Erik ten Hag is set to sit down with Marcus Rashford to discuss his woeful display against Newcastle United. The Englishman failed to make an impact on the game as the Red Devils fell to a 1-0 defeat at St James’ Park on Saturday.
Pressed on what he thought of Rashford’s performance after the game, the Dutchman replied: “I’ll talk to him [about his performance] and not with the media.” Rashford and Antony Martial were subbed off in the 62nd minute for Antony and Rasmus Hojlund after failing to get things moving up top.
Rashford threw down his gloves in disgust when he saw his number come up on the substitutes board but the Englishman had no grounds for complaint. The 26-year-old hasn’t been at the races for the majority of the 2023/2024 campaign and Saturday’s game was no different.
Last season, the 26-year-old grabbed 30 goals and 11 assists in 56 appearances for United across all competitions and was unlucky to miss out on the shortlist for the 2023 Ballon d’Or. But fast forward to the present day and it’s a completely different story.
The Carrington Academy graduate has scored two goals and laid on just one assist in 18 games this season – a far cry away from the lofty heights he reached last year. He looks to be completely void of any confidence on the left flank.
Rashford was barely involved in the Newcastle game and completed just one successful progressive pass during the entire his 62-minute cameo. Most of his passes were backwards yet he only completed 11 out of 17 of them.
Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the defeat, Ten Hag said: “We had a tough first half and said at half-time we were pleased to be in the game. We had a good comeback in the last part of the game. We will talk tomorrow with the team about it. We go back, we will talk about this and move in to Wednesday.”
Asked about his biggest concern following the match, he added: “As I said, I will talk with my team. We had some chances. We thought we scored a goal but it was offside. We could have scored.”