Is Man Utd's Over Reliance on Marcus Rashford Behind Star's Injury Problem?

Manchester United rely so heavily on Marcus Rashford to inspire them that the club hasn’t won a single Premier League game this season in which he has not scored. He’s also scored just twice in league games United haven’t won, pointing to a very clear pattern.

When Rashford performs, United perform. When he doesn’t, they don’t. The thought of him missing several weeks with a double stress fracture is therefore not pleasant.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has clearly recognised just how crucial Rashford is to United’s chances of winning because the home-grown star has hardly missed a game since the Norwegian arrived.

Marcus Rashford,Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

But is that over reliance on Rashford to make a difference game after game now coming back to bite United? And, more importantly, could it even be related to his injury layoff?

Since Solskjaer’s first game in charge on 22 December 2018, Rashford has missed only three of United’s 44 Premier League fixtures, playing at least some part in 41 of them. In all competitions, the player has appeared in 58 of 64 games, missing only six in 13 months.

That’s 91% of all possible games. It points to an alarming lack of depth if Solskjaer doesn’t trust other players to come in and do a job – based on United’s win percentage in league games when Rashford scores (82%), the manager has every reason to be so reliant on his star man.

Solskjaer himself insists that United have carefully managed Rashford’s fitness in recent weeks.

“He’s not had that injury before,” Solskjaer is quoted as saying by Sky Sports. “He complained a little bit after last time we played Burnley (28 Dec). We managed him as well as we could. He had some days off with treatment, we took him off in some games, he didn’t start every game.

“And suddenly this was a new injury, he didn’t have any injuries before then.”

Rashford suffered the injury when United faced Wolves in an FA Cup third round replay. He hadn’t started the game precisely because Solskjaer wanted him to rest, but his teammates were struggling to make the breakthrough without him and so his manager gambled.

In Solskjaer’s own words, it ‘backfired’. Rashford hobbled off within 20 minutes.

Marcus Rashford

It might have been a ‘new’ injury, but to be a complete coincidence feels like a stretch. The more tired and fatigued the human body is, the weaker and more susceptible to injury it is.

Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright made the point on BBC Radio 5 Live on Monday night.

“Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said he knew Marcus Rashford was struggling and played him against Wolves - now he’s out for three months,” Wright commented, who went on to blame Solskjaer for playing Rashford selfishly because of the pressure on results.

“We’re talking about an explosive player that’s going to need to be right [to play]. Solskjaer’s under intense pressure to get United back where they were and he’s thought about himself before he thought about the player - Solskjaer has put himself above Marcus Rashford’s health.”


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Source : 90min