Manchester United are struggling to score regularly this season and a huge part of it is down to the goals drying up for their former 30-goal-season forward, Marcus Rashford.
Erik ten Hag rode Marcus Rashford’s form to finish a fine debut season and United’s goalscoring woes have coincided with Rashford hitting a dark patch of form.
He has been a player who has been ruthlessly scrutinised and at times, it has affected him and his game quite publicly and to his detriment.
Now set to play under another manager, coach Jody Morris has pinpointed the biggest problem with Rashford, who he called a ‘super talent’.
Problem with Marcus Rashford
One look at Rashford’s goalscoring figures throughout his career gives away a clear pattern at play of following up one brilliant season with another that’s borderline unacceptable.
That has now happened under multiple managers and add it to the fact that Rashford’s frustration is so palpable and seeps through in his game when things aren’t going his way, and that’s a recipe for disaster.
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Jody Morris appeared on Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel and broke down the big problem Rashford has faced in his career.
Morris said: “One of the problems that we all have about watching Rashford, such a super talent and offers so much when he’s on it that he doesn’t produce regularly enough.
“I think there’s a lot of people who question managers or coaches regarding Rashford. I think we’ve got to start looking at him himself for me.
“You don’t have the talent that the kids had and how he’s not even a kid anymore. He’s been there for so long. Some of the body language stuff that you see on the pitch for me is poor.
Rashford has started most games this season but a curious pattern has followed that he is almost always subbed off at the hour mark, rarely finishing the 90.
Morris thinks there’s a clear reason why that keeps happening.
He said: “For me, you can understand why managers have taken him out of games really quickly, not started him in games. Because if he isn’t producing the goals and the high-level attacking play that we know that he’s capable of, there’s a lot of stuff that he does that is not good enough for the team.
“And going back to the pressing point, if you’ve got one chink further up the pitch, the whole press can fall down.”
Clear improvement in recent weeks
It could be the adrenaline from the change of managers but Rashford has clearly been improving on his work rate since the start of the season when Ten Hag was at the helm.
He has been tracking back more often and helping his fullback diligently which has allowed Noussair Mazraoui to flourish in both halves.
There has been spurts of goals and assists as well as he gets more comfortable and confident in his attacking play and fans get behind him.
The questionable body language hasn’t been so often lately as he has concentrated on putting his head down, blocking out the noise, and doing his best.
He might never become a consistent 30 goals/season forward that he threatened to become under Ten Hag in his debut season, but he is still a talisman for the side whose form, good or bad, has always coincided with the team’s form.
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