"It would be good if he could score a goal" - Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick reacts to Marcus Rashford's poor form
Manchester United may have picked up a narrow 1-0 win against Aston Villa to progress to the 4th round of the FA Cup, but Marcus Rashford's form (or lack thereof) continues to be a concern.
Into the fourth round of the #FACup! 🔴
#MUFC
After being dropped for Manchester United's previous matches against Burnley and Wolves, Rashford returned to the fray as Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo were ruled out due to injuries.
However, the 24-year-old continued to struggle and failed to find the net once again. Worryingly for Manchester United and their fans, Marcus Rashford last scored a goal at the end of October 2021, and could only muster ten goals across competitions in the 2021 calendar year. Although he spent a considerable amount of time on the sidelines due to injury, ten goals in a year for a player of his caliber remains way below par.
Marcus Rashford's expression on the bench after being subbed off said it all — poor, rock-bottom confidence, lacking self-belief and simply not good enough.
Don't know what's going on with him but hope he's able to turn this around. https://t.co/2LoQCshIue
Red Devils boss Ralf Rangnick was quizzed about Rashford's struggles following the victory against Aston Villa. The German tactician admitted he has no idea why the Englishman's form has abandoned him, but revealed that he's happy with Rashford's efforts in training.
As per the Manchester Evening News, following the match, Rangnick answered questions about Rashford's poor form and said:
"Actually I don’t know. He’s trying hard, he's in training, he was doing really well in the last couple of days, that's why he was quite rightly in the starting XI.
"I think in the first-half we found him quite often, we also tried to get him into the box, in the second-half that was not often the case and that's why at the end of the game I decided to make two changes with Anthony Elanga and Jesse Lingard.
"For strikers, it's important that they score goals on and off, that there are moments of success, of course, it would be good for Marcus if he could score a goal but as long as he is trying, as long as he is training well I don't see much of a problem."
Ralf Rangnick believes Manchester United are making progress
Despite the unconvincing win against Aston Villa, Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick made optimistic comments when asked if his side are making progress.
Speaking to MUTV and BBC Sport, he said:
"Yes. To say that this was a perfect game, nobody would believe that. Of course it was not. We still have quite a few things we can get better at but a clean sheet was important today and we worked together. There are still a lot of things to improve but it is easier to do that with a 1-0 win."
The Red Devils are set to face Middlesbrough in the next round of the FA Cup and will certainly hope to win that one as well.