Erik ten Hag has played down his role in Marcus Rashford’s recent resurgence.
The Manchester United number 10 is one of the most in-form players in world football right now, scoring 10 goals and providing two assists in his 10 appearances since the World Cup.
He now has 18 goals for the club in all competitions this season, a stark contrast to last season’s paltry tally of five, which had left some questioning if it was time for him to move on.
However, Erik ten Hag’s arrival at the club seems to have given the 25-year-old a new lease of life, though speaking ahead of Saturday evening’s FA Cup fourth round clash with Reading, the Dutchman played down his role in Rashford’s resurgence, saying that the attacker is now playing with increased confidence.
“I am not Harry Potter,” Ten Hag joked at his pre-match press conference. “Confidence [is important] and every player has to make and get his own confidence. He fights for this and he invests in this.
“With me and my coaching staff, we bring structures and especially with the way of play. That gives him some routines what he needed to get into the right position, but finally it was up to him. If the player has confidence and he is confident in the way we are working, the environment and the culture are also important. The player can then perform at his best.
“Marcus is obviously performing at his best at this moment and he is in really good shape, from day-to-day, game-to-game, training-to-training, more and more routines are coming in.
“I think the frontline also now gives me a positive feeling that they are getting stronger. That gives me the feeling that they can all benefit from each other. In the first part of the season we had many problems in the frontline and we often had games where we didn’t even have players who were 100 per cent physically and mentally fit.
“Now I think it is much more that case and Marcus can now take much more benefit from certain situations.”
