On the day when Manchester United had to rely on heroics from their midfielders to salvage a 2-2 draw against Everton, the optics of their day were made worse due to Marcus Rashford.
Marcus Rashford came off the bench and changed the game for Aston Villa against Chelsea, overturning a 0-1 deficit to emerge victorious 2-1.
Both goals were scored by Marco Asensio and both were assisted by Rashford, in a dream scenario for Unai Emery since they both came in January.
Unai Emery revealed the secret behind Rashford’s flying start at Villa and the three-word objective he set for himself regarding the player.
Unai Emery’s three-word Marcus Rashford objective
Unai Emery has become a fan of Rashford quickly, a testament to the player in the early stages because Emery has historically been a hard taskmaster.
Be it the adrenaline of joining a new club or the motivation to prove people wrong, Rashford has been flying at Villa in all his four appearances till now.
Man Utd fans are probably watching him thrive with a bittersweet feeling, knowing that he could have done the same at Old Trafford had he put his head down and worked hard.
However, after his sensational appearance vs Chelsea, Emery threw light on what he’s done to get Rashford to thrive and it’s what many might have reasonably expected Ruben Amorim to do.
Emery used just three words, “Feel comfortable here”, as the objective he set for himself when Rashford arrived which has seen the player feel rejuvenated.
Emery said to Sky: “[I] support him, help him, try to make him feel comfortable here, try to get confidence with us, try to work and play like one more [part of the team].
“He’s in this process and of course, he played a fantastic 45 minutes. He will hopefully be more important in the future too like he was today. The important thing for him is to feel comfortable here.”
Ruben Amorim can be questioned but not blamed
It is easy to look at Rashford’s form and Emery’s comments and blame Ruben Amorim for wasting a player of Marcus Rashford’s talent when the team could have used him.
In fact, Amorim said so himself that the team would be better off with Rashford in it but he had to think about the squad and the standards.
That is something lost on people blaming Amorim for this saga because the culture at Aston Villa couldn’t be more different from what it is at Man Utd.
Rashford clearly seems like a player who thrives in a good team rather than someone who makes a team good by being the leader of the setup.
At Villa, he’s found a settled manager with a responsible team in a state of upward trajectory, all three missing at United, and hence his transgressions.
Amorim can certainly be questioned if he could’ve been a bit more lenient to get him firing again but to blame him singularly would mean ignoring everything surrounding the circumstances.
Form and professionalism are just not transferable in isolation. Rashford wouldn’t have done the same at United.
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