Ole Gunnar Solskjaer warned Marcus Rashford to be mindful of his discipline after he was booked late on in Manchester United’s Premier League win over Brighton.
Rashford recklessly conceded a 93rd minute free-kick midway inside United’s half with a late tackle on Martín Montoya that gave Brighton an opportunity to apply more pressure. Solskjaer substituted Rashford a minute later and sent on defender Matteo Darmian in an effort to combat Brighton’s set-piece threat as they attempted to salvage a point.
Solskjaer allayed concerns Rashford was injured but revealed he gave the 21-year-old a pep talk – even though Rashford was United’s matchwinner for the second week running.
“He is a proper Manc,” Solskjaer said of Rashford. “You can’t kick him and keep him down, he will stand up for a fight and stand up for himself and a teammate.
“But he knows, and we spoke about it: Don’t give stupid fouls away against Brighton because they are going to get you in trouble because they have quality delivery and physical attributes in the box. He could have done it right in the middle of the centre circle instead or at their end
United were dominant for an hour against Brighton but seemed jaded in the last half-an-hour as the visitors probed for an equaliser. United have played with more intensity under Solskjaer and already risen from bottom in the Premier League’s running stats table to 18th in just six games.
“I have to be fair to the boys,” Solskjaer explained. “I do demand a lot of sprinting and high press because we are Man United. Maybe the last two games it has caught up with a few but we have got another week to be ready for Arsenal, so we will be ready for Arsenal.”