Marcus Rashford was missing for Manchester United's late win at Fulham on Saturday, with the Englishman left out of the matchday squad.
The reason given by manager Erik Ten Hag for Rashford's absence was a "heavy knock" sustained in Friday's training session.
Rashford has misfired somewhat this season after a goal-laden campaign in 2022-23, scoring only one Premier League goal thus far.
The recently turned 26-year-old caused controversy earlier this week, when reports emerged of him partying in a nightclub in the aftermath of United's shambolic 3-0 home defeat in the Manchester derby last Sunday.
A report in the Telegraph on Monday suggested that Rashford had attended a birthday party thrown for him by a group of friends in a private area of the Chinawhite club in Manchester - just hours after struggling to make an impact on one of the biggest games of United's season.
Manager Erik Ten Hag addressed the situation in his pre-match press conference as Manchester United prepared to face Fulham at Craven Cottage. He said that Rashford's decision to party after such a disappointing defeat was "unacepptable"
I am aware of it. I spoke with him about it. It is unacceptable. I told him, he apologised and that's it. It's an internal matter.
How he lives, I am sure he is doing everything right to help the team and to perform and let us win.
Ten Hag also confirmed that Rashford's misstep would not disqualify him from earning a starting place for the game against Fulham - however, his injury would ultimately prevent this.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's game in London, Richard Keys and Andy Gray would raise issue with Ten Hag's handling of the situation, suggesting that his public line on the situation being "unacceptable" had unfairly thrown Rashford under the bus.
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Keys and Gray question Erik Ten Hag's response to Marcus Rashford issue
BeIN Sports host Richard Keys would question Erik Ten Hag for his comments on Marcus Rashford, pointing out that the Manchester United forward had turned up on time for training the following morning despite his outing in Manchester:
He turned up to train the following morning in good spirits. He trained well, we are told. I don't understand for the life of me why it has caused such a fuss.
Ten Hag, in my view, threw him under the bus.
Keys would then go on to suggest that such public comments would not have been made by Manchester United's most legendary manager:
If that was Fergie, he would have probably said, 'look, optics...it wasn't a great idea. But Marcus had planned it for some time, and therefore we understand why he went out. It probably didn't look great...move on.'
For the manager to go in front of the press and say, 'it was unforgiveable.' What was?
The gathering of Rashford and his friends was indeed reported to have been organised long before the derby defeat to Manchester City, leading to a polarised reaction from fans in the days since.
"This doesn't feel right!"
"It stinks!"@richardajkeys and Andy Gray questions Erik ten Hag for "throwing Marcus Rashford under the bus" after he celebrated his birthday after the Manchester Derby last weekend. #beINPL #FULMUN pic.twitter.com/M9QVO8gIaW— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) November 4, 2023
This is not the first time that Erik Ten Hag has come down hard on a player and, in reality, it is somewhat tame compared to his handling of previous situations.
Jadon Sancho remains sidelined from first-team action after a public falling out with the Dutchman, while Cristiano Ronaldo's antics were not tolerated for long by Ten Hag last season.
Even Rashford himself has been on the end of Ten Hag's discipline, when he was dropped to the bench for last year's game against Wolves, having reported late to the team bus. He would score the only goal of a 1-0 win after being introduced off the bench.
Andy Gray said that Ten Hag was attempting to foster a reputation of harsh discipline at the club, and that he had handled the latest situation with Marcus Rashford poorly:
What you've asked me are two questions. Marcus Rashford, should he have gone out on Sunday night? No.
The fact that he did, was he breaching club rules, no.
There's a second part of the question about the coach. You're absolutely right, I'm going to agree with you 100% on Ten Hag's reaction to it.
In my opinion, he should have dealt with it differently - but he's done that all his time there, all his tenure at Manchester United, he's dealt with things.
He wants to portray this image of being a hard man, of being a tough disciplinarian. That's fine. If you're getting it right, like Fergie was, you can be as tough a disciplinarian as you want. If you're not getting it right, you can't.
He's not got the players backing him, he's not got them onside. Therefore, when he distances himself from them - and he's done that with Rashford now - the distance is there.
In Rashford's absence, Manchester United snatched a 1-0 victory at the death on Saturday, with Bruno Fernandes' injury-time goal enough to get them over the line at Fulham.
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