Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney advises Marcus Rashford to streamline his approach to enhance his goal-scoring prowess. This counsel follows Rashford’s failure to find the net in United’s recent FA Cup match against Nottingham Forest. Despite United’s 1-0 victory, courtesy of a late goal by Casemiro, Rashford missed opportunities to score, highlighting a concerning decline in his goal-scoring form. Last season, Rashford netted 30 goals across all competitions, but this season, he has managed only five goals. Although he scored three goals in as many Premier League games after the festive period, his last goal was on February 1. Despite being positioned as the lead striker against Forest, Rooney believes Rashford needs to recapture his confidence and assertiveness in front of goal.
“I think when you play as a number nine you need the team to create chances for you and I don’t think they created that many,” Rooney said as part of the BBC’s coverage of Wednesday night’s match. “I do think he needs to be more ruthless, he needs to be a bit more patient and stay in the middle of the goal but you have to be ruthless and the chance he had on his left foot, I’m sure he’d be disappointed with that. I just want to see a little bit more.
“A number of factors and confidence is the main one when you’re playing and scoring goals you feel like you’re going to score in every game but when you’re not scoring that many you need to get that confidence back and I think he needs to simplify his game a little bit to get back into a groove.”
He added: “Marcus isn’t the most vocal lad so I think for him it’s difficult because sometimes his body language doesn’t look great. He’s not like that. I think that’s where Casemiro, Varane and Bruno, that’s where they have to get more out of him. Bigger personalities but maybe have a bit of go at him to get him fired up and get that reaction from him.”