Marcus Rashford was only a substitute in Manchester United's draw with Leicester on Saturday Night Football, despite the absences of both Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani due to injury and illness respectively; forward was omitted from the most recent England squad
Monday 4 April 2022 14:02, UK
It is up to misfiring Man Utd striker Marcus Rashford to recapture his best form in front of goal, according to interim manager Ralf Rangnick.
Rashford, 24, was only a substitute for the Saturday Night Football clash with Leicester City at Old Trafford, despite both Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani missing the game with illness and injury respectively.
Rangnick instead utilised attacking midfielder Bruno Fernandes in a forward role as a false No 9, before introducing Rashford after 55 minutes with the contest still goalless.
However, Rashford - who was omitted from Gareth Southgate's recent England squad - made little impact as United's Champions League hopes suffered a blow with the game ending 1-1.
And Rangnick says that while the club can assist Rashford in regaining his confidence in front of goal, ultimately it is up to the player himself:
"Marcus, it's no secret that he is not having his best time right now," Rangnick said. "It has to do with rhythm and confidence, it's our job to help him to get this confidence back.
"The only thing we can do is speak to him regularly and tell him what we expect from him and what he should do. The rest has to be done by himself.
"It is possible to develop within a couple of weeks a level of confidence where you can be a different player again.
"We all know that Marcus can play better, but in the end he has to take the steps himself."
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp on Saturday Night Football:
"I'm looking at Rashford now and this is a young man who I believe has to go and explore and do something else. He looks like he has fell out of love with the game right now.
"Go and play somewhere as there is no doubt a player in there and for him, there will be hundreds of club who want him. He has had enormous success against the likes of Paris Saint-Germain in Europe, clubs in England would want him - Tottenham, Arsenal.
"But I think his time has run now at Man Utd."
Former Man Utd striker Andrew Cole on Super Sunday Matchday:
"It is a strange one, I saw the manager came out yesterday [Saturday] and said he had trained well the past couple of weeks, but it was a straight decision between him and Paul Pogba.
"Now if Pogba and Rashford cannot get into that Man Utd team, then they do have problems. We all go through a lack of confidence when we play football, and the only way to get it back is to play games.
"Marcus's form has been very up and down and you are at the stage where you could say he needs an arm around the shoulder, sit him down, talk to him and find out exactly what is going on - because there is no way he can get into the team at the age he did and then all that talent disappears.
"Confidence is a big thing and then once he gets that back, he will start proving himself once again."
Man Utd interim manager Ralf Rangnick speaking after his side's 1-1 draw with Leicester on SNF:
"The second half was the better one, we were struggling to find the rhythm in the first half possibly because of the international break.
"We gave away a goal on a transitional moment but the reaction after was good and scored a goal. In the end we are not happy with the result but the second half was OK.
"The only one [striker] we had was Marcus Rashford. We knew this morning Cristiano could not play and decided to start Paul Pogba. After 60 minutes we made the change and had a central striker on the pitch.
"It is no secret that he was not full of confidence in the last couple of weeks. In training he is looking well, but it was a question between Paul and Marcus, we went with Paul."
