Manchester United qualified for the fourth round of the FA Cup, getting the best of Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa side in the process. Yet, the bigger picture was not about their narrow 1-0 win but another lacklustre display at Old Trafford. The Red Devils have struggled to impress for a while now, and that is becoming increasingly worrying despite their decent results since the departure of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Marcus Rashford struggled once again on the night. The Englishman had found a place in the starting line-up despite his recent unconvincing performances. He could not take the opportunity to impress though.
In the game against Aston Villa, Ralf Rangnick opted to play Rashford as one of the wide midfielders who was usually involved in providing width down the flanks.
In the first half, Rashford was decent, if not great. In the second half, however, he gradually faded away from the action, and ultimately, this turned out to be another underwhelming performance from the Manchester United star.
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Even Rangnick appears to be unsure about the reason why Rashford is struggling at the moment. As reported by the Mirror, he was asked about the Englishman’s form and he replied:
"“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.”"
Having gotten past the challenge of Aston Villa in the third round, Manchester United will face Middlesbrough in the next round of the FA Cup on February 5.
One can only hope that Rashford will rediscover his best form by then, because he has been off colour for a while now. According to stats from Transfermarkt, he has scored 3 goals and provided an assist in 15 appearances this season for Manchester United.
Rashford might struggle to break into the first-team in the future if his performances don’t improve soon though, with competition for places very high at Old Trafford right now.