Inside Marcus Rashford's Man Utd malaise: Just two goals, one shot every two hours and 'shocking' body language

Rashford's lack of goals this season is particularly remarkable given how much football he has played. He has started every league game bar one when he was injured, playing 1081 minutes, only trailing Bruno Fernandes and Andre Onana in time on the pitch.

Despite his repeated opportunities, he has scored just twice, a cracking goal against Arsenal in September and a penalty against Everton in November, which Fernandes allowed him take in a bid to lift his confidence. Suffice to say, Fernandes' gesture is yet to have the desired effect.

He has also played four out of five games in the Champions League, only missing the trip to Galatasaray as he was suspended, and has failed to score at all in Europe's top competition.

You often hear a manager defending an out-of-form striker who keeps missing chances by saying that the positive thing is they are getting in the right positions, making the right moves and the goals will soon come.

But that is not the case with Rashford. The forward is averaging a shot on target every 120.9 minutes this season, the lowest rate of his entire United career. Last season, Rashford was averaging a shot on target every 57.8 minutes. In the 2019-20 season, his previous best, it was every 60.3 minutes.

And it is not the case that his team-mates are not passing to him or that he is not getting forward enough. He leads the United squad in progressive carries and progressive passes received.

United fans have got used to a very familiar sight this season, of Rashford tearing up the pitch down one of the flanks in a good position, only to be tackled, blocked or over-run the ball and send it out for a goal-kick.

Rashford is far from alone in underperforming for United. Despite his woeful showings, he is the team's third-top scorer in the league, and his fellow forwards are faring even worse.

Alejandro Garnacho and Anthony Martial have scored once, both against Everton, while £72m ($90m) signing Rasmus Hojlund is yet to score in domestic competition, although he has done very well in the Champions League, notching five goals.

But the fact United's forwards are struggling in general should be little consolation to Rashford. As the club's highest-paid player and one of their longest-serving, it is up to him to spearhead the team's attacking threat.

Rashford's body language during the Newcastle game was heavily scrutinised by pundits, with Jermaine Jenas describing it as "shocking" on TNT Sports and Alan Shearer claiming on Match of the Day that the forward "didn't look interested".

Rashford's stroppy reaction at getting hauled off in the 61st minute got a lot of attention on social media, but he also seemed to play without desire the whole time he was on the pitch.

As Jim White put it in The Telegraph: "Here’s how wretched his performance was at St James’: when Antony came on to replace him, finally the team in red had a presence on the ball. For Rashford, that is as dark an indictment of a performance as you can get, when Antony is more effective than you are."

When a player is performing badly, the least fans can expect is for them to show a bit of effort. Hojlund's positive attitude and willingness to run himself into the ground is buying him some patience with fans amid his struggles to score in the league, while Harry Maguire's willingness to knuckle down and defy his critics has also impressed supporters.

So it is understandable why United supporters are getting so frustrated with Rashford. The player might be shy at heart and a completely different type of character to bullish personalities that have graced the club's attack in the past, such as Wayne Rooney, Eric Cantona, Ruud van Nistelrooy or Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He does not have to wave his arms in the air or puff his chest out, but the least he can do is look like he cares and give the impression he wants to change things.

"Whether Marcus likes it or not, I and many others watching him at the weekend — whether they were Manchester United fans or not — saw a player lacking in desire," wrote Shearer in his column for The Athletic.

This is not the first time that Rashford has been called out for a stark drop in performance-levels, and his current woes are reminiscent of the last time he endured a significant slump in form around two years ago. The striker scored just five goals in the 2021-22 season and often found himself on the bench, first under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and then interim boss Ralf Rangnick.

Back then, there was a feeling that Rashford was entering his final stretch as a United player, which no doubt affected his performances. There was also the fact he was recovering from a debilitating shoulder injury which had necessitated surgery, and the emotional pain of missing a penalty for England in the European Championship final shootout and the sickening social media abuse that followed.

He was also playing in a team that had undergone managerial switches and big personnel changes, such as the sudden and unexpected return of Cristiano Ronaldo to the club, which destabilised the squad.

