Marcus Rashford told to “focus on goals” as he is “not a good” Manchester United player

Marcus Rashford has been told to focus on goals as he is “not a good player” by a former Manchester United defender.

Marcus Rashford‘s 2023/24 campaign has not been great – the winger only has one Manchester United goal to his name under Erik ten Hag this season, which is a stark contrast to the brilliant 30-goal campaign he produced last season.

Rashford has been under pressure of late after his poor performances, with the whole United front line failing to contribute significant goals – United’s top scorer is currently Rasmus Højlund with just five goals.

Paul Parker, who scored one goal in 87 appearances for Machester United, thinks that Rashford should stop playing as a left-winger and instead pair with Rasmus Højlund in order to focus on his goalscoring record – Parker has a history of digging out Rashford for poor performances, and the red card against Copenhagen will do him no favours.

Read More: “Cristiano Ronaldo was in tears” – Man Utd legend recalls moment that Rasmus Hojlund must learn from

“My advice for him would be that he should not refuse to play as a centre forward or a right winger,” Parker told Bettors. “I think he can achieve something at least, if he plays as a centre forward next to Rasmus Højlund.”

“But he could also play on the right wing. He should never play on the left wing, and even the right-wing would require him to work harder. But if he plays on the right wing, he could bring directness and go on the outside and deliver an early cross.”

Parker expands on this, explaining that he feels the man who appeared 373 times for United and scored 182 goal contributions is simply “not a good player”, and states that it is an opinion that he has been called a traitor for by one that he continues to stand by.

“Football is not about numbers,” he says. “Football is not cricket or baseball. But people keep using stats, which is wrong. Marcus Rashford doesn’t bring anything to the team and I said the same thing last year when he scored all these goals between November and April.

“He was never a good player, he was a goalscorer. People were calling me a traitor, they were calling me bitter, but this is not about bitterness. After that period with all these goals scored, people went mad with telling the club they should give him a new contract and tie him to the club.”

Rashford was awarded a new contract worth a rumoured £300,000 a week in July of this year after his stellar performance last campaign where he became absolutely integral to Ten Hag’s success, including scoring in the Carabao Cup final.

“Man United rushed to give him loads of money and now they are not being rewarded for what they invested in him. In any industry, you should be rewarded for consistency but he was rewarded after a few months and since then it has just been erratic.

“I have my opinion about him, and it’s very clear. His goals cover all his cracks. He is not tracking back, he is not having any discipline and any fullback must hate to play behind him.

“He doesn’t bother with tracking back because he just wants his goals. We do need to remember that he has a certain skill set, but it’s nowhere near players like Jack Grealish or Phil Foden. Nowhere near.

“He should never play as a left-wing, it’s not going to work. He is not an inverted winger, and he is not Jack Grealish.”