Marcus Rashford came off the bench to win the game for Man Utd at Molineux as they ended 2022 with a 1-0 victory.

Marcus Rashford celebrates his 11th United goal of the season at Wolves

They say sorry seems to be the hardest word so sometimes it’s easier to make your feelings clear through your actions, rather than your words. When Erik ten Hag jumped for joy in his technical area and punched the air he seemed to have made up with Marcus Rashford.

Rashford admitted in his post-match TV interview that he was dropped for turning up late to a team meeting in the week, and most suspected his indiscretion would have been one of that nature given it wasn’t deemed serious enough for him to miss out on the squad altogether.

Rashford follows in the footsteps of Alejandro Garnacho and Cristiano Ronaldo in having a public dressing down for a disciplinary issue this season.

Garnacho was blocked from appearing during the summer tour for his timekeeping tardiness and Ronaldo was axed from a squad for refusing to come on. Rashford simply had to sit and watch for 45 minutes on New Year’s Eve.

The 25-year-old is a player reborn under Ten Hag and his brilliant, bulldozing goals against Wolves summed it up. There was power on show to keep forcing his way forward through the defensive hurdles and then the composure to steer in a low shot for goal number 11 of the season.

While United trudged down the tunnel at half-time, Rashford stripped down to his shirt and began to warm up. That was his punishment done and Ten Hag knew he needed him.

The decision to leave him out had already threatened to prove costly. Rashford would almost certainly have scored when Nelson Semedo’s weak backpass laid in Garnacho. Jose Sa denied the teenager when the in-form England international would have surely buried his chance.

But Rashford gave United a lifeline and made it a perfect final day of 2022 for Erik ten Hag. He picked up the ball on the left with the clock beginning to tick louder, exchanged passes with Bruno Fernandes and then just found a way to score when it never really locked on. He showed a similar desire to get a second soon after, only for VAR to deny him long after his celebration had ended.

In a difficult game to end the year United were always going to need one of their key men to step up and Rashford was always likely to be the hero. Six months ago he would have been lucky to get a new contract at United, now they desperately need to tie him down.

The one-year option has been taken to stop him from talking to clubs from as soon as today, but the ink must be on a new deal before the summer. On this evidence, United can’t afford to lose one of their best players and their most dangerous attacker.

At the final whistle Rashford was first to the away end before taking his leave. As he walked towards the touchline Ten Hag was 15 paces in front of him but turned round, saw his match winner and stopped. There was a clasp of the hand, an arm around the shoulder and a pat on the chest. All was forgiven.

Source: dailylifeworld.com