Highlights:
- Manchester United’s penalty record is being widely discussed
- United have had 20 penalties since the start of last season in the league
- Marcus Rashford reveals what Jose Mourinho taught Red Devils
Manchester United player Marcus Rashford recently revealed how the great Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho taught him to win penalties, ahead of Manchester United’s clash with Liverpool.
Red Devils’ penalty record in the recent seasons has become a bone of contention, with many people opening voicing their opinion over the number of penalties the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have been awarded.
The latest one to have a swipe with comments was Jurgen Klopp who some believe were made as an attempt to influence the referees as he came forward to complain that his side have not been so fortunate of being awarded the penalty kicks.
Since the start of the last season, Manchester United have been awarded 20 penalties in the English Premier League, while Liverpool has been awarded United have been awarded only 10.
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United has also won 67 penalties during Klopp’s tenure at Anfield in comparison only 46 to the Reds.
Plenty of debates have taken place as to why the Red Devils have been topping the table for penalties awarded and Marcus Rashford has now revealed the reason, he said it is due to the movement of their forwards and some advice from the Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho when he was in charge.
Rashford tolda, “As a forward line, we want to go and score goals, when you are making runs in behind or dribbling with the ball and if you see a challenge coming, you don’t want to get tackled because you are looking at an opportunity to score a goal,” the FWA.
“There is no way you are going to let somebody take the ball off you, so, for me, it is just a case of us wanting to score goals and the teams wanting to defend goals and penalties can happen. There have been times when we have probably not got penalties.
“I remember when Jose was manager, there were five or six times where I should have had a penalty and Jose ended up saying to me: ‘If you are not savvy about the way you do it, then you are not going to get given it.’”
Rushford also said, “After that, we started to get a few penalties. It was something in terms of development you have to learn that and understand it.”
On Sunday, Manchester United will travel to Anfield, 3 points in the lead of the defending champions after an impressive run of form in the PL matches, however, it will not be an easy task for the team from Old Trafford to extend their lead to six points as Klopp’s side are still unbeaten at home in the league which has been running since April 2017.
Having said this, the 23 year old Rashford believes that United is going into Sunday’s game in a better place than they have been in recent years.
Rashford explained, “I believe that we have one of the most versatile squads in the Premier League, especially going forward. It is exciting, but it is the beginning of something, we want to keep progressing and keep improving,”.
He is also receiving the Football Writers’ Association award for his outstanding contribution. “We have to show we are ready to fight for what we want and what we all want is success. We are more ready now than we were two years ago in terms of leaders on the pitch and ready to fight for trophies. But still we need to get our hands on those trophies.”
