Marcus Rashford has been told by Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag he must be more clinical.
Rashford failed to score in United’s last-gasp Europa League win over Omonia Nicosia, despite having 10 efforts on goal. The United striker still hopes to gatecrash Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad and Ten Hag says he needs to be more ruthless.
“He did a lot of things well, but finally he knows that he has to be more clinical and he had to score a goal,” said Ten Hag. “When you have such good movements and make such good combinations, good actions, then you have to finish.
“I know sometimes it’s the way the game is, it’s not your night and it’s about the form of the day, but it can change in another game. I think he’s in a really good run, that shows in the chances he creates. Now it’s two games where he’s been a little unlucky. On Sunday against Everton he deserved a goal, but they cancelled it. On Thursday he didn’t score. I say save it for the coming week.”
United’s goalscoring form has been patchy this season and they have managed 19 goals from their 12 games compared to Manchester City ’s haul of 44, Liverpool ’s 32, Arsenal ’s 29 and Tottenham ’s 25.
Rashford is United’s top scorer with five goals followed by Anthony Martial, who could return from his hip injury for tomorrow’s clash at Old Trafford with Newcastle, Antony and Jadon Sancho, who are all on three. Ten Hag is relaxed about the situation and is adamant he has players, who can score over 20 goals.
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“Yes, I’m confident, mostly,” he said. “In my teams, there are players who will score. They get into positions, and it’s also about the freedom for the player, the intuition, the spaces they have to take up. When they have that feeling, then you will see that when they have the talent, when they have the potential, they will score that number of goals.
“I think we have in our squad players who can score that number of goals. But you can also divide it because we have many goalscorers across the offensive department. I think we also need something from the midfield and the defensive departments.”
Antony has boosted United’s goals tally and the Brazilian is the first Reds player to score in his opening three Premier League games. Ten Hag had already honed his talent at Ajax before United splashed out £86million to reunite them at Old Trafford and the Dutchman says he still has much room for improvement.
“I think we’ve seen his dribbling capabilities, his speed, his finishing, his creating,” he said. “Now he has to work on more variation. He is a player who can adapt quickly to a high level. He’s a player who likes challenges, he needs challenges. Every training for him is a challenge, every game is a challenge and that will bring the best out of him. He likes that.
“I think there’s a lot of space for improvement with him, but he’s already at a really good level. He’s the first player to score three in a row for Man United in all history. That already shows his potential.”
