Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford says manager Erik ten Hag's tough approach has lifted his game.

When Rashford overslept at the team hotel and was late for a meeting before the game at Wolves on New Year's Eve, the manager wasn't afraid to bench his in-form striker.

Has the hard-line approach helped?

"One hundred per cent," says Rashford.

"I never made a thing out of it because, if I was a coach, I'd have done the same. If you don't have standards in the training ground, how do you expect to go out on the pitch and win consistently? It's impossible.

"If you're going to allow each other to slip or have an off-day and no one says anything about it, which is a position that we've been in at times, it's difficult to get out of it because it becomes normal.

"So there are constant reminders about discipline. For me, it was not starting a game. We spoke about it afterwards briefly but it's his decision and you have to respect it."

Ten Hag has got United challenging on four fronts after a rousing win over Barcelona on Thursday night. The Dutchman hopes to deliver the club's first trophy since 2017, when lifting the Carabao Cup under Jose Mourinho was the prelude to winning the Europa League as well.

Rashford hopes a similar pattern will emerge now.

"That's the aim," he says. "It gives you that winning feeling and the belief you can go on and win trophies.

"When we played our first game in the Carabao Cup (this season), we didn't want to get to the final and lose. When you don't win, it's all for nothing. So we want the performances so far to count for something.

"The only way to do that is to go on and win it."