Rashford will be like a ‘ketchup bottle’ as Ten Hag hails Man Utd man who had international nightmare

Erik ten Hag was pleased to see both Marcus Rashford and Matthijs de Ligt produce good displays as Man Utd beat Southampton 3-0 on Saturday.

The Dutchman has already faced pressure this season after losing back-to-back matches to Brighton and Liverpool, leaving the Red Devils with just one win from their opening three matches.

There were questions about what a defeat against Southampton would do to Ten Hag’s reputation with the supporters and the Old Trafford hierarchy and it got off to the worst possible start when Diogo Dalot brought Saints debutant Tyler Dibling to give away a penalty.

However, Andre Onana saved Cameron Archer’s spot-kick to keep Man Utd on level terms before Matthijs de Ligt put the visitors ahead not long after.

De Ligt converted a Bruno Fernandes cross with his head before Marcus Rashford quickly doubled their lead six minutes later with his first goal of the season.

Southampton captain Jack Stephens was sent off on 79 minutes for a poor challenge on Alejandro Garnacho before the Red Devils’ Argentinian winger scored late on to make it 3-0 .

Ten Hag told TNT Sports : “We have to win every game and we did today.

“Sometimes you have to find a way to win. First minutes of the game we had some problems but after Andre [Onana] stopped the penalty and the goal by Matthjis de Light, the game was all ours.”

On Rashford’s goal, Ten Hag added: “It’s very important. We spoke before the game and it is so huge for him, for every striker, when the season starts you want to be on the scoring list. Now he has his first, I’m sure more will come.

“We had the chances to kill the game off, we had the chances, I don’t know how many. We had several to go to 3 or 4-0.”

MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Man Utd star thinks legends are ‘bullying’ him amid Man City transfer ‘betrayal’ rumours
👉 Man Utd boss Ten Hag ‘got hold’ of pair in rant that worked to perfection vs Southampton
👉 Man Utd: Romano reveals reason Garnacho was dropped amid Ronaldo claims; ETH says Rashford will ‘fly’

Man Utd finished the match with a back four of Casemiro, Harry Maguire, Jonny Evans and Dalot. On injuries, Ten Hag added: “We had internationals early in the season, some are short in the pre-season, some come from intercontinental flights then when you have a 12:30 kick-off, you can struggle.

“Hopefully it’s nothing serious and we have to assess today and tomorrow.”

In another interview with Match of the Day , Ten Hag added on the match: “The start was not easy. I think the penalty was the turning point in the game and not so far after we scored and that was very important. From that moment on, the game was all ours.”

Speaking about De Ligt’s performance, Ten Hag continued: “I’m not surprised. At this moment he is not fit, he’s not at 100% speed. He needs the games to go up to it. We see glimpses now and once he’s there he will do much better. We are happy with him and especially today with his game.”

When asked if Rashford’s goal will improve his confidence, Ten Hag replied: “It’s very important. For every striker, they want to be on the scoring list. Once the first is in, more is coming. Once a striker was talking about a ketchup bottle, once it’s going, it’s coming more.”

Manuel Ugarte came off the bench to make his debut against Southampton, Ten Hag said of the Uruguayan: “He didn’t work with the team, it was two sessions, one before the break and yesterday.

“He was the only one later into the team training so only yesterday he had 20 minutes training with the team. We were happy we could bring him today and show what he could deliver to our team.”