Rangnick dodges tough Ronaldo question with Rashford answer

Matt Stead
Cristiano Ronaldo looks frustrated with Marcus Rashford in the background

Ralf Rangnick has pledged to bring the best out of Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford – and probably keep avoiding questions about Cristiano Ronaldo.

Rashford has struggled for form this season, scoring five goals and assisting two in 23 appearances across all competitions.

Only two of those goals and assist have come under interim manager Rangnick, who has coaxed better performances out of Jadon Sancho and plans to do the same with his England teammate.

During his press conference in the build-up to Sunday’s Manchester derby, Rangnick was asked by a journalist whether the reliance on an out-of-form and 37-year-old Ronaldo indicated “a failure of forward planning at this club”.

Rangnick did not mention the Portuguese in his response, although he did refer to the similarly ancient Edinson Cavani.

“A few things that happened in the last couple of weeks, or two months, or one and a half months could have been foreseen by nobody,” the German said.

“Now with Edinson at least being available for the upcoming games, we have other options.

“With Marcus Rashford, we have another player – I will assist and continuously be behind him and with him to develop him.

“We have seen that with quite a few other young players in the past and I don’t see why this shouldn’t happen with Marcus. He’s got abundant talent, he’s got the pace, the physicality.

“He’s got everything you need for a modern striker, no matter if he is playing from the wing or in the centre.

“I will put all my energy into that to help him to take the same pathway that other players did in the last three months.”

Speaking earlier this week, Rangnick repeated the Sancho comparison in discussing Rashford.

“Right now he is trying to find his best possible shape and performance and we just try to give him helping hands with everything we can,” he said.

“We show him video footage and speak with him regularly. In training he is in top form, that’s why I decided to play him.

“Now it’s about having that transformation from training performance to the competition in the league. This is the next step he has to take.

“We had a very similar situation with Jadon six or seven weeks ago. He is the best example of what can happen. It’s the player himself who has to perform and get the best out of his own performance.”

Manchester United Cristiano Ronaldo

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