Steve McClaren has given his thoughts on Manchester United winger Marcus Rashford.
The former Middlesbrough boss was brought back to Manchester as one of Erik ten Hag’s assistant coaches last month and will be working with Rashford on a daily basis once the season resumes.
Now, comments made by McClaren regarding Rashford earlier this year have surfaced. In said comments, McClaren highlights the key problems Marcus Rashford has in his game, pointing toward the winger being deterred too easily and his lack of ability to fight through bad moments.
The former England manager was unimpressed with the academy graduate after his performance in United’s slender 1-0 win over Aston Villa in the FA Cup third-round back in January.
“I hate that attitude in a player,” McClaren told talkSPORT, reflecting on Rashford’s showing against Steven Gerrard’s side. “Body language is so, so important and that was the criticism of United players in the last few weeks, but Rashford has probably had this problem throughout his career in terms of questioning his attitude.
“He gets deterred too easily and doesn’t fight through bad moments. He doesn’t stay in the game. If he’s not having a good game, he’s not having a good game.”
McClaren added that Rashford needs help off the field via his manager and now he and Ten Hag are at United, the Red Devils faithful will no doubt be hopeful the pair can provide Rashford with some much-needed support and guidance:
“If he’s not having a good first half, he’ll never have a good second half. I just look at him and think that boy needs help, off the field and through the manager.”