7
Manchester United were poor once again but came up trumps against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup thanks to a last-minute headed goal from Casemiro.
Erik ten Hag was under pressure before the game and an exit in Round Five would have been a hard pill to swallow but his team made it though in the end to set-up a mouthwatering quarterfinal clash against Liverpool.
Injuries once again played a major part in the reshuffle at the back with Harry Maguire missing out which meant Sofyan Amrabat came in as left back while Victor Lindelof moved over to the heart of the defence.
None of the players were particularly good on the night but Marcus Rashford was by far the worst out on the pitch and the Mancunian just does not seem interested.
Rashy’s body language suggests defeat
He failed to hold play up, was always second in the duels and kept giving up whenever the opposition knocked the ball past him. There was simply no application from the academy graduate and he is starting to resemble the player Ralf Rangnick inherited a few seasons ago.
The 26-year-old had 31 touches of the football, managing to find a teammate only 15 times out of 21 attempts to end the game with a poor passing accuracy rate of 71 percent.
He had two shots, both were off target while he failed to dribble past the opposition even once. He also had 0 key passes and 0 crosses.
He won only two out of five duels and lost the ball 11 times in 90 minutes. He also had 0 interceptions, 0 blocked shots and 0 clearances.
Sir Jim has huge call to make
The Englishman was awarded the lowest score among all United players of 6.7 by Sofascore. Rashford is clearly struggling to fill the void left by Rasmus Hojlund.
Ten Hag will be praying the Dane can make a quick recovery or else the upcoming ties against Manchester City and Liverpool look like almost impossible tasks without a recognised goalscorer.
Rashford need only look at his skipper Bruno Fernandes for inspiration with the Portuguese continuing to give it his all despite nothing going his way.
Rashford’s head drops at the first sign of effective opposition and based on his current mindset, Sir Jim Ratcliffe is right to be open to an exit in the summer.
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