Mourinho: Rashford Will Learn To Adapt

Jose Mourinho feels Marcus Rashford must learn to enjoy difficult situations after Manchester United’s 4-0 win over Swansea City on Saturday.

Rashford played his part in another impressive victory for the Reds, who maintained the 100 per cent start to the Premier League season after last weekend’s triumph over West Ham by the same scoreline.

The forward received a hostile reception from some Swansea fans during the game at the Liberty Stadium, before being replaced in the 75th minute by Anthony Martial.

And Mourinho feels he can learn to adapt to different environments and develop a thick skin when the going gets tough during matches.

“I think he has to learn how to enjoy it,” the boss said in his post-match press conference. “If he was a bad player, nobody would try to provoke him. They see the speed, they see the danger, probably they think they can affect him.

“Honestly, I think if he was on the bench and if he comes [on] for the last 15 or 20 minutes when the space is there, I think he would do the same as the other guys did. So, I think he just has to adapt to it.”

Mourinho also confirmed that he had positive talks with Martial over his future at United during the summer and said he is pleased with the Frenchman after his excellent start to the season, in which he has scored two goals in two games.

“We are using him well and he’s coming with the right attitude and we have had conversation about the future he has here,” he said. “I think he has a good connection on the pitch with Paul [Pogba], with Romelu [Lukaku] it’s coming. He’s growing in confidence and, of course, two periods of 20 minutes and scored two goals, for his confidence nothing [is] better.”

Before the convincing win over Swansea in South Wales, Mourinho expressed his total faith in Martial and backed the 21-year-old to become a better player throughout the season.

He emphasised the importance of utilising his full squad in the different competitions to come and feels the connection with fellow French-speaking players is helping Martial.

“Of course, he wants to play, of course he wants to start, of course he wants to be selected for the national team, of course he wants to go to the World Cup,” Mourinho added. “So that’s good and, for me, it’s simple. I cannot play Champions League, the Premier League and cups with 11 players. I need a squad.

“He’s working well, he’s working really well and maybe that little French-language group we have – Fellaini, Paul, Lukaku – is a group where he’s very well integrated now and they bring him up and his professional level improved. He’s working much, much better so we’re happy. We have lots of hopes with him and he has to be happy now and he can keep on improving.”

The Reds will be looking to make it a hat-trick of Premier League wins at the start of 2017/18 when Leicester City visit the Theatre of Dreams next Saturday, 26 August.