Thinly-veiled dig aimed at ‘smiling’ Rashford with Man Utd proving their ‘terminal decline’
BeIN Sports presenter Richard Keys aimed a dig at Marcus Rashford after the Man Utd forward scored in their 1-1 draw against Ipswich Town on Sunday.
The Red Devils were held to a draw at Portman Road after Omari Hutchinson’s long-range deflected strike cancelled out Rashford’s early opener.
That point moved Man Utd up one place to 12th in the Premier League table with only Everton, Southampton and Crystal Palace scoring fewer goals this season.
Rashford, as well as Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have been criticised over their performances with four goals between the three players in the Premier League this term.
England international Rashford has struggled over the last year or two with many feeling that he’s lost some of his enthusiasm for playing football.
And Keys sarcastically praised the Man Utd forward for “smiling” and temporarily rediscovering his “appetite” for playing the game.
Keys wrote in his blog: “It’s not often that Manchester United fans have a better matchweek their City rivals – but they did yesterday.
“What a start the new coach got off to – a goal up after only 80 seconds or so, but don’t mention the shanked cross that turned into a really good ball!
“And just for a moment it looked as though Marcus Rashford had re-discovered his appetite for the game. He was even smiling.
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“I loved the way Amorim reacted to the goal. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was motionless. Class.
“But – the freshness, the optimism, the joy all faded too quickly and it was clear that despite the system – and there’s nothing wrong with it – this United team is in terminal decline and Amorim has got a hell of a job on his hands.
“But we knew that didn’t we? There’s no short term fix. He simply doesn’t have enough players who are good enough to wear the jersey.
“Look at the starting line-up. How many of them would you keep? Three? Certainly no more. And where do you get rid of the rest? Who’s going to take Rashford and pay him £350,000 a week? Casemiro? Eriksen? Evans? De Light? Ugarte? Fernandes? Mount? Zirkzee? It’s scary.
“Only surgery is going to sort the mess out and that will require Ratcliffe to find someone money – big money. Factor in wages, I reckon it’s going to need a billion – £500m on players at least – the rest in wages and agents fees.
“Is Ratcliffe going to spend that kind of money? Is he hell. Don’t bet on United re-joining everybody else at the top table any time soon. I genuinely wish Amorim all the luck in the world. He seems like a really nice guy, but that won’t be enough.”
