Marcus Rashford on why top four is ‘nowhere near impossible’ for Manchester United

United currently sit 10th in the Premier League with 13 points, a mammoth ten points behind Leicester and Chelsea who currently hold third and fourth place

Alice Reeves-Turner
Wednesday 06 November 2019 07:53 EST
Comments
Europa League group stage 2019: who are the British teams set to play?

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Marcus Rashford believes it is still possible for Manchester United to finish in the top four of the Premier League this season.

United currently sit 10th in the Premier League with 13 points, a mammoth ten points behind Leicester and Chelsea who currently hold third and fourth place.

Despite his side’s temperamental start to the season, Rashford still believes that making the Champions Leagues places is not out of the Red Devils reach, and that when the team is in full flow on the pitch they will be tough to stop.

Rashford said: “It’s going to be tough [to get into the top four] but it’s nowhere near impossible. We don’t need to focus on any other teams, we play our best football when we focus on ourselves and us improving.

“That’s the only way Man Utd play good football and we need to get back to doing that. It can be very simple for us and at the same time, you don’t want to make it complicated for yourself.

“The main thing is bouncing back. I always think with home games, if you’re energetic on the pitch, you’re making runs and you’re lively, you win games more often than not

“Old Trafford is a special place and if we do that with the fans behind us, it’s a tough place to come. With the tempo we play at when we’re at our best, it’s very hard to stop us so we use it as a template and we need to get back to doing that.

“I just look at the games where we’ve done it well and the games where we haven’t. You weigh them up and look at how you can be more consistent in the games you’ve done well in.

“There was the game against Leicester where it wasn’t 90 minutes of fun but you go through the game. We won 1-0 and it does a lot for the team and you as an individual. But ideally, you want that support there and you want to be in positions to help your team-mates.”

United have suffered from lack of consistency this season, winning just three, drawing four and losing four of their opening 11 games.

But Rashford has pinpointed where the side need to improve.

He said: “The consistency in the performance and the consistency in the games you win are two completely different things,”

“Out of 38 league games, you’re not going to play well 38 times but just because you don’t play well, doesn’t mean you can’t win the game and that’s the thing we can improve on. When we’re not quite playing at our best, we can find a way to get over the line.

“If we control the moments when the opposition are on top better, I’m sure in time we will know how to control them, their fans, the tempo that they play at and once we do that, we can start to win consistently.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in