Ruben Amorim said he would rather have Manchester United’s goalkeeping coach in his squad than Marcus Rashford after appearing to question the 27-year-old’s commitment to the cause.
Out-of-favour Rashford has not played for his hometown club since December 12 and appears to be firmly out in the cold under the Portuguese after again not making the squad for their 1-0 win at Fulham.
United manager Amorim went as far as saying that 63-year-old goalkeeper coach Jorge Vital is more likely to gain minutes than the England forward.
“The reason is the training, what I think a footballer should do in training, in life and every day. If things don’t change, I will not change.
“It’s the same situation for every player. If you do the maximum and the right things then we can use every player.
“Today on the bench we missed a bit of pace to change the game but I prefer it like this, I will put (in) Vital before I put (in) a player who doesn’t give the maximum every day, so I will not change in that department.”
However, Rashford took to social media later on Sunday evening to congratulate his team-mates for their success in west London.
When asked about Marcus Rashford, Ruben Amorim would put his goalkeeping coach on the bench over players who aren’t giving their maximum in training ? pic.twitter.com/n1eP6v1KLk
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 26, 2025
“Congratulations on the win lads,” he posted on his Instagram stories.
Lisandro Martinez’s 78th-minute winner helped United to their second Premier League victory in three matches.
The defender, who set skipper Bruno Fernandes up for United’s winner in their 2-1 win over Rangers in the Europa League on Thursday, scored with a long-range deflected effort which looped over Cottagers goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
The win moves United up to 12th and Amorim continued: “It’s a good day for us, it was not a great performance but we fought for the win.
“We didn’t play so well with the ball but we gave time to the team. We have intelligent players who in moments can change the game.”
Alejandro Garnacho continued to pick up minutes despite reports of the winger drawing interest from Chelsea.
Amorim, who turns 40 on Monday, admitted he does not know the fate of the winger heading into the last week of the transfer window.
“Nobody knows, anything can happen,” he said when asked about Garnacho’s future. “He’s improving in every department of the game, his understanding of the game.
Fulham were unable to take advantage of their first half showing, where they created the best chances.
Manager Marco Silva said the defeat was unfair on a day where defender Joachim Andersen had his headed effort cleared off the line by Toby Collyer late on.
“The reality is we didn’t score and the second half was more balanced, our second half was not as good as the first,” he said.
“It was a lucky goal, a deflection and after there was a reaction from us. They put a low block with 10 players around the ball and we had a great chance from Joachim Andersen. The result is unfair.”
