While United had a nearly 80 per cent advantage in possession, there was little real threat. On the contrary, West Brom took advantage of the few counter-attacking opportunities and posed a big threat to Manchester United's goal.

In particular, they almost scored in the 22nd minute with a free kick from a few meters outside the top right corner of the penalty area. Fortunately, the player who was attacking the goal was in an offside position, and the linesman clearly saw his offside.

When David De Gea was ready to take a corner at the back and the rest of the United players were heading forward, Rashford took the opportunity to find Anthony Martial and whispered to him: "Antony, shall we switch positions?" ”

"What?" Anthony Martial looked at Rashford in surprise. You know, in this game, coach Van Gaal has arranged it, he plays on the wing, and Rashford is the center forward. Van Gaal's tactical requirements are very strict, and he will certainly not be happy if he changes positions without permission.

Marcus Rashford pointed to the West Brom players around him and said: "These guys were going to target me today, and if we don't make changes, we don't have much of a chance. But if we change positions, we will definitely be able to break their previous deployment and cause chaos, so our opportunity will come. I'm sure as long as we can score goals in the right position, the boss won't say anything. ”

Martial thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

He hopes to play as a center forward, but because Rashford has performed too well in the center forward position in the previous games, coach Louis van Gaal has determined that Rashford will be a center forward in the next games.

However, now that Rashford has taken the initiative to ask for a change of position with him, with Rashford's recent status in the mind of manager Louis van Gaal, there must be no problem.

………………

After discussing a change of position with Anthony Martial, Rashford slowed down and let Martial get up front while he dragged in midfield.

It was a subtle change that went unnoticed by anyone other than Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, and the game continued.

De Gea's goal shot was wide and almost on the edge of the penalty area on West Bromwich Albion's side. However, during the scramble for the spot, Manchester United's Ander Herrera fouled and referee Mike Dean awarded West Brom a free-kick at the back.

The decision caught Marcus Rashford's attention, but it wasn't West Bromwich Albion's players who paid attention to his own side, Juan Mata, the heart of United's playmaking team, to be precise.

He remembers that Juan Mata was sent off for two yellow cards in just three minutes for two extremely unnecessary fouls.

At this time, the game was only in the 26th minute.

In other words, for more than an hour, United had to play with 10 men.

Without Juan Mata's departure, this game could well have been a different outcome.

Mata's first foul was to prevent a West Brom player from taking a free-kick.

In fact, the free-kick from just outside the West Brom penalty area, even if it was sent by a West Brom player, was unlikely to pose any threat. Therefore, his foul was unnecessary. It can only be said that at that moment, this bearded uncle had a brain twitch.

Sure enough, when Mike Dean put the whistle to his lips, Rashford spotted Juan Mata charging at former United player Fletcher for a free-kick.

Marcus Rashford had been prepared for this, and when he saw this, he dodged in front of Juan Mata and blocked his rush towards Fletcher.

Mata was stunned for a moment, glared and said, "Marcus, what are you doing?!" ”

Rashford glared back without showing weakness and asked, "Uncle Mata, I would like to ask you, what do you want to do?" ”

Mata was stunned again, what does this kid call himself? Uncle？

However, he didn't dwell too much on this issue, after all, he was almost thirty years old, and he could barely be regarded as the uncle of this eighteen-year-old young man, he said: "I'm defensive." ”

Rashford said angrily: "Defense, you look at yourself, how far away is the opponent? ”

"Huh?" Juan Mata didn't come to his senses for a while, does the defense have anything to do with distance?

Seeing Mata's bewildered look, Rashford knew that this guy really didn't react, so he said: "Now they send a free kick, according to the regulations we have to withdraw nine meters 15, you rush up, do you want to eat a yellow card?" ”

Mata reacted to this, but he still said unconcernedly: "I'm a midfielder, it's nothing to get a yellow card, if I can stop their attack once, it will be worth it." ”

Rashford asked: "Is it really nothing?" Is it really a good deal? You are the core of our organization today, and with a yellow card on your back, many things are not so convenient. What do you do when you're in the back and you really need to do a tactical foul? Will two yellows turn into one red? ”

"......" Mata was speechless.

………………

On the other side, when Mike Dean saw Mata start and was about to stop Fletcher's free kick, he was about to stop the game and awarded Mata a a yellow card, but suddenly a red figure ran past him, blocked Mata's body, and also blocked his foul, which made Mike Dean stunned for a moment.

Then, he saw clearly that it was Manchester United's recently popular young man, Marcus Rashford, who blocked Mata's foul.

What's going on? Did this kid mean it out or on purpose?

However, since Mata was not able to foul, it was impossible for him to continue to blow the game out, so he ran forward after the ball that was sent by Fletcher.

………………

The game continued, and West Bromwich Albion's attack was quickly ended by Manchester United, and it was Manchester United's turn to attack again.

However, United's attack did not pose much of a threat either. They tried to break down the right but after a few unsuccessful attempts, and when they moved to the left, they were cut off by a West Brom defender.

West Brom counter-attacked immediately and the ball was passed to the feet of former Manchester United player Fletcher.

Fletcher broke through with the ball and Juan Mata intercepted it head-on. But he was clearly a little unprepared, and instead of stopping Fletcher's ball, he brought it down.

Dean's whistle blew and he signaled for Mata, who was heading back, to come over and give him a yellow card.

Originally, Mata didn't care, but when he saw the yellow card in Dean's hand, he was shocked.

He turned around to find Dean theorizing, but Rashford ran over and pulled him away. Rashford said in a deep voice: "Uncle Mata, do you still want to get another yellow card and apply to take the initiative to get off?" ”

"I ......" Mata tried to say something, but opened his mouth and ultimately said nothing.