Erik ten Hag fires new warning to Man Utd stars after Marcus Rashford's boozy Belfast trip

Erik ten Hag has told his Manchester United stars he cannot babysit them and warned they must be responsible for their own actions.

Ten Hag issued his stark warning in the wake of Marcus Rashford's boozy Belfast trip, which saw the striker dropped from United's 4-2 FA Cup win at Newport on Sunday. United said Rashford has “taken responsibility for his actions” with the striker understood to have been fined £700,000 - two weeks' wages - following his latest misdemeanour.

Ten Hag was asked if players need to be careful with who they surround themselves with and whether he can help them in terms of making the right choices off the pitch. Sir Alex Ferguson famously knew everything about the off-field antics of his players and was known to turn up in person to give them the hairdryer treatment if they stepped out of line.

But Ten Hag said modern-day players must be savvy enough to not put themselves in situations like Rashford did and warned his own stars they should know the right way to behave.

“The players at this level need to manage themselves,” said Ten Hag, whose side go to Wolves on Thursday. “That is what you can demand from the player. The player has to know what is good and not good. When you want to play top football, it demands a certain way of life. Always.”

Asked if he needed to reinforce that message, in light of Rashford's latest transgression, Ten Hag said: “No, come on. We're talking about top football players. “I don’t have to educate them any more. When you're playing for Manchester United, they should know.

“Part of the job is to support your players, but we also have people in this club who are helping the players on that. But, as I said before, when you are a player at United, you have to manage yourself.

“You have to take responsibility for your performance and your performance in the team, it is all about that. At United, it is all about winning football games. It's not so complicated.”

Ten Hag hopes Rashford can now rediscover the form that saw him plunder a career-best 30 goals last season, with the striker having scored just four this term.

“You could see in the last two Premier League games - and it was clear in the Wigan game - the progress between Marcus and Rasmus Hojlund,” said Ten Hag.

“Especially now the team behind at the back is getting stronger. That is growing and it gives a good spirit and mood in the team because those two - and also the progress from Alejandro Garnacho - is very positive.

“We have a front line that I think is a danger and then in the back, and with Bruno Fernandes and a midfield who is getting more established.

“ Luke Shaw on the left side is returning. So there's much positivity and I'm sure when there's more consistency and stability in the back, then the front line will benefit from it.”

Although United are down in ninth place, Ten Hag said he is confident they can get back into the race for a top-four spot, with key players now back from injury.

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"I think we are quite confident because on our best days, we can beat anyone,” said Ten Hag. "But on our worst days, we go down to certain limits of what is not acceptable, so we have to push our limits to higher levels. So that, on our worst days, we still get our results in.

“Then we know that, at our best, we can beat anyone, and everyone in the squad is very convinced about this.

“Also, they know that, with players coming back from injury, the team will be stronger.”

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