Manchester United's vastly underwhelming season may have reached its nadir this evening on Tyneside, as Erik Ten Hag's side came unstuck against Newcastle. It finished as a 1-0 defeat for Man Utd, but the abject nature of the performance spoke volumes. While the midweek draw in Istanbul can be explained away as the result of one poor Erik Ten Hag signing, tonight's result calls into question the momentum behind the entire Erik Ten Hag project.
Particularly poor (again) tonight was Marcus Rashford. The 26-year-old was revived last season but has become a liability in Ten Hag's sophomore year. Man United fans were apoplectic to witness some Sunday League tracking back from Rashford just minutes before Anthony Gordon scored the only goal of the game.
Rashford was subbed off six minutes after the Gordon goal, and responded by throwing his gloves to the ground and not offering a handshake to his manager.
One Man United fan went viral simply by listing his mistakes.
Rashford’s mistakes so far pic.twitter.com/CxttK5RAi6
— Simon (@SimonUTD11) December 2, 2023
READ ALSO: 'Nah, I'm Irish': Clinton Morrison Shuts Down Kris Boyd On Nationality Claim
Scholes on Rashford: 'more harm than good'
In the Premier League Productions studio, Paul Scholes did not hold back in criticising the 'rubbish' performance from his former club.
"Too many lazy players on the football team - you can’t get away with that. Going to these places, the first thing you do is work hard. You can see the joy that Newcastle are getting down both sides and feel sorry for the full backs."
It was notable in punditry that Paul Scholes was direct with firm criticism in Rashford's direction, calling his performance 'poor' and 'shocking'.
He was particularly critical of Rashford's surprise at being subbed off.
"He's surprised? I don't understand. He thinks he should still be on the pitch? He was doing more harm to the team than good."
He also said Rashford and Garnacho should be dropped for a number of weeks.
Ten Hag was asked about Man United and Rashford's poor form when speaking to TNT Sports and didn't give anything away.
“We had a tough first half and said at half-time we were pleased to be in the game. We had a good comeback in the last part of the game. We will talk tomorrow with the team about it. We go back, we will talk about this and move in to Wednesday,”
“As I said, I will talk with my team. We had some chances. We thought we scored a goal but it was offside. We could have scored.”
“I will talk to him [Rashford] and not the media."
"All over, you have to say Newcastle deserved to win..."
Erik ten Hag believes his Man Utd side showed too little too late following their 1-0 defeat at St. James' Park...
🎙️ @julesbreach pic.twitter.com/PZnCz48jPD— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 2, 2023
Perhaps the Manchester Evening News summed up Rashford's performance best when giving him a 2 in their player ratings.
Fortunate to start and he was poor in attack and slack in defence, offering Wan-Bissaka no protection. Should not have started and made way just past the hour
