Marcus Rashford can be "unstoppable" when Manchester United play to his strengths, believes Erik ten Hag, and former captain Roy Keane was not surprised to see him deliver against Everton on Friday.
Rashford was the star of the show in a 3-1 win that sent United through to the fourth round of the FA Cup.
The England forward created the opener for Antony at Old Trafford, then showed sublime skill to force Conor Coady into an own goal that cancelled out the Everton defender's prior equaliser.
Rashford got the third goal himself, dispatching a stoppage-time penalty at the end of a display manager Ten Hag described as "90 minutes of threat".
Keane, in his role as an ITV pundit, said: "The beauty of watching Marcus tonight was this is what I expect of him now. I'm not surprised by what I've seen.
"He's becoming hopefully one of the main players for United; can he get them back to winning trophies? He's taking responsibility.
"Tonight, with two assists and a goal, I'm thinking I expect this now from Marcus every week. He's obviously playing with a confidence."
Confidence is undoubtedly key for a player who has scored in five straight matches and seven in a row at Old Trafford, but Ten Hag also highlighted the importance of his team-mates.
"It's about bringing him in the right position," he said in a news conference. "He has to do it, but make sure as a team we create spaces, so he is coming [with] his strengths.
"That is Marcus doing really well, but also the team is doing very well to get the right shape.
"So, he can bring his strengths in, and I think then he is unstoppable, with his speed, with his dribbles, with his directness."
Ten Hag, like Keane, is confident Rashford can maintain those high standards moving forward as United retain an interest on four fronts this season.
"Of course, as a striker, you measure goals [and] assists," Ten Hag added. "Today he had two assists and one goal, so it's great.
"He has fantastic skills, and when he has that mental stability, he can keep going.
"That demands a lot, first from him, also from us as a team, an organisation, to make sure we have the right environment, the right culture. When he keeps focused like this, I'm sure he can keep this process going."
Sheffield Wednesday hit a new low as Sunderland ease to victory at Hillsborough
Sheffield Wednesday have now made the joint-worst start after nine games in Championship history after Sunderland beat them 3-0 at Hillsborough on Friday night.
A Dan Ballard header and two Jack Clarke goals, one a penalty, had the Black Cats in cruise control before half-time.
Wednesday are a club in disarray off the field, with chairman Dejphon Chansiri releasing a statement earlier in the day stating he would be putting no additional money into the club.
Owls boss Xisco Munoz made two changes to the team that lost 3-0 at Swansea, with George Byers and Callum Paterson joining the starting XI.
Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray made just the one switch after the 1-0 defeat at home to Cardiff, with Patrick Roberts coming in for Abdoullah Ba.
The first two chances of the game brought goals for the away side.
First, Ballard rose highest to meet Alex Pritchard’s corner after five minutes and just three minutes later Sunderland doubled their advantage when Clarke drove towards goal from the left and arrowed a beauty into the bottom corner.
On-loan Wednesday man John Buckley had a go from outside the box but his effort was put past the post by goalkeeper Anthony Patterson, then Anthony Musaba chanced his arm moments later but saw his curling attempt fly over the bar.
The third goal came in the 31st minute after Bambo Diaby brought down Mason Burstow in the box. Clarke stepped up to send Devis Vasquez the wrong way – it was the Championship top scorer’s second of the night and seventh of the season, six of them coming away from the Stadium of Light.
Home fans who had not already headed for the exits chanted for both manager and chairman to leave the club.
In the second half, Pol Valentin made a mazy run down the right-hand side and his cross found Paterson, who saw his shot saved by keeper Patterson.
Jobe Bellingham nearly made it four but his effort from distance went just wide.
Despite bringing on forwards Ashley Fletcher and Djeidi Gassama in the closing stages, Sunderland comfortably dealt with the majority of Wednesday’s attacks for the remainder of the game, having done the damage in the first 30 minutes.
The result lifts the Wearsiders to fourth ahead of Saturday’s fixtures, while Wednesday remain bottom, with just two points from their opening nine games.
Five-star Hamilton too hot for Annan
Hamilton thumped Annan 5-0 to continue their push for an immediate return to the Scottish Championship.
Accies have now won seven of their eight League One matches and needed only two minutes to make the breakthrough here, Jamie Barjonas running on from midfield and firing in a shot from the edge of the box.
It took until three minutes into the second half for Hamilton to score their second, Reghan Tumilty netting from a corner, and 10 minutes later Euan Henderson smashed in a third.
It was all too easy for the hosts, and they scored twice more through Connor Murray and Joe McGlynn, while Michael Hewitt was denied a sixth by the post.
Lisandro Martinez could be out for two months in latest Man Utd injury blow
Lisandro Martinez faces around two months on the sidelines having aggravated a previous foot complaint as Manchester United’s injury-hit start to the season continues.
There have been 16 different United players injured or ill already this season, with seven sidelined for Saturday’s Premier League home clash against Crystal Palace.
United full-backs Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia and Sergio Reguilon are all ruled out, with Kobbie Mainoo, Amad Diallo and Martinez also absent.
The Argentina defender sustained a fractured metatarsal in April’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Sevilla, keeping him out for around two months.
Martinez is now understood to be looking at a similar timescale on the sidelines after United announced an issue with the same foot.
“Lisandro Martinez will be out of action for an extended period due to an aggravation of the foot injury he suffered in April,” the club said.
“The Argentinian defender experienced the setback in our Premier League game against Arsenal earlier this month.
“Martinez bravely continued playing for the following two games against Brighton and Bayern Munich.
“But it has now been determined that he needs a period on the sidelines for recovery and rehabilitation. Assessment is ongoing to decide next steps.”Martinez’s absence in a gut punch for a United side that can welcome back Christian Eriksen and Scott McTominay after missing Tuesday’s 3-0 Carabao Cup win against Palace through illness.
Ahead of hosting Palace again, manager Erik ten Hag said: “We have seen some players back on Tuesday.
“For tomorrow the players who were out of the squad for Tuesday, Scott McTominay and Christian Eriksen, they are back.”
Ten Hag recently admitted he was concerned about the number of injuries United have been picking up at a time when there are ever-increasing demands on elite players.
“We already expanded the squad this season,” he said. “We had a World Cup in the middle of (last) season, so we had a longer season.
“We had to play a longer season as well because of the FA Cup (final) then nations games, so a shorter break.
“Every time the shadow is expanding, and the load on the players is just too much. It’s such a great overload.
“But many colleagues have already pointed to that, and I have pointed to that as well.
“But it kept going, we keep expanding the shadow, but anywhere it will stop and players can’t deal any more with this overload.
“I think this is what you see across many squads in this moment.”
The strain of injuries and illness have been compounded by the absence of Antony and Jadon Sancho.
Antony has not played since the 3-1 loss at Arsenal on September 3, having been given a leave of absence to deal with allegations of abuse against him.
United announced on Friday that the winger will resume training and is available for selection again as he continues to co-operate with police inquiries.
But Antony will not feature against Palace this weekend, nor will Sancho.
Four weeks ago the England international claimed on social media that he had been made a “scapegoat” after Ten Hag said he left him out of the squad for the game at Arsenal because of poor performance in training.
United later announced Sancho was training “away from the first-team group, pending resolution of a squad discipline issue”.
Ten Hag has not backed down and gave short shrift to the latest questions about the banished winger.
“Many of you ask me so often these questions and I have said everything,” he said ahead of the Palace game.
When asked how long this situation with Sancho can continue, Ten Hag said curtly: “What I said – I said everything.”
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