Marcus Rashford reveals truth behind being dropped by Erik ten Hag for lateness

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Marcus Rashford reveals truth behind being dropped by Erik ten Hag for lateness

Marcus Rashford has admitted he had no issues with Erik ten Hag's decision to bench him for being late to a team meeting in December.

Rashford had bagged a goal and an assist just days earlier as Manchester United saw off Nottingham Forest 3-1 but was named on the bench for the game against Wolves after it emerged he had been late to a meeting.

Speaking to The Overlap, Rashford confessed he had only been a matter of seconds late but Ten Hag's high standards meant he could not escape a punishment.

"I learnt from pre-season because a few of the lads had been late and it was important for him to implement those rules in that situation," Rashford explained.

"I wasn't even late that much but it was probably around 45 seconds or a minute. I already knew what was going to happen and I wasn't going to argue about it. We had a game to try to win and Wolves away for us in the last few years hasn't been easy."

Rashford started the game on the bench but was brought on at half-time, and he ultimately went on to score the winner as he began what turned out to be an outstanding run of form from the England international.

Ten Hag's high standards were clear all season as he continuously dissected any poor moments from United, including a stunning 7-0 defeat to rivals Liverpool, and Rashford admitted he has enjoyed working under the Dutchman.

"When he [Ten Hag] came in, I didn't hear him speaking about getting top four once," Rashford explained. "He just wanted to win trophies and if you've got that mentality, it doesn't matter what we're playing in, we want to win everything. The players gave everything they could [last season]. We let ourselves down in the Europa League.

"I think there was a period where we weren't defending as well and we weren't scoring as many goals, so that's something he'll want to correct. We'd always bounce back from them [big defeats].

"There's no lower point than going to rival teams and conceding lots of goals. After the match, we'd still do the game analysis and he'd watch it and dissect it for us. His understanding of players is very high.

"It's not easy to recover, but after a bad result, he'd give us confidence again. In the end, we fell short in the league and I think we could have put more pressure on Arsenal and City, which was disappointing."