Former South Africa international player, Benni McCarthy has been credited for England’s forward, Marcus Rashford’s brilliant form with the striker enjoying a fine vein of goal scoring run since his inclusion in the team’s backroom crew.
The former Blackburn striker has now become a popular figure among the Manchester United fans and also one of the most important member of Ten Hag’s technical crew.
Ex-Ajax, Porto and Blackburn striker Benni McCarthy who was recruited at the end of July as a specialized attacking coach isn’t just a silent backroom member with the team’s resurgence in front of down all down to his effort and most notably his work on Rashford.
“I want to help these young players, push them, change their mindset and really try to make the difference to United this season,” McCarthy told MUTV in an interview just few days after his arrival to the club.
“Hopefully this season we’re going to see a completely revived United, a hungry bunch of players and a team that’s going to be able to challenge to get into the Champions League and change the dynamics of the Man City and Liverpool.”
Elaborating on the more specific nature of his role later that month, the former South Africa international explained what he has been tasked with: “Co-ordinating movements and finishing and making sure that the guys are sharp and that they’re ready and that the goalscoring continues and that they get the right goal scoring boots on.”
Erik ten Hag, himself a centre-back during his own playing career, explained only last month that McCarthy has brought ‘balance’ to the staff at Old Trafford because a lot of the existing coaches were defenders or midfielders as players.
A first head coach gig came at Cape Town City in 2017, winning South Africa’s MTN 8 Cup the following year, and later taking AmaZulu into the CAF Champions League off the back of their highest ever league finish. The latter feat earned him South African Premier Division Coach of the Year.
Among the usual chants echoing round Old Trafford on Sunday, fans of Manchester United could be heard singing the name of Benni McCarthy.
It is rare for a member of a club’s backroom staff to be celebrated like this, but McCarthy is not your average coach.
One-on-one sessions with McCarthy have helped turn Rashford into a more confident, direct striker and also improved his heading, which resulted in emphatic finishes against Leeds and West Ham.
“He’s definitely helped me a lot,’ said the England international in November. ‘To have attack-minded coaches is good for us. He’s always there speaking to us about these things.”
His varied language understanding including English, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese has helped him communicate with all the United players.
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