Tottenham Hotspur manager José Mourinho has responded to claims by Marcus Rashford that the Portuguese manager told him how to win more penalties in matches.
Rashford said his former manager (Mourinho) taught him how to be more “savvy” in the penalty area in order to win more penalties.
In his press conference on Friday Mourinho responded to Rashford’s claims by simply saying check the stats.
👀 Jose responds to @MarcusRashford‘s claims that he taught him how to win penalties at @ManUtd. pic.twitter.com/tkftBuZtMd
— SPORF (@Sporf) January 15, 2021
Video courtesy of Sport via Twitter
Rashford revealed that Mourinho told him: “If you’re not savvy about the way you do it, then you are not going to get given it’.
“When you are making runs in behind or you are dribbling with the ball and you see a challenge coming, you don’t want to get tackled because you are looking at an opportunity to score a goal.
“There have been times when we have probably not got penalties. When José was manager, there were five or six times I can remember where I should have had a penalty.
“It was something in terms of development you have to learn and understand.”
Since Mourinho left United in 2018 Olé Gunnar Solskjaer’s men have been awarded more penalties than any other club in the Premier League – winning a total of 27.
Last season United set a new record for the most spot-kicks awarded in a single Premier League season (14) and so far this season they have won 11 in all competitions.
Since getting Mourinho’s advice, Marcus Rashford has won 11 penalties for United in the Premier League and in Europe.
Eight of the 11 came those came with Olé Gunnar Solskjaer at the helm but it seems José is still having an impact at Old Trafford despite leaving in 2018.