Marcus Rashford responds to former Man United defender’s criticism ahead of Burnley clash

Marcus Rashford has explained that he is ‘excited’ about forming a relationship with Rasmus Hojlund amid criticism of his playing style alongside the forward.

Rashford, 25, scored 30 goals for The Reds last term – the most since Robin van Persie in 2012/13 – but now needs to adjust his game with the signing of 20-year-old Hojlund.

We have already seen examples of the England international adapting. He assisted Hojlund last time out against Bayern Munich and also did so with a low cross from the left flank against Brighton, but that goal was ruled out after VAR found the ball went out of play before the cross.

Yet, we’ve also seen Rashford ignore the new striker on several occasions and attempt to cut inside and shoot. Former United defender Paul Parker was especially critical of the winger’s game last week.

“Marcus Rashford is still being Marcus Rashford. Giving away possession, running into blind alleys, looking to shoot rather than passing. If he doesn’t score there are thousands of cracks in his game,” he told FutFanatico.

However, after a season-long stint of being the only goalscoring threat in a team, it’s only natural that Rashford will take some time to adapt to having a natural center-forward alongside him in the attack and that is what he has explained in a pre-match interview ahead of United’s trip to face Burnley.

“I’m honestly super excited about it,” said Rashford about building a relationship with the young striker, when speaking to Premier League Productions.

“At times last year when we were going on counter-attacks and stuff, when you looked up, you just saw shirts of the other bodies! And usually only the cutback was on to Bruno, who was usually arriving later. Whereas this year, you have to understand the dynamics have changed.”

In order to build an understanding with Hojlund, the United no.10 has explained that he’s been working alongside the Dane in extra training sessions and believes that the results will come.

“So we’ve spoken to each other, we’ve done a lot of work off the pitch, probably that the coaching staff don’t even know [about] because it’s just between me and him. But I just want to understand his game and he wants to understand my game as quickly as possible.

“So far I think it’s been good. We obviously had the unlucky one against Brighton that got disallowed, but then in the following game we get another one where we’ve combined for a goal. So I’m very happy for him. And I’m sure it’s a relationship that will help both players.

“I’m excited for him, excited for the future. And I’m just excited that we’ve got so many games coming up because we’ve got so many opportunities to show who we are and if we hopefully do get the next win, we’ve got another game a few days later and we can get another one and we can start to build momentum.”