- Benni McCarthy worked with Red Devils star as forward coach at Old Trafford
- The South African has claimed manager Erik Ten Hag ‘lacked fire and passion’
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Benni McCarthy has claimed that ‘everyone tells Marcus Rashford what he wants to hear’ and that he tried to be ‘straight’ with him while he was a coach at Manchester United.
The English forward came up through the ranks at Old Trafford, bursting onto the scene in the 2015-16 campaign with five goals in 11 games in the second half of the season.
In eight years Rashford has found the net 135 times in 413 matches, often standing out as a shining light in a lean period in the club’s history, while off the pitch he received an MBE for his work tackling child hunger.
Recently, however, the 26-year-old has been finding things a bit trickier, scoring just eight times last season as United slumped to an eight-placed finish. He also found himself in hot water for missing training following a 12-hour tequila bender in Belfast and going clubbing after Erik Ten Hag’s side lost the Manchester derby in October.
Now former Red Devils coach McCarthy has shed light on his relationship with Rashford and the kind of people the star surrounds himself with, in an interview with SuperSport Unplugged.
Benni McCarthy has claimed that ‘everyone tells Marcus Rashord what he wants to hear’
Former Red Devils coach Benni McCarthy has shed light on his relationship with Rashford
The English forward came up through the ranks at Old Trafford, bursting onto the scene in the 2015-16 campaign
He said: ‘Rashford is special – he’s a special human being. He’s pure-hearted and he’s Man United through and through.
‘He was “Marcus” [as opposed to “Rashy”] to me. I’m straight to the point and I think he respected that instead of me sweet-talking him…for other reasons.
‘I was just a straight shooter and I think he probably didn’t have enough people in his life who are straight with him because everyone tells him what he wants to hear because of who he is.
‘I was just normal and I think he appreciated that so any kind of advice he would come to me – advice on anything. We still message each other.’
The sensational claims are not the first McCarthy has made about the setup at Old Trafford since he departed as the club’s forward coach in June.
Earlier this month, the South African asserted that Erik ten Hag ‘lacks a bit of that fire, that passion’ as the Dutchman continued to come under pressure for his poor results this season.
‘In modern football, I believe that players want to see a bit more passion in their coach,’ McCarthy said.
‘They need to feel that the coach is with them and willing to fight alongside them.
‘Tactically, I feel that Erik is at the top. He lacks a bit of that fire, that passion. That’s where we differ, him and I.’
McCarthy was also critical of the players’ application during training throughout his time at United.
The South African did single out two players for praise and felt if the rest of the squad trained as hard as they did, results may have been better.
The sensational claims are not the first McCarthy has made about the setup at Old Trafford
McCarthy has also been critical of the players’ application during training throughout his time at United
Erik Ten Hag was accused of lacking ‘fire’ and ‘passion’ by former assistant McCarthy
‘If some of the Manchester United players had what Bruno (Fernandes) and Diogo (Dalot) have, it would have been easier to achieve good results,’ McCarthy said.
‘They both trained with incredible concentration, giving everything they had. Some of the others didn’t do the same.
‘This ended up limiting United’s progress, because some players weren’t training to the best of their ability. Even in games, the data showed us that some players were at their peak performance and others a little below.’
