Ruben Amorim and Manchester United remain keen to stress on it being business as usual but the Marcus Rashford cloud continues to hover over the club.
It was the third squad in a row that Marcus Rashford was dropped altogether from when the teamsheet dropped for the game vs Bournemouth.
However, there was no vindication of his decision on the pitch, like there wasn’t against Tottenham or was against Manchester City.
United limped to a 0-3 defeat but the standing of Rashford in the current squad is clear from the fact that not many would look at the scoreline and think he was the missing factor.
Win, lose, or draw, these are the types of decisions Amorim has been brought in to make and it sets a marker for other players as well.
Ruben Amorim’s indirect message to Marcus Rashford
Contrary to the two games before this, Rashford attended this one at Old Trafford, probably to give off an air of normalcy around the whole situation.
Ruben Amorim, to his credit, has maintained that it has never been a disciplinary issue and the door for his return remains ajar if and when it happens.
However, judging by his comments in the lead-up to the game vs Bournemouth, that gate is probably closing quickly or at worst, firmly shut in private.
Amorim expanded upon his team selection for the game and was open about it as he usually is, talking about each individual player and their match load which played a part.
However, the way he ended that interview is what reflects extremely badly on Rashford. He talked about Joshua Zirkzee making an impact in the midweek game vs Spurs and then said the following.
“Rasmus [Hojlund] played the last two games and I could see during training and in the games, for sure that Josh was really, really good at the end of the last match, so I want to give this confidence to the players. If you perform, you will get the opportunity, especially if we have three games in six days”.
After the game, despite the result not backing his stance, he refused to commit to Rashford in another damning indictment of the player.
When asked if Rashford will be recalled for the game against Wolves on Boxing Day, he said, “It depends, we will see,” clearly not in a mood to walk back on his fair stance after a couple of negative results.
Curtains for Rashford at Man Utd barring stunning turnaround
Amorim preaching rotation and putting it out there that he will always have opportunities for every player if they perform couldn’t reflect worse on Rashford.
The likes of Fernandes and Amad have played pretty much every game but Rashford hasn’t even deemed fit enough to make at least one squad in the whole week when United played three times.
The fact that Toby Collyer makes the matchday squad immediately after shaking off an injury, but Rashford doesn’t speak more about his situation at the club than anything Amorim would say publicly.
Alan Shearer recently insinuated Amorim isn’t being honest about the whole situation for the right reasons and once again, his actions haven’t matched his words.
It looks like curtains for Rashford at his boyhood club barring a stunning turnaround. Considering Rashford’s first action after being dropped was to say he needs a new challenge, not many would bet on that happening.
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/djeMKC7