Ralf Rangnick admits he is unable to explain Marcus Rashford’s recent form for Manchester United following the forward’s disappointing performance against Aston Villa.
Rashford struggled during an ineffective performance as United beat Villa 1-0 to progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup, with the 24-year-old having now failed to score a goal for the club since October.
The England international’s decision-making was poor throughout the clash with Villa before his late substitution and Rangnick admits he can’t explain why Rashford is struggling at present. The German did, however, insist the star is ‘doing well’ in training as he bids to rediscover his form.
Asked why Rashford is failing to produce of late, Rangnick admitted: “Actually I don’t know,” the German coach told his post-match press conference.
“I think he’s trying hard. In training he was doing well in the last couple of days, that’s why he was quite rightly in the starting XI.
“I think in the first half we found him quite often, but we also tried to get him into the box.
“In the second half that was not that often the case and that’s why at the end of the game I decided to make two changes with Anthony Elanga and Jesse Lingard.
“It was very important to progress into the next round. Yes (confidence is important) especially for strikers – it’s important that they score goals on and off, that there are moments of success.
“Of course it would be good, for example, for Marcus if he could score a goal but as long as he’s trying, as long as he’s training well I don’t see that much of a problem.”
