Ian Wright has rubbished suggestions that Marcus Rashford's work away from the pitch was the reason for his downturn in form last season.
The Manchester United striker is enjoying a revival under Erik ten Hag and is the club’s top scorer, heading into Friday's FA Cup clash against Everton with 12 goals to his name. The attacker grabbed his fifth assist of the season during the clash when he played the ball through for Antony’s fourth-minute opener.
He’s already tallied more than double the goals he accumulated during last season’s woes [five]. The England star looked bereft of confidence and has since admitted he wasn’t “in the right headspace”.
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However, he says he is a lot happier under Ten Hag, and his manager agreed that the striker attains a positive attitude under his guidance. At the time of his struggles last season, some suggested that his excellent off-the-pitch work had impacted his on-field performance.
Rashford champions and fronts many social causes and received an MBE for his work in 2021. Speaking to ITV ahead of United’s tie with Everton, Ian Wright dismissed talk that his work outside of the game had a negative effect.
He said: “We’re talking about someone who for the first time in a long time after last season he’s actually had a break. That time when he was playing he went through bad form, when he was playing under Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] - Ole still played him.
“He’s a young player that got himself into a situation where he was needed, he was playing, it wasn’t going well for him then obviously the stuff he was doing off the field, people using that as like it was causing him a problem - it wasn’t, he’s still doing the same stuff now.
“But the fact is that he’s had a rest, he’s playing in a team that suits the way he’s playing at the moment, and he’s ready to go. He’s in form at the moment.”
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