Marcus Rashford only scored 8 goals last season, 7 of which came in the Premier League, where he played 33 times (26 starts). Throughout the 2023-2024 campaign, despite his poor performance, the English striker was always trusted by his teacher Erik ten Hag.
Ten Hag's trust once created a wave of fierce protests from fans. In the context that there are still some other wingers like Alejandro Garnacho or Amad Diallo who are more active, Ten Hag still gives confidence to Marcus Rashford. The Dutch teacher has his reasons because if Rashford can reproduce his form after the 2022 World Cup, Man United will almost not be afraid of any opponents in domestic tournaments.
Since his debut with Man United's first team, Rashford has played 402 matches and scored 131 goals. Under Ten Hag, the 26-year-old star had 30 goals. In terms of expectations, the English striker is playing below the threshold. He needs to score more goals because this is the most mature period of his career.
To further strengthen his trust in Rashford, Ten Hag invited a famous former "Red Devil", Ruud van Nistelrooy, to join the coaching staff. During his days of dedication to Man United, the Dutch super striker scored 150 goals in just 219 appearances. With Van Nistelrooy on the practice field, Ten Hag believes his students' finishing ability will improve.
"The reason Van Nistelrooy appears here is very clear, he will help the club's strikers. However, I expect Van Nistelrooy to do more than that.
In Rashford's case, this is a good opportunity for him to prove his ability. Rashford is a capable person who scored many goals when he was young. I believe 100% that Rashford can recreate his performance from 2 years ago" - Ten Hag said at a press conference in the US during the 2024 summer tour.
Not adding any wingers so far shows that Ten Hag is placing complete trust in the current factors, especially Marcus Rashford. This is a gamble for the Dutch captain because if Rashford plays poorly again, he will not find any other star who can shoulder the responsibility on the wing. Garnacho and Amad are not good enough and Antony is too bad.
Understanding that, after a summer of not being called up to the England team for EURO 2024, Rashford spent most of his time on the training field and was very satisfied with his attitude by Ten Hag. There have been many rumors about leaving Old Trafford in the past 2 years, but Rashford chose to stay. Therefore, he needs to prove his own abilities if he doesn't want next summer to be the time to leave the place where he grew up.
"We are facing a very exciting new season, everything in the past has been left behind.
Everything is going pretty great, it's true to the project the club is pursuing. There will be ups and downs, but the team is full of energy. We have good spirit, excitement, want to fight and win" - Ten Hag shared.
