Marcus Rashford’s Brilliant Retort: A Perfect Response to Jamie Carragher’s Newcastle Worries
Marcus Rashford’s’silly’ comment is the ideal riposte to Jamie Carragher’s Newcastle United’s anxiety of playing in the Champions League for the first time in 20 years, but Marcus Rashford does not believe those sides that can focus completely on the Premier League will be at an advantage.
Marcus Rashford says it is’silly’ to suggest Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea will have a ‘edge’ over opponents such as Newcastle United next season since they do not participate in Europe.
Newcastle United will compete in the Champions League with Rashford’s Manchester United for the first time in 20 years. Those extra games present a welcome challenge for Newcastle manager Eddie Howe, who is fully aware that his side requires better depth to deal with the demands of competing on four fronts.
Newcastle, of course, have become one of the most intense teams in the Premier League under Howe, and former Chelsea manager Graham Potter stated after the Blues’ 1-0 loss to the black-and-whites last November that “you could see the difference in schedules in terms of one game a week versus the intense period that we have had.” It’s worth noting that Chelsea, who had their worst Premier League season history, only played four more games than Newcastle in all competitions.
Manchester United, on the other hand, had a particularly hectic schedule, playing 62 games. Rashford’s club season ended on June 3, and the England international believes that’more time to heal between particular games and at different phases of the season’ is required as he prepares for Euro qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia in the coming days.
With that in mind, Rashford was asked if having more rest would benefit teams that did not qualify for Europe, such as Spurs and Chelsea, who can focus on the Premier League next season.
“It’s never an advantage for teams not to be in Europe because they are the biggest games and every player wants to play in Europe,” the forward told reporters. “It’s as simple as that. You don’t want to miss out on Europe to get more rest. That’s silly.”
Rashford’s remarks came just a few weeks after commentator Jamie Carragher stated Newcastle’s lack of European action was a ‘big plus’ in terms of getting where they are. The former Liverpool defender believes that the extra games will ‘impact’ Newcastle and cause Howe’s team to fall out of the top four, which will only add to the group’s motivation.
