Manchester United fans wasted no time reacting to Marcus Rashford making his hotly anticipated Aston Villa debut in the FA Cup against Tottenham on Sunday.
Marcus Rashford fell out of favour under Ruben Amorim after the Manchester United manager dropped him for the 2-1 win over Manchester City last December.
The 27-year-old United forward has not played for the Red Devils since Ruben Amorim’s men beat Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League at the Doosan Arena.
Rashford’s form fell off a cliff in the 2023-24 campaign under Erik ten Hag, with the United loanee netting only eight times in 43 appearances across all competitions.
The Aston Villa player’s struggles last season led to him being dropped from the England squad, including missing out on the Three Lions’ Euro 2024 campaign.
Rashford failed to rediscover his best form in the 2024-25 campaign and he only scored seven times in 24 matches for the Red Devils before his Old Trafford exit.
Rashford’s Villa debut in FA Cup
Marcus Rashford completed his move to Aston Villa on loan before the January window shut, with Manchester United including an option to buy for £40m.
Villa did not have to pay a loan fee for the England international and the club agreed to pay a large majority of Rashford’s hefty wages during his six-month loan spell.
Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan and Barcelona were among the clubs in Europe linked with Rashford before the United player completed his switch to Villa Park.
Villa manager Unai Emery wasted no time putting Rashford in his matchday squad for his side’s fourth-round FA Cup encounter against Tottenham on Sunday evening.
However, Rashford was forced to settle for a place on the bench and Villa took the lead in the first minute at Villa Park through Jacob Ramsey.
Morgan Rogers doubled Villa’s lead in the second half before Emery finally turned to Rashford and brought him off the bench for the remainder of the FA Cup tie.
Rashford replaced Donyell Malen in the 66th minute and the Villa attacker had a relatively steady cameo appearance on his debut for Emery’s men.
Man Utd fans react to Rashford’s Villa performance
United fans on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, were baffled by how Rashford became a “pressing monster” for Villa on his debut.
One Red Devils supporter claimed the player “downed tools for us” for the Red Devils, while other fans were baffled at seeing him run so much.
“Why is Rashford a pressing monster all of a sudden? Didn’t do that for years at United,” one fan said.
Another added: “I have been a [Man] Utd fan for a decade now. I have never seen Rashford run like this, FFS.”
“Haven’t seen Rashford press like this for us in a while if I am being honest,” someone else commented.
A fourth X user tweeted: “Want Rashford to do well at Villa but it’s p—— me off how much effort he’s putting in compared to what we’ve seen over the last year in a United shirt.”
And a fifth wrote: “Rashford done more running for Villa than he’s ever done at United.”
“More running from Rashford in [five] mins than the last [five] months at United,” another remarked.
Somebody else posted: “60 seconds into Rashford’s villa debut, he’s already jumped for a header and closed a player down. Yeah, he downed tools for us.”
“Just seen Rashford press for the first time in two years,” an eighth fan claimed.
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/sPUy8l5