‘Dribble past three defenders with his eyes closed,’ Utd legend takes bizarre swipe at Marcus Rashford despite sublime form
Despite Marcus Rashford’s incredible goal against Arsenal, former Manchester United star Paul Parker made a bizarre remark about the attacker.
Rashford has been crucial to United’s revival under new manager Erik ten Hag, scoring 17 goals across all competitions. He has scored in five of his last six games, with Manchester United threatening to launch an unexpected Premier League title bid.
These hopes were dealt a severe blow on Sunday, when a loss to Arsenal caused them to fall 11 points behind the league leaders. Despite the loss, Rashford impressed by scoring the opening goal for the visitors at Emirates Stadium.
He received the ball from Bruno Fernandes, dribbled past Thomas Partey, and fired the ball past Aaron Ramsdale from outside the penalty area. However, Parker has admitted that he has been underwhelmed by Rashford’s overall performances this season.
“You have to respect that Marcus Rashford scores goals. But he also has to contribute with other things and he never does,” Parker, who won two Premier League titles during five years with United, told Wettbasis.
“He tries to dribble past three defenders with his eyes closed and fingers crossed. I don’t like what I see from him in general, but it’s also very difficult to put him on the bench because the other attacking players are even worse than him.”
Despite Parker’s assertion that Rashford has underperformed for United this season, the attacker has notched six assists in addition to his impressive goal total. This includes setting up two goals in United’s FA Cup victory over Everton.
Following that game, United manager Ten Hag expressed his satisfaction with Rashford’s performances this season. The Dutchman praised the attacker’s efforts in training to improve his all-around play.
“Again, great performance in the game, but he was from the first minute in the game. Marcus was the one who goes in front and showed the conviction, showed the belief, good movement, good runs behind, taking players on,” Ten Hag said.
“For 90 minutes, he was a threat for the Everton defenders. As a striker, you measure goals and assists. Definitely today, he had two assists and one goal, so it’s great and he has fantastic skills.
“When he has that mental stability, he keeps going, but that demands a lot from him and also us as a team, the organisation, make sure we have the right environment and the right culture. When he keeps focus like this, I’m sure he keeps this process going.
“Marcus is doing really well but also is the team to get the right shape so he can bring his strengths in and then he’s unstoppable with his speed, with his dribbles, with his directness. There is a lot of work in it, but the most important is Marcus himself.”
‘Dribble past three defenders with his eyes closed,’ Utd legend takes bizarre swipe at Marcus Rashford despite sublime form
