Sir Alex Ferguson and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer both had Mike Phelan as their assistant manager at one stage or another.
The 62-year-old coach has lived a storied career, and while not being a club legend he is absolutely a name Manchester United fans worldwide will be familiar with.
Due to this, when he speaks we tend to listen and now he has had his say on the 2024/25 edition of United which he is far from impressed with.
‘A lot of issues’, he has declared about Erik ten Hag’s team which sits 14th in the Premier League after seven games – a start to the season Ten Hag could yet pay the ultimate price for.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 14 |  Man UtdManchester United | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 8 |
But now Mike Phelan has touched on one player in particular, declaring him as an underperformer – but has recommended how this issue be solved.
Mike Phelan tells Marcus Rashford he needs to improve
Speaking on the Inside Devils show on talkSPORT, Phelan was explaining his views on Marcus Rashford.
“Listen, he can run like the wind. He can accept the ball in certain situations. He can shoot. I don’t think he has got a sort of quality of sort of poacher or anything like that, but he can run like the wind, he has power in his shooting, he just needs to get in front of goal. And the more times he can do that and hit the target, hit the fishnet, whatever you want to call it, the more confidence grows. And I think he can practice those things.
“He has to improve. All players have to improve, but he can do that. I am a big believer in strengths. You know, you get to the level of Manchester United, you get to the level of the other top teams, strengths are the ones that are important, not weaknesses.
“Why work on your weaknesses at 27, or 28 years old when you have got strengths in abundance? So it’s that skill, it’s that level of intensity in training, and bring your strengths to the table all the time for me.”
Phelan makes a solid point, with many criticising Rashford for an inability to do certain things which have never been his strength. Phelan has basically advised Rashford to go back to his roots, identifying his issue as not working on his strengths.
Rashford has a specific set of traits, and when he is in form, he’s almost unstoppable. For whoever is the Manchester United manager to face Brentford, the positive is that over the past few games, the signs have shown that Rashford is getting back into form.
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- READ MORE: Who is Marcus Rashford? Inside the life of Man Utd’s book-writing, government-tackling ace
How Rashford could be impacted by Manchester United Erik ten Hag decision outcome
Rashford has been a shell of his 2023/24 self for well over a year now, but the signs are there that he is beginning to find his feet again.
The 26-year-old has begun taking on defenders again with his performance against Porto last week being the best Rashford has put in for a year now.
In just 45 minutes, Rashford scored and assisted while completing three dribbles – leaving the Porto right-back in shreds.
After the international break, Rashford is primed to explode into life – and his form could be impacted by the decision United make this week over Ten Hag’s future.
If Ten Hag stays, we’d be confident Rashford will continue in the vein he has in recent weeks. However the arrival of potentially Thomas Tuchel could revolutionise Rashford.
Tuchel is a vocal fan of Rashford and therefore he would undoubtedly be a benefactor of the German becoming manager.
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