At first glance, Rashford should be in a better state now on a physical and emotional level. He has not had any injuries this season and his future at the club is secured after signing a lucrative contract last year which made him United's highest-paid player.

Scratch below the surface, though, and there are some potential explanatory factors behind his decline. Over the summer, Rashford split up with his childhood sweetheart Lucia Loi, not long after getting engaged. There has been speculation about the couple getting back together after Rashford hired out an entire restaurant for a dinner date with Loi, but it clearly has not been a smooth ride for the player on a personal level.

His brother Dane, who also acts as his agent, was arrested in the United States on suspicion of domestic violence in November. The news broke the day after Rashford had been sent off in United's 4-3 defeat in Copenhagen. There was also a tragedy within the family in November, as Rashford announced his cousin had died, dedicating his goal against Everton to him.

Rashford has spoken of how he struggled emotionally with his last major dip in form and how he suffered from a lack of confidence as a result. It is reasonable to expect that these big events in his personal life might affect his professional life.

Rashford might also point to the fact he has had to play in a variety of positions, beginning the season as a centre-forward due to injuries to Hojlund and Martial, then reverting to his favoured position on the left of the attack, before being played on the right wing in the last few outings.

Rashford has stated on several occasions how he is at his best when playing on the left and he could argue that being shifted around the pitch and playing with different strike partners has not helped him. But the counterpoint is that Rashford has not helped himself by performing so badly.

He only played as a centre-forward in the first two matches of the season and has played the majority of the campaign on the left wing, but still could not rediscover his old self. It was only after a series of shoddy displays that he was shifted to the right and Garnacho was given an opportunity on the left after upstaging him when coming off the bench.

Rashford's sensational performances last season gave him an elevated status in the team and the power to play where he wanted, as long as everyone was fit. But he has not managed to kick on and seems back to the same predicament he was in two years ago.

As Shearer and Jamie Carragher have remarked, Rashford does have to shoulder a lot of criticism as he is one of the few local players in the team. Some might argue that is unfair and resolves other players of blame, but Rashford cannot change the fact that more is expected of him than his team-mates.

"We are not asking for goals and assists with Rashford, they'll come, as we have seen in the past. What we're asking for is leadership," Carragher said on Sky Sports. "It doesn't matter who he's playing with, those players have got to look up to him and go, 'He is Manchester United. He is what embodies this football club'. He needs to drag them up.

"That football club is an unbelievable football club and it will get back to the top. That will happen. But it is Rashford's job, more than anybody in that squad, because he is local, to drag that team with him."

Rashford has also shown a lack of judgement off the pitch, such as going out to a nightclub to celebrate his birthday just hours after the 3-0 loss to Manchester City in the derby. Rashford still attended training the next day, but the fact he went out to party after a chastening loss to United's local rivals made for terrible optics and led to a dressing down from Ten Hag.

If United are to finally pull themselves out of the rut they have been in for the majority of this nightmare season, then Rashford is going to have to start playing his part. It is also up to Ten Hag and his team-mates to help him rediscover his confidence.

Rashford seems physically fine and there are no tangible concerns about his lifestyle or attitude in training. He does not seem to be in the right frame of mind, however.

Shearer added: "I don’t know if Marcus Rashford has fallen out with the manager, if he’s at odds with some of his team-mates or if he doesn’t like the position he’s playing, but judging by everything I saw on Saturday in the defeat against Newcastle United, I know there’s an unhappy player there."

Back in February, when he was in the form of his life and preparing for the Carabao Cup final, Rashford said: "Football is probably 95 percent your mentality. There are a lot of players that have ability – that’s why they play at the top level. But what sets them apart is the mentality.

"I’ve been on both sides of it. I understand the strength of it and the value. I’m concentrating a lot more on keeping myself in that headspace and it’s needed in order to win games and trophies."

For whatever reason, Rashford now finds himself outside that same headspace and is on the other side, with little idea of how to get back in. He urgently needs to relocate the mentality that made him such a captivating player to watch last season. Because like it or not, he was made at Manchester United and his team need him more than ever.