Marcus Rashford Sends Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Warning After Cardiff Rout

United ran out 5-1 winners against Cardiff City on Saturday in Solskjaer’s first game in charge of the club

A brace from Jesse Lingard and strikes from Rashford, Ander Herrera and Anthony Martial gave the Red Devils only their second win of the month.

Solskjaer was installed as Jose Mourinho’s successor on Wednesday, 24 hours after the Portuguese was given his marching orders.

His appointment has appeared to have lifted the doom and gloom that surrounded the club in the final weeks of the Mourinho era and given the players a new lease of life.

And Rashford had this warning for United’s rivals.


“He wants us to be positive on the ball and always look for the gaps. That was just the start. We’re going to improve and get better at it,” Rashford said of Solskjaer.

“The Christmas period is very busy so it is about recovering and making sure we’re ready for the next games. We have to keep improving and go up another level.”

Lingard was delighted with the team’s performance, which he believes was the result of a positive atmosphere in the dressing room.“The lads played with a lot of energy, enjoyment and excitement. We scored five goals, which is good,” said the England international.

“When you’ve got confidence, you put yourselves in positions to score goals. That’s what we did.

“We were playing higher and the full-backs were higher. We pinned them back and created a lot of chances.”

Solskjaer was delighted with his troops’ display in his maiden match at the Old Trafford helm but admits they still have a long way to go.

“Football is easy if you have good players,” the Norwegian said. “They are such a great bunch and their quality is unbelievable. I arrived on Thursday; all that advice I got on text from Wazza [Wayne Rooney] was useful!

“He told us to enjoy our football, smile and be Man United. It’s been a tough week for them.

“It’s been a tough week for me, to be fair. Even though it was enjoyable, there was a lot of things swirling round our heads, so they responded fantastically.

“We had a little session about patterns of play, Luke [Shaw] supporting Anthony [Martial]. It’s worked well today.

“The easiest thing to work on is your work-rate. Because of the occasion, maybe they made a run or two more than normal.

“The foundation was our centre backs. The players have the Manchester United badge on their shirt, and there’s a reason for that, they’re quality players.

“We take one game at a time; we’ve caught up eight or nine points before! There is still work to be done. We’ll keep plugging away, little by little.”

United return to action on Boxing Day when they take on relegation-threatened Huddersfield at Old Trafford.

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