Ferdinand responds to Man Utd ‘murmurings’ as Ten Hag decision is tipped to ‘confuse’ forward

Club legend Rio Ferdinand has leapt to the defence of Manchester United star Marcus Rashford after Erik ten Hag did not start him against Crystal Palace.

After Rashford scored 30 goals across all competitions during Ten Hag’s first season in charge in 2022/23, the England international’s form drastically declined last season as he was heavily criticised.

The Man Utd academy product also struggled during this campaign’s early weeks, but he has impressed after the international break.

After the 25-year-old scored in United’s 3-0 win against Southampton, he grabbed a brace and an assist as Ten Hag’s side steamrolled past Barnsley in the Carabao Cup, winning 7-0 at Old Trafford.

Despite this, the forward was benched at the weekend as Man Utd were held to a 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace.

Ten Hag is insistent that Rashford dropped out of his starting XI as he was being rotated, but Alan Shearer thinks it’s because of “some disciplinary issues”.

“It looks like, reading between the lines, it might be some disciplinary issues because he (Ten Hag) kind of mooted that in his press conference that ‘Marcus has got to be professional’,” Gary Lineker said.

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Shearer responded: “Why else would you leave him out?

“When things have been criticised, and I was one of them, for performances, but then you get your goal last weekend, you get another couple in midweek.

“Why would you actually even contemplate leaving him out? My guess is, and it is a guess, it has to be something different.”

Ferdinand has responded to the “murmurings” about Rashford, who may be “confused” about Ten Hag’s decision.

“Talking of rotation, following the game against Palace. United are third in terms of xG, only bettered by Man City and Liverpool. So they’re creating the chances but not scoring the goals,” Ferdinand said.

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“When you’ve got a man in form like Marcus Rashford, who’s coming into a bit of form and momentum which is key for any player and their confidence, I’m thinking is it the right time now to rotate? We’re creating chances and you take out the guy who is actually starting to score.

“I just look at that and think, wow. It was pleasing to see the manager come out and say it was rotation, nothing else because there were some murmurings around it.

“But Marcus Rashford man, I think he will be sitting there thinking ‘I’ve just hit a bit of form and they’ve taken me out.’ That confuses me, it’s confusing.”

Ferdinand added: “But then again Garnacho has been one of the most productive players and has been causing havoc. And Amad Diallo is playing well. So it’s a hard one.”