Marcus Rashford has struggled in the first few matches of the season, but it isn’t all about his goals and assists.
When the pressure is on, you need your best players to step up and make a difference. So often last season, that responsibility fell to Marcus Rashford for Manchester United, and so often he delivered.
There is no denying that he peaked at a world-class level during the last campaign, acting as the catalyst for a largely dysfunctional side that became overly reliant on his extraordinary scoring rate. Rashford finished the season with 30 goals in just 56 appearances, a figure even more impressive when you factor in his surroundings and the lack of quality support he had to deal with.
It is understandable why Rashford often felt he had to act as a one-man show in order to get United through matches at times, a habit that has been hard to shake in the opening weeks of the new campaign. The 25-year-old is perhaps suffering from a bit of burnout after such a gruelling campaign, and it could even be argued that the early-season form is simply a reflection of where United are at when they don’t have Rashford’s goals to bail them out.
There is certainly an element of truth in that, though it also overlooks the abundance of issues elsewhere. United have been punished for making the same mistakes in all matches this season, one of which has been their profligacy in front of goal. Even in the midweek defeat to Bayern, there were chances for United to win the match themselves, and had they taken some early opportunities to score then it very well might have been a different story.
Rashford cannot be held solely responsible for this lack of conviction though his poor decision-making in the final third is a valid criticism and most likely stems from the expectations placed on him last season. What is interesting about Rashford’s form this season is that he hasn’t exactly been starved of the ball but has instead not been clinical enough with his finishing or decisions.
Only Erling Haaland (29) has had more shots than him in the Premier League so far this season (23). Haaland has scored seven, and Rashford has scored one. It means the City marksman has scored more goals than Rashford has had shots on target.
No striker is going to be done any favours with a comparison to an extra-terrestrial talent like Haaland, but the numbers tell us a lot more than just how many goals they have. Clearly, there is no lack of self-belief from Rashford to have that many attempts at goal, though there is perhaps a lack of belief in his teammates that he has decided to go it alone so often.
It was perhaps no more apparent than in the Brighton defeat last weekend, when the England international was guilty of overindulgence on a number of occasions, often overlooking teammates in better positions. United supporters might well feel it could have been a different outcome had he been more generous and on one of the occasions he was, they ended up with the ball in the back of the net only for VAR to rule it out.
The evidence might still be slim at this point in time, but it does look like Rasmus Hojlund could be the ideal attacking option in the United side thanks to his movement and mobility in the forward line, though it will only work if he has that cohesion with his fellow forwards. A strong relationship with Rashford will be a key part of that, and the hope is that over time he will set up a lethal connection with Hojlund that will see them terrorise defences across the continent.
Rashford is still getting into the positions that made him so deadly last season, but now he must make the most of the support he has to help when he gets there. A drop-off in his own personal numbers would not make him a worse player for the team.
