Former England Under-21s manager Stuart Pearce has slammed Marcus Rashford over the Manchester United star’s lack of tracking back against Bayern Munich.
United were condemned to a third consecutive defeat across all competitions on Wednesday evening, despite putting up a valiant effort early in the first half.
However, Andre Onana’s howler allowed Leroy Sane to open the scoring for Bayern before Serge Gnabry doubled the lead for Thomas Tuchel’s men four minutes later.
Rasmus Hojlund opened his goalscoring account for United early in the second half, but Harry Kane would also find the back of the net for Bayern from the spot-kick.
Mathys Tel also scored in injury time for Bayern at the Allianz Arena, while a late Casemiro brace wasn’t enough to rescue a point for Erik ten Hag’s men on the night.
Pearce criticises Rashford’s performance
Pearce didn’t hold back with his criticism of Rashford, who has come under growing pressure over his impact at United in the early stages of the season.
The former West Ham first-team coach went as far as to claim that Rashford was running around the Bayern match “like he has a fridge on his back.”
“United are under the cosh because too many of their players have jacked it in,” Pearce said on talkSPORT.
“Rashford half running back and Casemiro half running back.
“I’m not sure what Onana said when he [had] a rant at [Harry] Maguire in the summer but now is the time to have a rant at the back line, not just the back line but the whole team.
“Too many players who have given up the ghost and that is alarming. United are so off the pace and they are lucky that Bayern have not been more clinical.”
He continued: “[Man United are] too wide open, too regularly. Their goal to come back to 3-2 was a false dawn. They conceded four and that’s what they deserved.
“As silly as it sounds, the score flatters United. What concerns me is that United almost stopped trying for about 15 minutes — even though they scored in that time.”
Tough night in Europe for United
United are bottom of Group A after a tough opening Champions League fixture against Bayern, but not all hope is lost for an under-fire Ten Hag.
FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray are second and third respectively after a 2-2 draw at Rams Park in Turkey on Wednesday.
The Red Devils’ final fixture of Group A won’t be until December when they welcome Bayern to Old Trafford, so United can still turn the tide back in their favour ahead of that encounter.
United’s Champions League campaign will resume on 3rd October when they welcome Turkish side Galatasaray to Old Trafford.
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