Marcus Rashford's ketchup bottle is open - but can much-maligned Man Utd forward make the most of ending his six-month goal drought?

Erik ten Hag was delighted to see Rashford score, and the goal, which the striker had waited 189 days and 13 games for, had him reaching for an old analogy.

"For every striker, they want to be on the scoring list. Once the first is in, more is coming," the United manager said. "Once a striker was talking about a ketchup bottle; once it's going, it's coming more."

Ten Hag could not name the striker he had in mind, but Cristiano Ronaldo uttered the same phrase on the eve of the 2010 World Cup, having failed to score in the qualifying campaign.

It's possible he had learned it from his then Real Madrid team-mate Gonzalo Higuain, who was no stranger to goal droughts and crises of confidence during his eventful career, even though he scored 366 goals.

And the man who taught the Argentine the optimistic analogy was Ruud van Nistelrooy, now Ten Hag's assistant coach, who is tasked with getting Rashford's career back on track.

"Van Nistelrooy told me something during a period in which I didn’t score. And it’s true," Higuain told the Corriere della Serrain 2016 during a difficult period at Juventus. "You try, but it doesn’t come out. And when it comes out, it all does at once. It’s like ketchup. It’s a beautiful anecdote."

Rashford would do well to take note of another line from Higuain in that same interview when asked about dealing with criticism. The Argentine, who retired in 2022 after playing for Madrid, Napoli, Juve, Chelsea and Inter Miami, added: "I believe that no-one is perfect, not even the best players in the world, so I always want to learn. Sometimes it’s difficult to accept criticism, but it takes humility to listen, to try to grow again."

Rashford has received plenty of criticism in the last year and has not taken it well. Before the trip to Southampton, someone from his entourage complained to i News that he was being "bullied" by former players.

Rashford's acquaintance could have been referring to Alan Shearer saying he should have left United last summer. Or perhaps Gary Neville describing his performances as "hard work". Or Graeme Souness' withering criticism. Rashford responded in the right way against Southampton, on the pitch. Had he been fired up?

It was telling that it was his first league goal in open play since his scorching distance strike against Manchester City in March. Days before that game, Rashford had also responded to his critics via the media, in an article in The Players' Tribune.

That article had riled up a lot of match-going United fans as Rashford had called out those questioning his commitment to the club. And this was barely a month after he had missed training because he had been on a drunken night out in Belfast.

The goal at the Etihad Stadium proved to be a false dawn, and in that same game Rashford went to ground too easily after a challenge by Kyle Walker which led to City equalising before easily winning. So what are the chances of his latest goal leading to a genuine revival?

It all depends on what state of mind Rashford is in, and how long he can prolong it. Back when he was speaking to the media more regularly and in the middle of his best season for United in February 2023, the striker gave a telling insight into what makes or breaks an elite footballer.

"Football is probably 95 per cent your mentality. That gives you the baseline to perform," he said before the Carabao Cup final. "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."

Rashford celebrated most of his goals that season by pointing to his head, as if to say that he was in the zone, in the right frame of mind. In the last year, that has not been the case.

He has experienced a turbulent personal life. He ended his relationship with his fiancé and childhood sweetheart Lucia Loi in the summer of 2023. His cousin Nathan died the following November, the second death of someone close to him within a year after the passing of family friend Garf. His antics in Belfast, and the fact he was banned from driving in July for speeding, can be partly explained by the off-the-pitch upheaval.

There has been talk of a reset over the summer, of him being determined to get his career back on track. His glaring miss against City in the Community Shield suggested that there was still some way to go, but now he has scored, there is hope that the resurgence can begin and the ketchup can flow.

The good news from United's point of view is that Rashford still has his searing pace, his quick movement and a deadly finish. That much was obvious to former Liverpool player Danny Murphy when watching Rashford against Southampton.

"He looked more like the Rashford we know - causing teams problems with his pace and dynamism. It's his best performance this season," he told Match of the Day. "When he doesn't think and he's just confident and direct, it makes such a difference. He was using his power and pace to get in behind and scare them."

Shearer, one of Rashford's fiercest critics in the last year, was also impressed, but he was not about to apologise for pointing out his previous poor performances.

"I wouldn't change anything that I've said. He's set his own very high standards, you know? He's a very good player - he's on a huge contract at Manchester United and he hasn't played as well as he can do or has done in the past," Shearer said on The Rest is Football podcast. "And when that is the case - at a big football club when you're a big name - you're going to get criticised. There's a reason why he wasn't in the England squad. It's not just the pundits who were critical of him.

"Other players have overtaken him from where he was a couple of years ago and there's no doubt that there's the talent in there, but that has to be a regular. That has to be every single week, and not just against Southampton as it was, and then he won't get criticised. Pretty simple, isn't it?"

Rashford's life has been anything but simple over the past few years. He made an explosive start to his career as an 18-year-old and became a national hero for his charity work and political activism during the coronavirus pandemic, while he also played his best football around that period.

He then had the trauma of missing his penalty in the European Championship final, followed by an injury-disrupted season. He responded by scoring 30 goals in a season, firing United back into the Champions League and to a first trophy in six years, earning a highly-lucrative contract as a result.

His form and attitude last season, then, was a huge disappointment for everyone involved. Everyone at United wants to see him succeed, including the match-going fans who felt so let down by his behaviour in Belfast.

So do England fans, including the pundit class he feels have bullied him. But only he can continue the revival. It's up to Rashford to show that St Mary's wasn't a one-off sunny day and was instead the start of a bright new era.