Sports

Red card: Rashford’s naive – Jose Mourinho

Published

6 years ago

September 2, 2018

Jose Mourinho labelled Marcus Rashford as “ naive ” after the Manchester United striker was sent off for a headbutt in his side ’ s 2 – 0 win at Burnley on Sunday .Rashford saw red when Burnley defender Phil Bardsley appeared to kick out at the England international after a challenge .

The 20 – year -old reacted by putting his head into Bardsley’ s face , earning the dismissal that prompted a critical assessment from United boss Mourinho.

“ I don’ t know what happened . I would say it was naive . It was a kid and a very experienced man , ” Mourinho told the BBC .

“ Bardsley ’ s been in the game for 20 years and Marcus is a naive boy. ”

Rashford had earlier won a penalty that was wasted by United midfielder Paul Pogba , who saw his effort saved by Joe Hart .

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The miss continued a troubled start to the campaign for French World Cup winner Pogba , who was criticised by Mourinho in the close – season for his erratic effort levels for United .

“ I never blame a player for missing penalties . I blame the ones who refuse to go up there . Paul ’ s scored some good ones for us , ” Mourinho said .

It was still a good afternoon for Mourinho despite the unwanted contributions from Rashford and Pogba .

United ’ s win, secured by two Romelu Lukaku goals , steadied the ship after successive defeats against Brighton and Tottenham had condemned the club to their worst start for 26 years .
On the day United fans flew a banner over Turf Moor that was critical of executive vice -chairman Ed Woodward — who has feuded with Mourinho over transfer policy — this was an encouraging result for the Portuguese coach .

“ It was a very , very good performance . They played very well as a team , ” Mourinho said .

“ The three points were an important thing , the quality of the performance and happiness of the team is an Old Trafford response – the way Old Trafford reacted to the boys in the Spurs defeat was important .

“ We should score many more goals . The result shouldn ’ t have been open until the last minute .

“ There were lots of good performances but ( Marouane ) Fellaini was fundamental , together with ( Chris ) Smalling and ( Victor ) Lindelof. ”

AFP .