Erik ten Hag heaps praise on ‘UNSTOPPABLE’ Marcus Rashford

Erik ten Hag hailed the ‘unstoppable’ Marcus Rashford after the England striker’s stunning solo goal brought Manchester United within arm’s reach of Wembley.

United are all but through to the Carabao Cup final, as Rashford and Wout Weghorst scored in the first half, before Bruno Fernandes netted a late third to turn next week’s second leg into a virtual formality.

Rashford burst Nottingham Forest’s bubble in the sixth minute, charging from inside his own half, past Remo Freuler and Joe Worrall and firing past Wayne Hennessey, scoring his tenth goal in his last 10 games.

Erik ten Hag praised Marcus Rashford after Manchester United beat Nottingham Forest 3-0

The in-form striker maintained his excellent form with a sixth-minute goal to put Man United ahead.

“A lot of players are playing very well, but I’m happy with Marcus,” Ten Hag said. ‘Regarding his performance and development, since the beginning of the season he has been growing.

‘We have to keep this process going and he is responsible for that in the first place. With this frame of mind and this spirit, I think he is unstoppable. It is up to the team to place him in the correct positions.

‘In possession we have a plan, but then we have some players like Marcus who can do crazy things that nobody expects.

“From a results perspective, we bounced back from the loss to Arsenal and the performance over the 90 minutes was good. The second goal before the break was important because it reassured the team and the second half was much better”.

The Dutchman described Rashford, who already has 10 goals in 10 games, as ‘unstoppable’

Despite the convincing victory, however, Ten Hag was keen to highlight his team’s lucky escape in the opening period.

United were leading 1-0 when they ceded the ball high up the pitch, allowing Forest to break quickly. Sam Surridge found the net only to have the goal disallowed after a VAR check, for an extremely tight offside.

“One moment could have been a game changer,” Ten Hag said. ‘In the first 20 minutes we played very well, we scored a great goal and created some good chances.

Wout Weghorst, Ten Hag’s new signing, also scored for the Red Devils on the cusp of halftime.

“But then we let them almost get back in the game and that can’t happen.” He would say it was a teachable moment. We totally dictate it so in a moment it can change. We have to avoid that.

Forest boss Steve Cooper has been furious at his team’s defence, acknowledging they have little chance of annulling the result in next week’s second leg at Old Trafford.

His evening was also marred by an injury to Morgan Gibbs-White, who suffered a blow to the ankle that will be assessed in the coming days.

Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper criticized his team’s defense after the heavy defeat.

Cooper said: ‘Rashford is one of the most in-form players in the country, so allowing him to do what he did was disappointing.

‘We had a marginal offside in the first half which meant our goal was disallowed, but maybe we shouldn’t have been offside in that situation. We had the time and space to get it right.

It was our doing. United were good tonight, but we had to do better with the goals.”