Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has insisted he is ready to meet the “high expectations” at the club despite criticism from former club captain Roy Keane.
Rashford has enjoyed a strong return to form under new boss Erik ten Hag, having endured the most disappointing and frustrating season of his career last campaign. He built on his recent resurgence by netting twice in Thursday night's comeback win at Omonia Nicosia having come on as a half-time substitute.
The 24-year-old has already made a big impact for Ten Hag’s side this season, netting the decisive second goal in a win over Liverpool before hitting two more goals in the victory over league leaders Arsenal. Rashford has established himself as the first-choice starting striker.
However, he admitted that last week’s Manchester City's 6-3 derby demolition of United was an “embarrassment” – and the striker has not been immune from facing criticism. Former club captain Keane said of him, after one defeat: “Really shocking. Shrugging his shoulders when things weren’t going his way. You roll your sleeves up at Manchester United.”
Rashford has now responded to those claims by insisting that he has been frustrated by his personal and team output in recent times, but insisted: “There have been times I was disappointed but that’s normal, isn’t it? We are all players who like to win, that is the reason we play for Man United. We have such high expectations of ourselves and each other. Ask any of us and we’re not happy to lose or even draw.”
The striker added: “I’ve played a lot of games and experienced a lot of different things. At Man United, we expect to win the majority of the matches.”
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Last week’s loss at City disrupted a four-game Premier League winning streak for Ten Hag’s team, and Rashford was confident the team will respond positively: “I think we are definitely improving though there are obviously things we need to tighten up on and improve. The last league game at City wasn’t good enough by anyone’s standards and we felt we let people down. It was a bit embarrassing after the game.
“But as you know these results can happen in football and the only way to come back from it is to bounce back and win your next game as we did against Omonia Nicosia on Thursday. The manager has a very clear identity and way of playing which I think makes it easier to adapt to him. Even in pre-season I felt that he got his messages across quickly and direct and the players took those messages on board.”
The striker concluded: “We are going to keep improving under him. It’s still early days and the more we get to know him, the better we will become and the more he gets to know us as well.”
