Marcus Rashford in action for Manchester United© AFP
Manchester United defender Harry Maguire came out to defend the club’s star winger Marcus Rashford for his performance during the Red Devils defeat against Newcastle United on Saturday night. Rashford is chasing the shadow of his previous season. In the 2023-24 campaign, he has struggled to find the back of the net and create openings for his teammates. The 26-year-old has scored just two goals and registered one assist in 13 Premier League appearances this season. His lack of attacking threat was once again on display against the Magpies. He received a lot of criticism for his performance from fans as well as former players. Maguire came out to back his national compatriot after the game and told reporters as quoted from Goal.com, “Marcus had an unbelievable season last season. This season, it hasn’t clicked for him. He’s working hard. Everyone in that dressing room knows what he’s about.”
He further went on to talk about the team’s lacklustre performance and said, “It’s been a tough week with three away days in six days. To be fair, in the first half, we looked like we’d played our third away day in six days. The tempo wasn’t there, the intensity wasn’t there. They were a lot better than us. We grew into the game, but we didn’t have enough in the end.”
Coming to the clash, United struggled to create chances throughout the game as Newcastle United dominated the game, especially in the mid-field.
Joellinton and Bruno Guimaraes controlled the flow of the game by overpowering Scott McTominay and Kobbie Mainoo.
Despite controlling the game, Newcastle failed to get their much-deserved goal. Kieran Trippier came close but struck the crossbar from a freekick.
After a goalless first half, youngster Anthony Gordon tapped it home from close range which turned out to be enough for Newcastle to walk away with the game.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag’s side has a tough 14 days ahead of them as they are scheduled to play four matches which include fixtures against Chelsea, Liverpool in the Premier League and Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League.
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