Erik ten Hag promised to deal with the absence of Marcus Rashford after the England striker missed Manchester United’s 4-2 FA Cup victory at Newport.
Rashford reported ill on Friday after reportedly spending the previous evening at a Belfast nightclub.
“He reported ill,” United boss Ten Hag said after watching his side survive a massive fright in South Wales as League Two Newport fought back to 2-2 after conceding twice inside the opening 13 minutes.
“The rest is internal matter. I deal with it, we will deal with it.”
Ten Hag said there was a “no good culture” when he arrived at United in 2022 and he has encountered disciplinary issues during his Old Trafford tenure.
United misfit Jadon Sancho returned to Borussia Dortmund on loan earlier this month after falling out with the Dutchman.
Asked if Rashford was another example of that “no good culture”, Ten Hag said: “I don’t go in this case. We talked before about it, we played a good game, and now we move on.”
United established early command against opponents 76 places below them in the pyramid, Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo – with his first senior goal – producing excellent strikes.
But Bryn Morris and Will Evans scored either side of half-time and United were in danger of becoming victims of a seismic giant-killing act before Antony and Rasmus Hojlund struck in the final quarter.
Ten Hag said: “The first 35 minutes it was very dominant. We did not give the opponent any chance and should have been three, four, five-nil up.
“Out of nothing they score a goal and straight after half-time again.
“We have to be critical of bad defending in transition. Poor defending from the cross, it’s 2-2, and they turned it around.
“But you see how resilient we are. We stayed calm, went back in our game, got the third and fourth goal, so job done.”
Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw were all back in the starting line-up after injury, while Harry Maguire made a late cameo for his first appearance since December 12.
“I know the character from Licha (Martinez), Casemiro, Luke Shaw, (Raphael) Varane, Bruno, Antony, (Alejandro) Garnacho, Hojlund. All fighters,” Ten Hag added.
“Sometimes you are in this situation. It was a bad pitch, but we totally dominated them for 35 minutes.”
Newport belied their lowly standing of 16th place in the fourth tier with a committed performance sprinkled with some attacking moments of real quality.
Exiles boss Graham Coughlan revealed Ten Hag had given him “a nice little bottle of red wine” after the game, and admitted that he was contemplating a major upset after United had been pegged back.
Coughlan said: “I was dreaming at two-all. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb first 10 or 15 minutes.
“You can’t start a football game like that against that quality of opposition.
“They hit us hard, they were clinical and we learned quickly what the Premiership is all about in that first 10 or 15 minutes.”
On United’s late show costing County a lucrative replay, Coughlan added: “It was just unfortunate we couldn’t reach our cup final and go back to Old Trafford.
“I thought we had them at two-all. They were rattled. They could have gone under, and that’s a strange thing for a League Two manager to say.
“But the Premier League class shone through, so full credit to United.”
Hurtig the hero after late goal sends Arsenal into Champions League quarters
Lina Hurtig's 89th minute winner ensured Arsenal progressed to the quarter-finals of the Women's Champions League after edging Juventus 1-0 on Thursday.
After being frustrated for large parts of the encounter, Hurtig bundled home from close range after Martina Lenzini's poor clearance to book the Gunners' place in the last eight.
Despite Arsenal dominating the early exchanges, it was Juventus who had the first sight of goal, though Eva Schatzer's effort was easy for Daphne van Domselaar to gather.
In a first half that saw just two shots on target, both coming from the visitors, Renee Slegers' substitutes proved to be the difference for Arsenal.
Slegers introduced Beth Mead, Stina Blackstenius and Hurtig late on, with the latter somehow putting Kim Little's cross over the bar from five yards out.
However, the Swede would atone for her earlier error, combining with fellow substitute Blackstenius to net against her former club and send them out of the competition with two group games remaining.
Meanwhile, in Group D, Barcelona edged closer to the quarter-finals of the competition with a convincing 4-1 victory over St. Polten at the Generali Arena.
The reigning champions are still three points behind Manchester City following their 2-1 win over Hammarby, and know a win against the Swedes next month will see them progress.
Kika Nazareth opened the scoring in the 20th minute after capitalising on a mistake by Kamila Dubcova, notching her second nine minutes later from close range.
Barca found themselves three goals up at the break when Vicky Lopez netted her first goal in the competition to put the result beyond doubt.
There was also a landmark moment for Alexia Putellas, who netted her 200th goal for the club with a well-taken effort into the far corner.
Valentina Madl took some of the shine off an otherwise impressive display from the visitors, who have now taken their tally to 20 goals from their four matches in the competition.
Guardiola agrees two-year contract extension with Man City
Pep Guardiola will be Manchester City manager for at least two more seasons after 2024-25, after he signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday.
The 53-year-old was coming to the end of his City deal, which was due to expire at the end of the current campaign, but he has opted to remain at the Etihad Stadium.
The deal itself will take Guardiola's tenure at the club to over a decade, making him City's longest-serving manager since Les McDowall in 1963.
There had been suggestions that he may leave at the end of the season following the announcement that director of football Txiki Begiristain was on his way out.
Guardiola was strongly linked with the England job after Gareth Southgate resigned in the wake of their Euro 2024 final defeat, but the Football Association appointed Thomas Tuchel last month.
“Manchester City means so much to me," Guardiola said. “This is my ninth season here; we have experienced so many amazing times together. I have a really special feeling for this football club.
“That is why I am so happy to be staying for another two more seasons.
“Thank you to everyone for continuing to trust and support me – The Owner, The Chairman Khaldoon, Ferran, Txiki, the players and, of course, the fans… everyone connected to Manchester City. It has always been an honour, a pleasure and a privilege to be here.
“I have said this many times before, but I have everything a manager could ever wish for, and I appreciate that so much.
“Hopefully, now we can add more trophies to the ones we have already won. That will be my focus.”
Having been appointed in 2016, Guardiola is by some distance Manchester City's most successful manager of all time, having won 18 major trophies during his time at the club.
That list includes their first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023 and six Premier League titles, including an unprecedented four on the spin.
He also boasts a 72.04% win percentage across all competitions, which is unsurprisingly the highest of any full-time City manager in history.
Shaw at the double as Man City progress in Champions League
Khadija Shaw scored twice as Manchester City beat Hammarby 2-1 to seal their place in the Women's Champions League quarter-finals.
Gareth Taylor's team entered Thursday's game with a perfect record in Group D, and their fourth win in as many European matches ensured they finished in the top two.
Shaw—the leading scorer in the Women's Super League this season with eight goals—put them ahead in the 31st minute, driving into the area after taking in Yui Hasegawa's pass before seeing her shot deflect into the top corner.
Shaw was booked for celebrating in front of the home fans despite appearing to have objects thrown at her from the stands, and Hammarby should have levelled when Julia Blakstad fired wide 10 minutes later.
The hosts did draw level three minutes into the second half as Ellen Wangerheim tapped home while City's Laura Blindkilde Brown was down appealing for a free-kick.
That parity was short-lived, though, as Shaw blasted into the top corner from 25 yards out, taking her overall tally for this season to 12 goals in all competitions.
In Group C, meanwhile, Bayern Munich lost their perfect record as they played out a 1-1 draw with Valerenga, boosting Arsenal's hopes of topping the pile.
Jovana Damnjanovic came off the bench to put Bayern ahead 15 minutes from time in Norway, but Elise Thorsnes headed home following an 88th-minute corner to snatch a point for the hosts.
Arsenal could now move within a point of Bayern when they face Juventus in Group C's other match later on Thursday.
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