Ole: Martial and Rashford can build a relationship

The attacking duo, who have both been in the first team since the 2015/16 season, can occupy similar positions and are of similar ages, with Rashford now 21 years old and Martial aged 23.

Solskjaer was asked during his press conference to preview Sunday’s game at Leicester City if the pair can provide competition for each other in a positive way that improves them both.

“Yeah, healthy competition, but also they can create a relationship,” Ole told reporters at the Aon Training Complex on Friday morning. 

“They'll play many, many years together, hopefully, so if they get an understanding of each other, because both are very good at coming in off the left. Then the relationship of, if one of them plays centrally, then the other one has to have opposite movements, because they go out-to-in sometimes. When they play central, they go in-to-out on those runs, so I think, in the coming years, we'll see loads of combinations between those two.”

Anthony’s best tally so far in a United shirt was 17 in all competitions in his debut season and Ole feels the Frenchman, who signed a new contract yesterday (Thursday), is more than capable of surpassing the 20-goal mark.

“He has the capability but, as I said, I'd like him to make a few more runs in behind, because he doesn't miss chances,” said Solskjaer.

“When he gets chances, he's a fantastic finisher, so he needs to get more chances. That's one of the things I keep telling him, that you've got to read and sniff wherever there's going to be a chance.”

Martial reached 10 goals this season in all competitions with his strike as a substitute in the Emirates FA Cup win at Arsenal, while Rashford has nine goals this term.

But Ole feels the pair could boost their tallies considerably by making runs to be in positions to score more simple goals inside the box.

“We’ve got players like him [Anthony] and Marcus who just score - well, don't just score - but they score loads of 'worldie' goals. Five or six extra goals that I used to get, just by tap-ins and stuff by just making those runs, could go a long way to doing that [scoring 20 or more goals in a season].”

Solskjaer said he hopes Martial will come through Friday’s training session to be involved against the Foxes this weekend after missing Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Burnley with an injury sustained in training, while Rashford could make his 100th Premier League appearance for United in Sunday’s game at the King Power Stadium.

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