Benni McCarthy faced ‘pressure’ at Man Utd to prove himself to Rashford and co

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Benni McCarthy admits that he felt the pressure at the beginning of his stint as Manchester United’s attacking coach. Tasked with bringing the best out of Marcus Rashford, Rasmus Hojlund and others, the South African has earned plaudits from Red Devils stars for the work he has conducted at Old Trafford so far.

McCarthy was drafted in by United boss Erik ten Hag shortly after his appointment last year. The former Ajax manager seemingly liked what he had seen from the 45-year-old, who previously held top jobs in his homeland with Cape Town City and AmaZulu.

Well known in Dutch football due to his prolific spell at Ajax in the 1990s, McCarthy claims that it was still a surprise when he got the call to come down to United’s Carrington training complex.

“When I was told that Erik Ten Hag wanted to see me and speak to me, I got a bit of a lump in my throat,” he told South African radio station 947.

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“He asked me to come to a training session and assess the attacking options he had and said he wanted to bring someone on board who knows what they are doing.

“A lot of the players there already knew who I was, and of course I had to prove to them that what I am bringing can add value to their game. A lot of pressure was on me and you have to know your story so I just did things that I would have loved to have done as a player.”

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Buoyed by McCarthy’s assistance, Ten Hag oversaw a positive first season with the Red Devils, leading them to a third-place Premier League finish and an FA Cup final. Particular attention was paid to the improvement shown by Rashford, who set a new career benchmark by notching 30 goals across all competitions.

When asked earlier this year about how the former Blackburn Rovers striker is perceived in training, Rashford told SuperSport: “He’s done a good job. It can be tough with a full group of new coaches, but it’s always good for the forwards to have a particular coach that focuses on us as a forward group.

“Since Benni’s come in, we’ve worked more as a team going forward which has led to us scoring more goals. He keeps pushing us to improve and you can’t ask for anything more than that as a player.

“Benni’s been great with me and all the forward lads. We speak a lot and we’re always analysing the games – small things that can get me more chances, more goals and maybe create space for other players as well.”

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