows what the Premier League is all about, the only interesting factor is why things didn’t progress after he spoke to the club last summer. Maybe he had a few questions that weren’t answered.”
