23 February 2023 , 12:46
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Bruno Fernandes has admitted the Manchester United dressing room were left running scared after Erik ten Hag ruthlessly axed Marcus Rashford despite him being their in-form man.
Rashford drew the ire of his manager when he missed a team meeting after sleeping in by accident. But rather than offer his star striker a reprieve, Ten Hag came down with an iron fist and dropped Rashford to the bench for the Premier League clash against Wolves.
Cristiano Ronaldo had only just been released and Rashford had scored in each of his two outings since returning from an impressive showing for England at the World Cup. But strict disciplinarian Ten Hag showed there were to be no exceptions to his rules, striking fear into the rest of his squad.
“Marcus was probably in the best form against Wolves - he did something wrong and the manager just pulled him out," Fernandes recalled in an interview with Rio Ferdinand for BT Sport. "Everyone was like ‘wow’. In the first moments we were like ‘wow, he is our main man and we need him’.
"I was sat by David [De Gea] and I said ‘this has to be like this because if not, the younger ones will think like ‘if he does nothing to him, the next one he will do nothing to me too.’"
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While Rashford was forced to accept his punishment of a place among the substitutes, Ten Hag's decision was justified when he received the ultimate reaction when the forward came off the bench to grab the winner.
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Marcus Rashford was dropped to the bench against Wolves after a disciplinary issue (Getty Images)“He demands from Rashy, you have to be consistent in everything - not only on your game and your goals and your performance, but off the pitch also," Fernandes added. "And Marcus, in the beginning, was hungry and wanted to play, but he accepted it and came on and scored."
Ten Hag had been coy on the reasons for Rashford's omission, describing it as an "internal disciplinary" matter, though the striker fronted up to cameras after the game to admit his error at oversleeping. Rashford then posted on Twitter after the game making fun of the episode, writing: "Better late than never."
All was forgotten after Rashford struck the winner (Getty Images)There was no lasting animosity over the decision, though, with Ten Hag later admitting it was a "risk" but insisting it was necessary to avoid any further disciplinary issues that could "come back and blow in your face".
Fernandes agreed: "The end of the story, him and the coach, laughing and smiling. It’s the way it has to be.
"I’m a parent and sometimes you have to make some rules at the house, otherwise they will go over you and in a short period of time, they will be the owners of the house!”