Jose's praise for Rashford, Herrera and defence

James. M
Apr 17, 2017
2 min read

Jose Mourinho hailed an excellent performance against Chelsea but just which players really stood out?

Ander Herrera produced a Man of the Match performance against Chelsea.

One man that was magnificent was Ander Herrera who was tasked with man-marking Chelsea's Eden Hazard and having started at right-back to contain the winger, he was able to silence him entirely.

“He had a tough time because the referee in that match [the cup tie] created a problem. The performance was very similar today, the team played in a similar way, but the difference was we had 11 players for 90 minutes.”

Looking at the Spaniards stats above, it's hard to argue who was our Man of the Match despite Rashford and a host of other players impressive. Not especially after he grabbed a goal and an assist.

Jose was also impressed by Marcus Rashford performance and work ethic

The boss was also quick to heap praise on our first goalscorer Marcus Rashford who was back in the scoresheet after 20 league appearances without a goal.

“He played fantastically well. He also had a very good game at Stamford Bridge in the cup. He had exactly the same chance to score, even playing with 10 men in the second half, because he is faster than their defenders and he can get behind them.

But today he scored and it was at the beginning of the match, which gave the team more confidence and stability. So it was very important and the kid played fantastically well.”

Bailly and Rojo partnership kept Diego Costa and co quiet throughout.

Who misses Phil Jones and Chris Smalling when we have Bailly and Rojo in top form? We got to admit Marcos Rojo has been spectacular even before he ate that banana.

Eric Bailly celebrating his 23rd birthday just two days ago has been excellent, I can't even remember the last time he messed up.

And the boss was impressed by the duo.

“I think everyone did what they had to do,” the boss told Sky Sports at the final whistle on Sunday. “Everybody fought really hard. Bailly and Rojo, I think they deserve a special mention because they have played in absolutely every game, non-stop, since the injuries of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones.

The challenge doesn't stop there though. Bailly and co have to recover as fast as possible to face Anderlecht in a vital Europa League clash on Thursday which will be our 6th of 9 games scheduled for April.