Rashford has gone to sh*t along with a Liverpool star and three more Premier League players

Marcus Rashford is the worst of this bad bunch whose form has gone to sh*t in 2023/24 after a prosperous 2022/23…
Marcus Rashford
It’s taken quite the run of average performances, probably because he was so brilliant last season, but the pundits well and truly turned on Rashford after his display in the 1-0 defeat to Newcastle on Saturday night. Steve Bruce called him “petulant”, Roy Keane said he “doesn’t run” and Jamie Carragher compared him to Anthony Martial, the true yardstick for inadequacy at Manchester United.
Two goals in 18 appearances after 30 in all competitions is a dramatic swing in form, and Rashford is in the fortunate position of playing for a manager with such lame alternative options. If Rashford doesn’t play, Antony sort of has to, with the Brazilian nowhere near this list by virtue of him being as sh*t last season as this. At least Ten Hag knows Rashford can do it.
But it now feels as though it’s less about the doing as it is about the trying. “He’s not a child anymore,” as Keane said. He should be a leader of the team as an academy graduate in the prime of his career. Sulking won’t help anyone.
Jack Grealish
A goal off the bench against Tottenham and he may well have had another without the referee’s ‘WTF’ moment in stoppage time. And he looked dangerous besides, nearly finding Erling Haaland with a neat cross and generally looking more threatening than he has done for much of a season in which he’s played second fiddle to Jeremy Doku.
Grealish can’t be feeling great at being replaced by a guy with many of the same characteristics as the player he was when he arrived at Manchester City, before Pep Guardiola beat the fun out of him.
And it may well now be a case of the England international needing to rediscover some of his maverick nature to get himself back in the team, although his manager may soon value Grealish’s sensible side once more if they continue to concede quite so many goals. They’ve shipped ten in their last four and have kept just three clean sheets in 18 games. It’s crisis time.
READ MORE: Souness nails Grealish ‘concern’ as new Man City ideally suited to pre-Pep Aston Villa maverick
Curtis Jones
Having taken some F365 criticism very personally last season he made us look very daft indeed, putting in some hugely impressive displays as he started 11 Premier League games on the bounce at the end of the campaign. He was living up to the hype.
He would have expected to kick on this season, even given the raft of new midfield signings. “I know I’m good enough,” Jones said in response to a battle for a place in the team. That confidence currently looks misplaced.
He’s been unfortunate with a couple of niggling injuries and the red card against Tottenham, but he’s done very little when given the chance by Jurgen Klopp, who now has the options to do without Jones. Few would put him in the Liverpool’s best starting XI and given everyone expects the Reds to sign at least one more midfielder in 2024, Jones could slip even further down the pecking order at Anfield.
Thiago Silva
The veteran has played every minute in the Premier League this season, beating off some reasonably significant competition for a place in the team. He’s been typically composed and dominant in the main, but there have been moments in which it’s looked as though he himself has wondered why he’s still bothering.
In the 4-1 defeat to Newcastle in particular, faced with Anthony Gordon and other sharp, young players he could feasibly have sired, Silva looked very 39. It would be a huge shame if our lasting memories of one of the great centre-backs are ones in which he looks as though he’s held on too long.
Casemiro
The criticism has been widespread and probably a bit over the top. There have been some decent displays and he is Manchester United’s second-highest goalscorer despite having missed a big chunk of the season through injury, quite apart from that not really being his job. That attempt to nullify his critics would of course be far more convincing if he was indeed doing the job he was signed for.
Erik ten Hag buying Mason Mount and hoping he could play in a midfield three with Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes was optimistic in the extreme, and Christian Eriksen’s ageing is perhaps as significant as Casemiro’s, but there’s also little doubt that the Brazilian has struggled, whether due to short-term problems with fitness and form, or indeed because he’s f*cked beyond repair.
Certainly if it’s the former, United shouldn’t be so keen to get rid as they could be setting Kobbie Mainoo up to fail.