If Marcus Rashford continues to underperform in Manchester United’s next two or three games, according to former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore, Erik ten Hag should consider benching him.
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Rashford, 25, has made seven Premier League appearances so far this season, scoring just once, and that goal came in a 3-1 loss at Arsenal last month. In United’s Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich, 4-3, the England international also failed to score.
Despite scoring 30 goals the previous season, Rashford has had a difficult start to the current campaign. Collymore thinks Rashford should be given a few more games to prove why he deserves to start every single game for United, who take on Galatasaray at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
“On the other end of the spectrum, Marcus Rashford is in dire form,” Collymore said to Caught Offside. His season hasn’t started yet, and he’s in a depressed state. By this point, it should be obvious that Rashford is a confidence-player. He has very little consistency in his game and blows hot and cold.
He will soon turn 26 years old; he is not a spring chicken, and it is quite doubtful that his game will change significantly at this point. He is who he is. Therefore, if I were in charge of analyzing Manchester United’s technical performance, I would advise Erik ten Hag to keep playing him for a while—probably another two or three games—and then to drop him if he keeps on struggling.
“But I would definitely be searching for a new left-sided winger in the summer, and I would want a player to enter and tell Rashford, ‘I am taking your spot and you’re never going to play for this club again.
Because I believe it would be quite simple to demoralize and overwhelm Rashford and essentially put an end to his Old Trafford career, I’m the main man now. He is much too kind. Would he qualify as a United legend if he retired at this point? Definitely not.
On Saturday, Rashford failed to deliver for United as they suffered a discouraging 1-0 home loss to Crystal Palace. The Red Devils had lost four straight Premier League games, which marked their worst start to a top-flight season in 34 years.
When asked about Rashford’s performance during the post-game press conference, Ten Hag expressed his confidence that the United academy graduate will soon return to form. He may be aware that he can perform better than he is currently. It will arrive, I’m sure of it,” the Dutchman replied.
“He puts a lot of effort into it, and he will finish. It isn’t a given. As you can see today, despite being in the right situations, we made poor decisions and failed to score.
